Ryan Coogler Talks ‘Sinners’ Secrets As He Unveils New Trailer

Ryan Coogler Talks ‘Sinners’ Secrets As He Unveils New Trailer

Ryan Coogler has finally come clean about Sinners, his mysterious upcoming movie.

The Warner Bros. movie stars frequent Coogler collaborator Michael B. Jordan and hits theaters April 18. And while during the casting stage of the buzzy production many speculated it was a period vampire piece, the studio and Coogler camps strongly insinuated it was more than that.  

At a virtual press conference for the movie’s trailer launch, Coogler, whose previous two outtings were the two Black Panther films for Marvel Studios, teased that although vampires were definitely in the film, the movie has a lot more going on.

“The film is very genre fluid,” Coogler said. “It switches in and out of a lot of different genres. Yes vampires are an element, but it’s not the only supernatural element in the movie. The film is about more than just that.”

The filmmaker dropped hints about certain archetypes that populate the movie, the musician channeling magic and the mystical qualities of twins, among them. He also said the movie was “about American music” and an exploration of blues music and culture.

Music does in deed play a big role in the trailer, which shows off a rural Jim Crow Era South setting and sees Black people cutting loose in melodious and carnal celebration. But as the trailer ominously continues, danger comes in the form of some white party crashers. And in scenes that dizzyingly jump around from day and night, blood is spilled and bullets are sprayed.

Coogler called it his most personal film to date. It allowed him to explore his ancestral Mississippi family history, talk to his nearly 100-year-old grandmother, and pay tribute to his uncle, with whom he was close to and who passed away while he was in post-production on 2015’s Creed.  

“It’s a world that my grandparents were a part of,” he said of the setting, “A time that is overlooked in American history.”

And he said the process of making the movie was a form of therapy for him.

“I’m blessed to have found this medium that I can work out deep philosophical and existential questions that I may be struggling with while contributing to an art form that means so much to my family,” Coogler said. “Each film brings me closer to understanding myself and the world around me.”

Coogler also peeled back the curtain on some aspects of the movie’s behind-the-scenes making. For example, in order to find a measure of authenticity, he hired Logan and Noah Miller, twin brothers who are filmmaker friends of his, as “twin consultants” for the movie. The brothers informed Coogler on the writing and advised Jordan on the acting front.

He shot the movie on 65mm film, even getting advice from Christopher Nolan and wife and producing partner Emma Thomas, who have experience with large format photography. He said the movie combined Super Panavision with Imax photography in an effort to be immersive.

And he explained that composer Ludwig Göransson earned a credit executive producer because the musical element in the movie is ever-present and, in an unusual move, Göransson was a daily presence on set. The composer was also part of a movie’s blues trail scouting expedition through Mississippi, even bringing his father along.

Coogler summed up that Sinners this way: “It’s a love letter to the experience of watching an exhilarating movie in a packed house full of strangers, not knowing what’s going to happen next. Continued the filmmaker: “So many incredible films have given me that feeling, so I wanted to try my hand at given it back to audiences.”