Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jordan Peele says ‘nope’ to enthusiastic fan who calls him ‘best horror director of all time’

’Get Out’ filmmaker wasn’t prepared to take the compliment

Jacob Stolworthy
Thursday 21 July 2022 08:34 BST
Comments
NOPE official trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jordan Peele shut down a mega fan on Twitter who hailed him as “the best horror director of all time”.

The writer-director is receiving critical acclaim for his new film Nope, which is released in the US on Friday (22 July).

Nope follows Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), which were both critical and commercial hits for Peele. In response to the success, comic book creator Adam Ellis very well-meaningly wrote on Twitter: “I know this is a hot take but at what point do we declare Jordan Peele the best horror director of all time?

“Can you think of another horror director that had three great films, let alone three in a row? I can’t.”

Peele, who is also a comedian, replied: “Sir, please put the phone down I beg you.”

He then added: “Sorry. I love your enthusiasm but I will just not tolerate any John Carpenter slander!”

Carpenter is considered one of the horror filmmaking greats, whose films include Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982) and Christine (1983).

Peele is clearly heavily inspired by Carpenter and has turned his love of horror into huge profit for Universal Pictures: Get Out (2017) grossed $255.4m (£213.2m) from a $4.5m (£3.7m) budget, while Us made $255.2m (£213m) from a budget of $20m (£16.7m).

Jordan Peele stepped in when a mega fan called him ‘the greatest horror director of all time’
Jordan Peele stepped in when a mega fan called him ‘the greatest horror director of all time’ (Twitter)

Peele was handed a bigger budget for Nope – $68m (£56.8m) – but the positive reviews combined with the secretive nature surrounding the film’s plot have box office analysts projecting another box office hit for the director.

Nope, which stars Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya and Steven Yeun, will be released in the UK on 12 August.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in