Ryan Coogler & Franklin Leonard on How ‘Sinners’ Became the Director’s Most Personal Film Yet
The ‘incredibly grateful’ Oscar-nominated writer, director & producer tells the Black List founder that all the characters have ‘a piece of me in there’
Storytellers is part of a growing slate of Ankler video programming highlighting great performances and talent. Produced by Ankler Media executive producer of brand experiences Jennifer Laski, the series is presented by Warner Bros. & Sinners.
Ryan Coogler wrote Sinners from personal experience.
Of course, the Oscar-nominated writer, director and producer of the best picture nominee did all the expected research for the 1930s-set thriller, including consulting musicologists and academics to make sure his depiction of blues music rang authentic. But the film’s characters — such as twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by best actor nominee Michael B. Jordan, the fifth time he’s collaborated with Coogler) and their cousin Sammie (played by newcomer Miles Caton) — have “shards of truth in my story and relationships,” Coogler explains to The Black List founder Franklin Leonard.
“They’re my uncles, they’re my cousins — and, in many ways, I’m Sammie,” Coogler, 39, says on the debut episode of Storytellers, recorded at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. “But they all have a piece of me in there.”
Still, for Oakland, Calif.-born Coogler, the “beautiful part” of being a filmmaker is what happens to the characters once they’re off the page — the “transformational quality,” as he calls it.
“They become somebody else,” he says. “As soon as Mike steps in, or Miles steps in or Wunmi Mosaku (who plays Annie, Smoke’s estranged partner) — it becomes their story as much as it is mine. That’s why I love this gig, and I hope that audiences continue to have me.”
An original story conceived by Coogler, Sinners follows Smoke and Stack as they return to their Louisiana home to open a juke joint, only to find themselves fighting for their lives against a growing army of vampires.
“The audience, myself included, has read this film as a lot of things,” Leonard says. “It’s an anti-capitalist treatise, a parable about cultural appropriation and a meditation on the afterlife of slavery and Jim Crow.”
But while Coogler admits there were many conscious choices in his filmmaking process — including using color theory, with red representing Stack and blue representing Smoke — the idea of making vampires the antagonists came from a sense of personal freedom. “I was thinking about certain experiences I’ve had in my life, and thinking about how I felt while going through them, and letting that inform the writing,” he says.
Sinners has defied expectations since its release last year — when it became the biggest original box office hit in almost a decade — and the movie earned a record-setting 16 Oscar nominations in January (besting the previous mark held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land).
“I feel incredibly grateful,” Coogler says about the film’s unparalleled success. “I’ve been blessed with the ability to find a career that I love, and I’ve been able to find people I love to work with. I come from a tight-knit community, and I found another one — and both communities are still in my life.”
Sinners is streaming on HBO Max.