Sinners: Ryan Coogler On His New Horror Film & Michael B. Jordan

Writer-Director Ryan Coogler dishes behind-the-scenes secrets about his new horror film Sinners and talks collaborating with Michael B. Jordan again.

Ahead of the release of the new Sinners trailer, which is out now, we caught up with writer-director Ryan Coogler during a press event moderated by Juju Green (AKA Straw Hat Goofy). He shares behind-the-scenes secrets about his first time playing in the horror genre.

He also discusses the bond he has formed with Michael B. Jordan over the years. Sinners is their fifth time collaborating. Coogler details the filming process for this movie and why it is so unique and thrilling for him.

Ryan Coogler On His Fifth Collaboration With Michael B. Jordan

“What we went through with losing Chadwick, it made us both appreciate each other even more.”

When asked about working with Michael B. Jordan for the fifth time, Ryan Coogler had a lot to say.

I mean, the rarity of it comes in that we kind of grew up in the business together. Mike was a full-time actor as a child, so I got to meet him after he had already been in some great shows and some great movies. But in terms of being a leading man in feature films, his first time doing that was on my first feature film, Fruitvale. He’s got this incredible mix of talent and charisma. A lot of stuff is God-given, but then he also is a real craftsman, you know what I mean? He really cares about the craft and is constantly trying to get better at it and constantly trying to challenge himself. It’s very unique to find that in somebody. We’ve become friends and continue to challenge each other. It’s been a great working relationship, for sure, and a great personal relationship.

Most filmmakers that work, they have their people that they go to, that they end up working with a lot. All of my favorite filmmakers have those relationships. It makes it easier. It’s hard to make a movie. It’s hard to lead a film, to be an actor in these films. When you have somebody who it clicks with, somebody who understands you, who gets you, it doesn’t feel like work all the time. Mike and I have been able to find that in each other, so it’s been great. What we went through with losing Chadwick, it made us both appreciate each other even more.

Michael B. Jordan Plays Twins In Sinners

Ryan Coogler expains that they had twin consultants working with Michael B. Jordan so he could get it right.

Michael B. Jordan is not only playing two characters in Sinners, he is playing twin brothers. One member of the press asked Coogler if these characters are meant to represent two sides of the same coin.

The film is so much fun. What we are dealing with in the film is a lot of archetypical characters. These are identical twins, but they are also that concept of twins. Every neighborhood where I was from coming up, if you said, hey, man, where are the twins at? They would have these guys and they’re kind of notorious local celebrities. So it was an exploration of that. It’s unique in that they are identical twins, but they are two different people. It’s not as simple as two sides of the same coin in that there’s a dynamic that exists with identical twins that’s known.

We had twin consultants on this movie. Two friends of mine that are actually filmmakers as well, Logan and Noah Miller, who I know from Northern California. They were able to consult and work with Mike on the mindset of sharing a womb with somebody and growing up with them and how unique of a dynamic that is. But at the same time, not making it a caricature. The differences between these two guys are slight, but they are there.

Sinners Is A Personal Project For Ryan Coogler

It’s very personal. It’s interesting, too, because each time I’ve been blessed to make something, it has been the most personal thing that I’ve made up to date, and this one’s no different. My maternal grandfather is from Mississippi and my Uncle James, who passed away while I was finishing up Creed, is also from Mississippi. It was a place that I had never been. My maternal grandfather passed before I was born. We grew up in a house that he built in Oakland after he had moved to California, and I was fortunate enough to have a really, really close relationship with my Uncle James. This movie is about the seed of… it started with that relationship with my uncle. He would listen to blues music all the time. He would only talk about Mississippi when he was listening to that music, and he had a profound effect on my life. I got a chance to dig into my own ancestral history with this film, and it’s been extremely rewarding. 

Ryan Coogler Loves Horror, But This Is His First Time Making A Movie In The Genre

“Usually when I make a movie, I’m dealing with an unimaginable fear.”

Ryan Coogler loves movies. And he loves the horror genre. That said, Sinners is his first time getting to play in the horror genre.

It was my first time experimenting with the genre head on, and I loved it. I got to dig into the films that I loved coming up, and get to analyze why I loved them, what drew me to them, and try to really lean on those influences and figure out a way to tell my story in that space. It’s interesting because I think the genre is a genre that’s for the people, that’s for the popular consumers of the film, but it’s also a genre that comes up when people ask about great pieces of art in cinema as well. 

Without getting into too many details, usually when I make a movie, I’m dealing with an unimaginable fear. In this one I had an opportunity to do that. But what I will say that’s ironic is on this film, I didn’t have many nightmares. I think it was because of the material that we were making. Some of it was so intense that that energy was happening there on set. I can’t tell you how much fun we had on this. It was a good time.

There Is A Visual Language To Sinners

“It’s the first film ever done like this.”

There is a unique visual language to Sinners that Ryan Coogler is excited to share with audiences.

It’s my first film back on celluloid since Fruitvale. I’m a big fan of the medium. I was always excited to be back working there. It made a lot of sense for the time period to bring it back to that kind of analog capture. And working with Warner Brothers, they allowed us to shoot the film in large format. It’s the first film ever done like this. It alternates between Ultra Panavision, which is a two, seven, six aspect ratio.

We also filmed quite a few scenes with 143 IMAX film, 15 perf., but every shot is large format photography. It makes for a really, really unique look. It’s intimate. It feels old and fresh at the same time. This format is capturing some of our finest craftspeople. Autumn and Hannah and Ruth. It’s been phenomenal to see their work shine. We’ve been showing it to people, especially with TELUS. Very down res versions. We haven’t even seen it in its full 4K scan glory on its full film yet. I’m still curious about how cool it’s going to look. I’ve seen shots here and there, but it’s really incredible.

Sinners comes exclusively to theaters on April 18^th.

About Sinners

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Sinners is only in theaters on April 18^th.

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