We all know Jordan Peele’s a bit of a geek. Besides his horror movies, he helped reboot sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, proving his credentials. An Easter egg in his new thriller movie Nope furthers that he knows his stuff, with a nod to The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser.
The reference in question isn’t to Fraser or The Mummy per se, but The Scorpion King, a 2002 spin-off adventure movie starring Dwayne Johnson’s villain. Daniel Kaluuya, who’s the lead in Nope, is wearing an orange hoodie that suggests his character, OJ Haywood, worked on The Scorpion King in 2001. OJ works on a ranch, and helps co-ordinate horses for different companies, and it’s believed that he probably did some work on equestrian duties for Hollywood.
This has since been spotted by a Twitter user, and the replies are full of people admiring the detail. “As an obscure movie merch enthusiast, I’ve never felt more seen or represented than when I realized Daniel Kaluuya is wearing an official Scorpion King hoodie in Nope,” Jackson Boren tweeted, with a screengrab of Kaluuya in the jumper.
Sure enough, right on the left breast is the insignia for The Scorpion King. The year included is 2001, which is one year before Dwayne Johnson’s fantasy movie, but that’s probably referencing the year of production for those involved.
People on Twitter were enthused. “Good eye and great detail,” replied one user. “Had to check this wasn’t photoshopped, brilliant,” added another. “This is now one of my favourite obscure movie details ever,” declares one fan.
As an obscure movie merch enthusiast, I’ve never felt more seen or represented than when I realized Daniel Kaluuya is wearing an official Scorpion King hoodie in Nope pic.twitter.com/BR0CwoP2Fu
— Jackson Boren (@JacksonBoren) July 20, 2022
Given that Peele enjoys his genre films, we expect there’ll be plenty of other nods and references besides in Nope. Kaluuya is joined in the cast by Steven Yeun, Keke Palmer, and more.
You can start spotting the winks to cult favourites when Nope opens in US theatres July 22, and UK theatres August 12, 2022.