“It’s a genre-fluid film.” Ryan Coogler on Sinners

Writer and director Ryan Coogler on being influenced by Stephen King, Robert Rodriguez and John Carpenter for his new movie, Sinners.

Black Panther and Creed’s Ryan Coogler is back with a very different type of movie with Sinners, which sees him once more team up with Michael B. Jordan who plays twins who find something sinister when they return to their hometown.

Though the initial trailers were ambiguous about what that sinister entity is, the latest trailer shows that the brothers are up against something very supernatural.

Watch the blood-soaked trailer here…

 

“It was my first time experimenting with the genre head-on, and I loved it,” Coogler says of those supernatural elements of the film. “I got to dig into the films that I loved and analyse why I loved them, what drew me to them. I tried to really lean on those influences and figure out a way to tell my story in that space.

“It’s interesting because it’s a genre that’s for the people. That’s for the popular consumers of film. But it’s also a genre that comes up when people ask about great pieces of art.

“I think that it’s because it feels ancient. It feels like the first stories we probably told around a fire, but it also always feels fresh somehow, so it’s really interesting. I’m so excited to try my hand at it. ”

So what are the creatures that the brothers face in their hometown? Are they vampires? Well, Coogler retains the enigma around that one too: “Sinners is a unique one, and it’s kind of genre-bending,” he explains  “It’s a genre-fluid film. There are vampires in the film, okay, but it’s really about a lot more than just that. It’s one of many elements and I think we’re gonna surprise people with it.”

Though it may be Coogler’s first time directing a genre film, he’s clearly a fan and of course, looked to the classics as influences when creating Sinners: “I drew on so many!” he laughs. “Robert Rodriguez is a big one. On the nose, it’d be very easy to make a comparison with From Dusk Till Dawn but it’s actually quite close to The Faculty, which is a remake of The Thing, which is one of my favorite movies. Definitely my favorite horror movie. So there’s a lot of Carpenter in the film as well.

“It’s genre-fluid so there’s also a lot of Cohen brothers’ influence in this, starting with Inside Llewyn Davis. There’s some O Brother, Where Art Thou?, some Fargo, definitely some No Country For Old Men.

“But truthfully, the biggest influences are not in cinema. The novel Salem’s Lot is a massive influence on the film. Then there’s a real deep-cut influence. My favorite thing ever made is The Twilight Zone. and my favorite episode is called ‘The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank’ – probably Salem’s Lot and The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank are probably the biggest influences.

Salem’s Lot is about the town – I’m trying not to give too much up, but this movie’s about this community.”

Speaking of that community, Michael B. Jordan is joined by an impressive cast for the movie, including Hailee Steinfeld Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, and Delroy Lindo.

“I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the business in terms of the cast I’ve been able to work with,” Coogler enthuses. “But this one is up there with the best ones that I’ve worked with. Because it wasn’t based on any pre-existing material, I think that all of the actors took ownership of their characters which was so amazing.

“This cast reminds me of the Panther films, but in a way it’s maybe more exciting in that when audiences watch this, it’s gonna be the first time that they see these people – there are no books on it, there are no comics. They really made a community while we were shooting down in the south. They looked after each other. They’re still checking on each other. It was incredible to see. I can’t wait for folks to see what everybody does.”

Sinners has an incredible cast.

Well we’re all going to be able to see those performances for ourselves when Sinners lands in cinemas this March, and Coogler can’t wait for audiences to watch the horror on the big screen.

“The movie was made to be seen with a crowd and with people that you don’t know,” he enthuses. “It made sense for it to feel modern and immersive, and I thought that the IMAX and Super Panavision format really pushes it into perspective.

“I think that people want to experience something they can fall into. Even young folks. Everybody is living through their phones now but I do think people want to fall into worlds.

“For me personally, it was a reclamation of a time period and a place that my family doesn’t talk about much. Because there are a lot of feelings associated with our history and we go there in full, and show these people in full humanity.

“A big question of it was: “Were our grandparents like this?” I think that horror films, specifically in black culture (somebody should talk with Jordan [Peel] about this), are known for talking to the screen. This film was made for that. I think this was made to be talked to.”

Indeed, the movie is very close to Coogler, stemming from a relationship with his uncle: “It’s very personal,” he nods. “It’s interesting too, because each time I make something, I’ve been blessed to make the most personal thing that I made up to date, and this was no different.

“My maternal grandfather is from Mississippi, and my uncle James, who passed away while I was finishing up Creed, was also from Mississippi, and it was a place that I had never been. My maternal grandfather passed away 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 to have a really close relationship with my uncle. This movie, the seed of it, started with that relationship.

“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.” `

Sinners will be in theaters nationwide on 7 March 2025, and internationally beginning on 5 March 2025.