Spoiler Warning: There are some massive Nope spoilers in the following article, so please exercise caution if you have not yet watched Jordan Peele’s alien movie.
There is a good chance that if you go up to anybody who has seen Nope and mutter the word “Gordy,” they’ll put their hands over their mouth or say something to the effect of “Man, that was brutal.” The scene in question, which depicts a chimpanzee snapping and viciously attacking his co-stars on the fictional Gordy’s Home TV sitcom, makes for one of the more unsettling and terrifying sequences in Jordan Peele’s masterful UFO movie.
As disturbing and horrifying as it was in the 2022 theatrical release, a deleted scene showing the motion-capture actor portraying the enraged primate included with the Nope home release somehow makes the entire spectacle all the more terrifying.
The deleted scene, titled “Terry Attack,” is essentially the same sequence that was shown in the regular movie, but instead of a CGI Gordy going off the rails in a flashback showing how a younger version of Steven Yeun's character experiencing a traumatic event, it features motion-capture actor Terry Notary dressed up like the chimp with fake teeth, a party cap, a bloody sweater, and arm braces that allow him to walk like a primate.
There is just something unnerving about seeing a talented actor like Terry Notary lose himself in his portrayal of an off-the-hinges chimpanzee, and it adds another layer of terror to the already horrifying display. The Nope deleted scene also does a tremendous job of showing how much of the flashback sequence was shot practically, with the only CGI being that of the Gordy model replacing Notary’s imitation in post-production.
In the behind-the-scenes documentary titled “Shadows: The Making of Hope,” also included with the Nope home release, Peele suggests that when he was coming up with the scene, which was the first thing he and his crew shot at the start of production, he wanted to find the balance between horror and sympathy for the animal.
My hope with the Gordy moment is that it’s one of the most horrific things we’ve seen on film, and yet we don’t dislike Gordy. That’s my hope.
Watching the raw footage of Notary lose's depiction of the character, it’s not all that difficult to feel sorry for the chimp, even though he kills one person and disfigures another. This can be attributed to Peele’s argument throughout the movie about the exploitation of the natural world as well as Notary’s incredible performance.
Prior to providing the motion-capture work for Gordy in Nope, Terry Notary worked on some of the biggest movies of the 21st Century, with a list of credits that includes Avatar, the third and fourth Avengers movies (he portrayed Cull Obsidian and Groot’s movements), and the more recent installments in the Planet of the Apes franchise. That being said, it's easy to see how the talent and prolific actor was able to add so much to the scene.
The “Terry Attack” deleted scene and “Shadows: The Making of Nope” making-of documentary are just two outstanding bonus features included with the Nope home release by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment available at retailers like Amazon. The movie is also set to join other new movies streaming when it debuts November 18 on Peacock Premium.
