Jordan Peele: 'First Cut' of 'Nope' was nearly 'three hours and 45 minutes'

"Nope" is widely called the most ambitious directing effort of Jordan Peele's career to date, so it's no surprise to hear the project's raw first cut clocked in at nearly four hours. Peele shot a ton of material for the film, and he even embraced his inner David Fincher by shooting about 20 different takes of Keke Palmer's introductory monologue.

"My editor is Nick Monsour, he's the guy I worked with on 'We'," Peele recently said. "He's just a brilliant guy and a brilliant collaborator. The first cut, I can't remember, I feel like it was three hours and 45 minutes."

Peele noted that a long first assembly cut is "pretty typical" and added, "It may have been [longer], it felt like a lot of movies, and it was, and it was. t's a lot of movies. So part of my journey of making a movie is finding the real essentials of a story, both from a plot point of view, but also from a feeling and direction. vibe of it. He did a fantastic job."

Choosing the perfect take of Palmer's opening monologue was one of Peele's biggest challenges in the editing room.

"I mean, she gave me about 20 different reads, takes, and options, and it was just one of those times when you see someone show off all the skills they've learned to take the written word, but also kind of go and make it theirs," the director said. "That's why I will say it was one of the hardest things to choose."

"Nope" is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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