Jordan Peele’s Nope: Anime and Real-Life Stories that Inspired the Film

If you haven’t seen Jordan Peele’s latest science fiction horror film Nope, then you need to go see it in theaters before reading this — because there will be some serious spoilers.

At the time this is published, it’s already been a week since I’ve seen Nope and I still can’t stop thinking about it. There are several allusions to anime and real-life events that make Nope the most unique take on extraterrestrial attacks I’ve seen in years. And because I’m a nerd for references and I love to look a little too deep into films, I’m going to give a breakdown of references you may have missed and why they’re integral to Nope.

Anime That Inspired Nope

I’m an anime and manga nerd, so you know I was excited to catch the following moments:

Akira

At the climax of the film, Em Hayword (Keke Palmer) rides a motorcycle through the California desert and pulls off a flawless bike slide that is clearly an homage to the iconic “Kaneda Slide” from the anime film Akira.

“I mean, that movie meant so much to me,” Peele said in an interview with Cinema Blend. “And yeah, there’s a moment where we do the famous motorcycle — the Kaneda motorcycle slide.”

Peele was once tapped to direct a live-action adaptation of Akira but declined the offer. Years later, he told Collider he wants to focus on his own stories instead of taking on someone else’s intellectual property.

“I think the thing about it is no matter how many [intellectual properties] I think of or I think about taking on, I just feel like I have this responsibility to myself and to people to tell my own stories,” he said. “And so, I don’t know if there is going to be an IP that will do it.”

Of course, Akira is still among Peele’s favorite films, so it makes sense he’d want to put his own spin on a classic anime moment.

“It felt so good, and it felt so — it’s a moment that’s been paid homage many times in animation, and I hadn’t seen it done like this,” Peele said to Cinema Blend. “And so, to have something about having a Black woman on a white motorcycle with, you know, having broken police tape do that ‘Akira slide,’ just felt like, ‘You know what Jordan? Go for it.'”

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Though Peele has yet to confirm the connection, SlashFilm says production notes for Nope cite the mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion as a direct influence for the design of the alien nicknamed Jean Jacket.

According to SlashFilm, Jean Jacket was designed to have the “hyper minimalism” and “biomechanical design flair” of Evangelion’s Angels — the otherworldly creatures whose purpose is to trigger the destruction of life on Earth.

Jean Jacket’s appearance seems to be inspired by several Angels, but the one the alien bares the closest resemblance to is the tenth Angel, also known as Sahaquiel. Both Sahaquiel and Jean Jacket have a large, round saucer-like appearance, and the size and location of Jean Jacket’s mouth is identical to those of Sahaquiel’s unblinking eye.

The tenth angel also has the power to shut down technology in whatever area it’s hovering over. Jean Jacket has the same ability in Nope and it’s how the film’s characters detect its presence.

Jean Jacket also shares a trait with the sixteenth Angel Armisael. Staring at Jean Jacket triggers the creature into eating the viewer, and making psychological contact with Armisael can cause the victim to be infected with its mass.

Real-Life Animal Attacks that Inspired Nope

The best horror tales incorporate a bit of reality in their storytelling, because what’s more terrifying than knowing these stories can actually happen? The answer is knowing that they already have. Here are the real-life animal attacks referenced in Nope.

Travis the Chimpanzee

The film opens with a scene depicting the blood-splattered soundstage of a 90s sitcom called Gordy’s Home. The show’s star, an adult chimp named Gordy, was startled by the sudden pop of a balloon — triggering him into a violent rampage in which he mauled most of his human castmates. One castmate named Mary Jo Elliot is shown decades later with her face permanently disfigured by Gordy.

The gruesome incident mirrors the real-life story of Travis the chimpanzee. Travis was an animal actor who appeared in several commercials and television shows, such as ads for Coca Cola and on programs like The Maury Povich Show. The chimpanzee was purchased by a married couple named Sandra and Jerome Harold back in 1995 after Travis was taken away from his mother at just three days old.

For the rest of his life, Travis was raised like a human by the Harold family in their Stamford, Connecticut, home. He ate at the dinner table with the Harolds and their children. He also drank wine from a stemmed glass, watered the family’s plants, logged onto the family computer to look at pictures, and watched TV using a remote control. Travis was even known to occasionally drive the family car.

Travis was seen as a peaceful, good-natured member of his community, but that all changed on Feb. 16, 2009, when he attacked Sandra Herold’s 55-year-old friend Charla Nash.

