Jesse Plemons’ Upcoming Role in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Forced Him to Turn Down Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’
After years of excellent work in bit-part roles and as leading men, Jesse Plemons is now in a place where most if not all directors would love to have him as part of their cast. The downside to this honor is that it puts him in a place where he has to decide which highly anticipated movie is more worthwhile.
Plemons was set to be one of Jordan Peele’s latest collaborators. Unfortunately, he had to turn it down after bad timing and a legendary filmmaker’s script rewrite meant he no longer had time on his schedule.
Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ is one of the most anticipated movies of the summer
After Get Out and Us, Peele now has such a status that he doesn’t have to reveal much about his work. Regardless, millions of people will be excited about what’s next.
What’s next is Nope, Peele’s third directorial effort that stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. The trailer, which first aired during the Super Bowl, says little about the plot. But it does more than enough to tantalize potential audiences. It appears to be set in and around a small California ranch town beset by the specter of a “bad miracle” arriving from the sky.
The teaser is edited in such a way that is hard to tell what exactly is siphoning the power from Palmer’s house and freaking out everyone who stares upwards with a mix of awe and fear. Our best guess: It’s an alien invasion of some sort. But Peele’s prior work found exciting ways to keep moviegoers on their toes. And surprises are part of the fun anyway.
We’ll all find out what’s going on when Nope hits theaters on July 22.
Jesse Plemons was set to star in ‘Nope’ but dropped out in favor of another star-studded film
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Plemons was offered a major role in Nope (most likely the Yeun role). But he rejected it on the basis that he was picked to star in another 2022 blockbuster. He will act alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. The Western crime drama is set to premiere on Apple TV+ in November.
Flower Moon was supposed to start filming in March 2020 before the pandemic wrecked their plans. After numerous delays, principal photography in April 2021 in Oklahoma and wrapped on October 1.
With Nope entering production during the same summer in California, it was impossible for Plemons to be in both places at once. We can hope that the two can work together in the future. It would be fun to see what two people of their talents would come up with on a movie set.
What is ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ about?
Flower Moon is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by David Grann. Taking place in 1920s Oklahoma, the real-life crime story focuses on a series of murders in the Osage Nation after it is discovered the tribal land sits on oil-rich land. An FBI investigation is led by agent Tom White; the main antagonists are local rancher William Hale and his nephew, Ernest Burkhart.
While the production was waiting to get going, Scorsese and screenwriter Eric Roth completely reshaped the structure of the movie. (A rundown of the situation can be found on IndieWire.)While Flower Moon was being developed at Paramount Pictures, the Tom White character was written with DiCaprio in mind as a traditional good guy. But the studio became wary of the film’s growing budget (It reportedly cost $200 million). Scorsese began reaching out to streaming services that would be more amenable to his financial demands. Apple quickly agreed to co-distribute and finance the movie.
With money no longer an issue, the filmmakers could make substantial changes to the script and casting. Now, DiCaprio will play Ernest instead of Tom White, and the movie is a “moody and less commercial character study”. Aside from a few set photos, very little has been shown of Flower Moon so far, but the finished product is not far away.
