Why Donna Mills mentioned sure to Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’

As resident villainess Abby Cunningham on the long-running prime-time cleaning soap “Knots Touchdown” within the ’80s, Donna Mills was used to retaining tight-lipped about many a juicy plot twist.

However the TV legend had to deal with a complete new stage of top-secret safety clearance when she signed on to seem in director Jordan Peele’s newest creepy hit “Nope,” which simply opened atop the field workplace this weekend.

“I’d signed an NDA, and I couldn’t inform anyone [about it],” Mills, 81, advised The Put up about her as position as Bonnie Clayton in a key early scene of the sci-fi thriller. “I imply, I actually couldn’t inform my daughter. It was onerous as a result of all people wished to know, ‘What’s it actually about?’ Folks requested, and I mentioned, ‘I’m actually sorry, however nope!’ ”

It’d appear to be a good greater thriller simply how Mills wound up showing alongside buzzy stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Peele’s much-anticipated third movie after the success of 2017’s “Get Out” and 2019’s “Us.” She received the half by doing a self-tape audition — nevertheless, to her shock, the scene that she was given wasn’t from “Nope.”

“It was a scene from ‘Blue Jasmine,’” mentioned Mills of the 2013 movie for which Cate Blanchett gained a Finest Actress Oscar. “I went, ‘Oh goodness, they’ve made a mistake!’ My agent known as, and so they mentioned, ‘No, that’s the scene he needs her to do.’  He doesn’t ship the script to anybody till they’re employed on the film, after which it’s a must to signal an enormous NDA.”

And Peele was instantly impressed by Mills’ expertise. “He mentioned, ‘Oh my God, that was the perfect audition! I’m gonna ship you the script. In case you prefer it, the half is yours.’ I believed to myself, ‘If I prefer it? I believe I’m gonna prefer it.’”

Unusually sufficient, Mills herself wasn’t an enormous fan of scary flicks till seeing “Get Out” and “Us.” “I don’t like horror motion pictures in any respect,” she mentioned. “However ‘Get Out’ is considered one of my favourite motion pictures ever.”

Earlier than “Nope,” Mills’ largest feature-film credit score was approach again in 1971, when she co-starred with Clint Eastwood in “Play Misty for Me.” “That was so superb as a result of I got here proper from the cleaning soap opera ‘Love Is a Many Splendored Factor’ to that film,” mentioned Mills, who was really useful to Eastwood by Burt Reynolds. “I by no means met Clint till the evening earlier than we began capturing.”

However after all, Mills’ largest declare to fame was enjoying Abby Cunningham on the “Dallas” spinoff “Knots Touchdown,” an iconic position that she originated in 1980. However regardless of how issues appeared onscreen — “I used to be the one doing the stabbing within the again normally,” Mills mentioned — she’s truly tight with “Knots” rivals Joan Van Ark and Michele Lee all these years later.

“Joan and Michele and I are literally actually good mates,” she mentioned. “It’s become an actual deep friendship for all of us now.”

Mills additionally has a particular bond with one other ’80s prime-time cleaning soap diva: “Dynasty” legend Joan Collins. “When she’s right here [in California], we all the time get collectively,” she mentioned. “And we did just a little actuality present collectively for some time known as ‘Queens of Drama.’”

Stirring up extra drama on the long-running cleaning soap opera “Common Hospital,” Mills gained a Daytime Emmy in 2015. And after her position in “Nope,” she’s hoping so as to add extra to her appearing laurels. However don’t count on her to tone down the glamour simply because she’s in her 80s now.

“I believe I simply determined I used to be by no means gonna be not glamorous,” she mentioned. “Getting older isn’t gonna change that.”