The attack happened after Travis took Sandra Herold’s car keys and went outside. Nash tried to lure Travis back into the house while holding the chimp’s favorite Tickle Me Elmo. Upon seeing Nash with his favorite toy, Travis flew into a rage and brutally attacked Nash. Police were soon called to the scene and the chimp was shot four times by a responding officer. Travis then fled back into the home and was found dead near his cage.

Like Mary Jo Elliot in Nope, Nash’s face was severely disfigured during the chimp’s attack and she lost her eyes, nose, hands, lips, and some of her bone structure as a result.

Seigfried & Roy

When siblings OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em Hayword first meet amusement park owner and former Gordy’s Home star Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steve Yeun), Jupe briefly mentions Seigfried & Roy. Seigfried & Roy was a real-life magician and entertainment duo known to use white lions and tigers in performances. The duo was composed of Seigfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn.

Throughout the 90s, Seigfried & Roy at the Mirage Resort and Casino was a staple in the Las Vegas entertainment scene and was a top-selling tourist attraction. But in 2003, an attack from a white tiger during a live performance caused a career-ending injury to Horn and shut the tourist attraction down for good.

The attack happened on Horn’s birthday on Oct. 3, 2003. During the live show, Horn held out his microphone to the mouth of a tiger named Mantacore and told him to say “hello.” The tiger responded by biting Horn’s sleeve. Horn then yelled “No!” and tapped Mantacore on the head with his mic. As a response, the tiger leapt at Horn and knocked him to his feet.

As trainers rushed the stage to defuse the situation, Mantacore bit into Horn’s neck and dragged him off stage. By the time the tiger finally released the performer, the tiger had sliced through the man’s vertebrae and severed an artery — causing Horn to suffer a stroke. The injuries resulted in permanent impairment to Horn’s motor skills and speech abilities. Mantacore was not killed after the incident.

A trainer named Chris Lawrence blamed Horn for the attack, saying he had mishandled the tiger.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in 2020, Lawrence said things were already going wrong early into the performance. Mantacore had wandered away from his mark on the stage and Roy failed to properly correct the issue.

“What Roy did was instead of walking Mantacore in a circle, as is usually done, he just used his arm to steer him right back into his body — in a pirouette motion,” Lawrence recalled. “Mantacore’s face was right in [Horn’s] midsection. By Roy not following the correct procedure, it fed into confusion and rebellion.”

The Human Ego Vs. Animal Instinct

So why are these real-life attacks important to the story of Nope? A running theme throughout the film is that humans tend to get too comfortable around animals, particularly those we feel a close bond with or perceive as “cute.” We tend to believe the bonds we have (or think we have) are somehow stronger than an animal’s natural-born fight or flight instincts.

The chimp in Gordy’s Home was dressed in jeans and long-sleeve shirts, was taught to fist bump a child, and was presented as a quirky selling point for a family sitcom. Travis was taught to dress himself, playfully wrestled with neighbors, and was seen as the friendly neighborhood chimp. The humans in both scenarios failed to realize that a chimpanzee in human clothes is still a chimpanzee at the end of the day. You cannot play with them like you would a human nor can you reason with them like one — a harsh lesson that cost Jupe his life.

Jupe was the only cast member who was not harmed during Gordy’s attack. In fact, Gordy tried to give Jupe a fist bump after he calmed down and spotted the child under a table. The child actor grew up visibly traumatized by the incident but also believed his bond with Gordy is what saved him. His belief is what led him to think he can make a deal with any animal and walk away untouched — even if that animal is a giant monster from outer space.

In actuality, Jupe’s character on Gordy’s Home had a running gag of constantly hiding under the table. When Gordy calmed down and saw the actor in his usual spot, the chimp simply did what it was trained to do — touch fists with the child. It was not a bond, it was just a learned habit.

But Jupe never put two and two together, and he repeated the mistake of Gordy’s Home years later by treating a wild animal like a circus attraction without ever learning how to properly handle it.

And just like Horn was attacked by Mantacore the tiger during a live performance, Jupe was attacked while trying to feed Jean Jacket in front of an audience. But unlike Horn, Jupe was eaten alive along with everyone else in attendance.

Nope is definitely my favorite Jordan Peele film thus far and not just because of the allusions to anime and news headlines, but because of Peele’s ability to take inspiration from difference places and create something new. At a time where “everything is content” and content needs to make money, and a sure-fire way to make money is to cash in on old IP’s — Nope shows that there is still room for original, unique storytelling that will stick with the viewer long after the credits roll.