Nope Star Brandon Perea Talks Bringing His Complex and Conspiracy-Fueled Character to Life (Exclusive)

With Jordan Peele's Nope, audiences were excited about the adventure because it starred beloved actors Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, but the sci-fi film also starred relative newcomer Brandon Perea as Angel, the electronics store employee who helped them set up all their devices in hopes of catching footage of a UFO. Not only did the actor manage to steal the show from his costars, but even Peele changed his mind about the character's fate in the film, ultimately tweaking what ended up happening to the character based on Perea's charm. Perea recently detailed his preparation process for Angel, including how his character would listen to more obscure bands like Earth and The Wipers, both of which were groups whose shirts he wore in the movie. Nope is out now on Digital HD and hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 25th.

"Shout out to our producer, Ian Cooper, because he made me a Spotify playlist, which had all these songs of the bands, all the band shirts I was wearing, and it's so cool to see the fan reaction of all the band tees," Perea shared with ComicBook.com of his character's interests. "Those are some vintage tees, those are worth a lot of money. In the moment, I didn't really understand the level of that until post the film. People come up to me they're like, 'Dude, the shirts you are wearing were just, whoa. Those are collector's items and collector's pieces.' I was just having full conversations about that. So it's cool to carry that torch and definitely listening to the music helps, so shout out to Ian."

He continued, "Prepping for Angel, it was cool because I relate Angel to my brothers a lot, they work in tech. They're just pretty similar in a lot of aspects of very obsessive, over-research for crazy things. They're just constantly trying to grow their knowledge, and it's just cool to hear their stories of, since they work in tech, they'll be working with customers that just don't know anything about tech. So it's just like, 'Man, I'm just dealing with a bunch of idiots all day.' I'd hear their venting stories, and I was like, 'Oh, I've got to bring this energy to this guy.' I'm blessed to be able to grow up with those guys to connect to Angel."

In the film, following their father's shocking death, Hollywood animal wrangler OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) begin observing unexplained phenomena on their vast Southern California ranch that leads them down an obsessive rabbit hole as they plot attempts to capture the mystery on camera. Along with a former child star turned family theme park ringmaster (Steven Yeun) who neighbors the siblings, the pair's efforts to chase the spectacle soon bring terrifying consequences and unimaginable horror. The result is a complex social thriller that unpacks the seeds of violence, risk, and opportunism that are inseparable from the romanticized history of the American West ... and from show business itself.

In addition to the music of the film staying with him, the actor also detailed how Angel's more conspiracy-minded brain has stuck with Perea.

"It definitely opened my mind because it's not something I think about constantly, but then when you're having to play it, then you're actually starting to think," the actor confessed. "In my mind, I'm just like, 'Homies spitting facts right now.' Then I started watching Ancient Aliens and I'm like, they're coming up with some crazy concepts of aliens were godly creatures, that's why the Egyptian pyramids are there and all these things. I was like, 'Okay, all right, they're up to something.' It's now opened my mind up a bit more. I'm afraid to dive into the full research, though, because I have a pretty obsessive personality and I'll be looking into things, but I don't know if I want to go down that hole. I'll leave it up to Angel. If we go again, if there's a Nope 2, a Nopity Nope, then yeah, maybe."

Nope is out now on Digital HD and hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 25th.

What did you think of the film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!