Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler are back. Released on Tuesday (Jan. 28), the official trailer Sinners reunites the actor-director duo for a thrilling tale layered in Southern lore. Speaking to the press, Coogler described the horror film, which features Jordan on double duty playing identical twins, as a “personal” project.
“It’s interesting too because each time I’ve made something, I’ve been blessed to make… It’d 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. And it was a place that I had never been,” detailed the 38-year-old.
“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. I was fortunate enough to have a really, really close relationship with my Uncle James. And 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. And I got a chance to dig into my own ancestral history with this film, and it’s been extremely rewarding.”
To make Sinners, Coogler, the cast, and crew made the pilgrimage to the Magnolia state.
“This film was heavily researched,” clarified the director. “We went really hard to make sure that the only ‘make believe’ in the film is the supernatural. We wanted the world to be extremely tactile, the same way that we approached our other films. I’m back at it with my same team, essentially. My production designer, Hannah Beachler, it’s my fifth film working with her, and this film is some of her best work. It’s as tactile as anything she’s made. Worked with Ruth Carter again, who did both [Black] Panther films with me, did the great Malcolm X. It’s one of the best American films Ruth has done. And this is some of the most fantastic work I’ve ever seen her do in terms of bringing this time back. And worked with Ludwig Goransson again. Ludwig’s a composer, but before he was a composer, he was a guitarist.”
He added, “We went to B.B. King’s club in Indianola, Miss., and played on the stage of his club. It was just heavily researched. And in terms of supernatural elements as well, it’s all of that there in terms of hoodoo culture, making sure we got consultants there. It was so much fun.”
Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan at the star ceremony where Michael B. Jordan is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 1, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Sinners stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, and Delroy Lindo.
“Our film, Sinners, it’s a unique one. It’s kind of genre-bending… it’s genre-fluid, the film. There are vampires in the film, but it’s really about a lot more than just that. It’s one of many elements, I would say, and I think we going to surprise people with it.”
Watch the official trailer for Sinners above.
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