The surprise TV legend who appears in Jordan Peele’s box-office hit ‘Nope’
nypost.comDonna Mills was used to keeping tight-lipped about many a juicy plot twist.But the TV legend had to cope with a whole new level of top-secret security clearance when she signed on to appear in director Jordan Peele’s latest creepy hit “Nope,” which just opened atop the box office this weekend.“I’d signed an NDA, and I couldn’t tell anybody [about it],” Mills, 81, told The Post about her as role as Bonnie Clayton in a key early scene of the sci-fi thriller. “I mean, I literally couldn’t tell my daughter.
It was hard because everybody wanted to know, ‘What is it really about?’ People asked, and I said, ‘I’m really sorry, but nope!’ ”It might seem like an even bigger mystery just how Mills wound up appearing alongside buzzy stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Peele’s much-anticipated third film after the success of 2017’s “Get Out” and 2019’s “Us.” She got the part by doing a self-tape audition — however, to her surprise, the scene that she was given wasn’t from “Nope.”“It was a scene from ‘Blue Jasmine,’” said Mills of the 2013 film for which Cate Blanchett won a Best Actress Oscar. “I went, ‘Oh goodness, they’ve made a mistake!’ My agent called, and they said, ‘No, that’s the scene he wants her to do.’ He doesn’t send the script to anyone until they’re hired on the movie, and then you have to sign a big NDA.”And Peele was immediately impressed by Mills’ skills. “He said, ‘Oh my God, that was the best audition!
I’m gonna send you the script. If you like it, the part is yours.’ I thought to myself, ‘If I like it? I think I’m gonna like it.’”Strangely enough, Mills herself wasn’t a big fan of scary flicks until seeing “Get Out” and “Us.” “I don’t like horror movies at all,” she said.
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