Acclaimed filmmaker Jordan Peele tweaked the script of his latest horror thriller “Nope” for Filipino-American Puerto Rican actor, Brandon Perea.
Perea, born from a Filipino mother and Puerto Rican father and known for his roles in Netflix’s “The OA” and the movie “American Insurrection,” recently shared this saying his role was not how Peele envisioned it when he wrote the screenplay. The actor, however, made an impression.
In the alien invasion film “Nope,” Perea portrays beach-blonde Angel Torres, an angsty employee of Fry’s Electronics who lore on aliens and the unexplained. He assists OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer) in installing surveillance equipment at their ranch and gets drawn into their quest for documenting the unexplained phenomenon they have encountered.
Beneath his post-punk angst, the heartbroken Torrest becomes an unlikely and valuable ally to the lead characters of “Nope,” OJ and Emerald.
“Angel’s our tech expert, and something of a comic-relief character,” Peele said.
“Angel is a diehard Ancient Aliens fan. Angel also often the one pointing out how batshit crazy the whole situation is. But he also gets quite willingly tangled up in this insane mission,” he added.
Perea said the script was rewritten for this.
“Jordan said, ‘You brought something so different to the table that I had to meet you, but you’re really different than what I wrote for the script. If I were to put you in this movie, I’ll have to rewrite my entire movie,’” Perea said.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds tough. I guess that’s probably not going to happen.’ And he’s like, ‘So that’s what I’m going to do — I’m going to rewrite my movie. You got the part!’ I just busted out in tears crying,” he added.
Perea also said that playing an employee of the electronic retail store, which closed its door in 2021 brought back some memories for the actor.
“I remember reading the script and seeing that Angel works at Fry’s Electronics and I wigged out because my brothers and I used to go to the Fry’s in Chicago when we were growing up,” the rising actor said.
“It was just a crazy full-circle moment for me,” he added.
Perea joins established Holywood stars Kaluuya, Palmer and Steven Yeun in the latest horror epic helmed by Oscar® winner Peele who is also behind “Get Out” and “Us.”
“Nope” debuted with $44 million on top of the box office when it opened in the US in July.
It follows the siblings OJ and Emerald who inherited their father’s legendary horse ranch.
As OJ and Emerald start noticing unexplained phenomena on their vast ranch, they soon start to plot attempts to capture the mystery on camera and enlist the expert help Angel. Together, the trio step right into the eye of an irreversible storm with no path guiding them back, further ratcheting the stakes to terrifying consequences.
“Nope,” from Universal Pictures, opened in Philippine cinemas last August 17. It was rated R-13 Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. —Rosette Adel
RELATED: Family matters: 3 family-themed films to watch in August