Michael B. Jordan And Director Ryan Coogler Team Up In New Horror Film, ‘Sinners’

Michael B. Jordan and filmmaker Ryan Coogler are a winning team who've collaborated on the hit movies Fruitvale Station, Creed, and both Black Panther movies. Now they're joining forces again for the new supernatural thriller Sinners, where Michael stars as twin brothers confronting past demons in more ways than one. Take a look. Now we is one people, and we shouldn't go in barging into other folks' places uninvited, so... I've been in and out of here all day. Ain't never need to invite them. Yeah, something ain't adding up. Can I at least get my money? Careful. I'm sorry. Yeah! This is, this is, this is amazing. Yeah. Y'all, y'all look amazing. I'm close. And you got your fan club. I do, I do. They be all over the place, man. I love them. Thank you guys for the love. See, see, that's how it should be. Now, it's only right that you should be playing twins. Yes. Why you say that? Because there's more of you to love. Oh, good. Smoke and Stack, that's their names. Now, how did that come about, and why this story? Oh, man. I mean, I think Coog will probably answer that one a little bit better. Like, you know, why this one? Yeah, I was done making the last Black Panther. It took a long time, and I wanted to make something a little more personal, something original. And I've been listening to a lot of blues records. And chiefly because I was missing my uncle, my Uncle James, who was born and raised in Mississippi, but then moved to Oakland in his 20s. And he was the eldest statesman of our family. You know, whenever I would spend time with him, he was just going to play all vinyl, all blues, vinyl records. He'd drink old Taylor whiskey and tell me about Mississippi. And he passed away when we were finishing up Creed in 2015. So I would oftentimes play records to kind of conjure his spirit, to feel like I was hanging out with him again. And an idea for this film came to me. You know, I always, always loved genre films as well. I hadn't had a chance to make one yet, a horror movie. So I kind of combined those two ideas. And, you know, the movie feels like a blues song. The twins are named after the Smokestack Lightning, a famous Harlem Woof song. And a lot of characters are, you know, you're pulling from African-American mythology. Right. Excellent. Well, I got to tell you, I saw it. And I mean, I was terrified, horrified. That scene that we just played, that was cornbread that was trying to get into the juke joint. That was cornbread that was trying to get into the juke joint. The great Omar Milley. Oh, man, it is. It is beautifully shot. It is fantastic. I don't even like horror films. And I love this film. I'm going to go see it again. The way you weaved in the music was especially cinematic. And the history, you've got some kind of spicy scenes up in there, too. It's very, it's very, very scary. We sent over a sneak peek to show our staff. Let's take a look at how they reacted. Yeah, that's what I was doing. But of course, there's some magic involved, which I love. But when you're filming these scenes, are you yourself scared? Like, like, see, I'm like you. I typically don't like horror films because I do get scared. You know, but, but so I figured if I did this movie, it might take a little bit of the edge off. Did it? It did. Because in the most scariest scenes, we're probably having the most fun. I mean, we're laughing so much. We're trying to actually be serious because it's so ridiculous and what's going on. You're trying to make sense of it all. It's wild. It doesn't read that way. It reads scary. Thank you. That's good. I mean, it's hilarious, though, to have your actor covered in blood. It's like action. They're like, ahhh. You just laugh. You're off camera. No, this is unbelievable. Trying to figure out what your vampire sounds are going to be like. How do I sound when I do this? Like, ahhh. I guess we're going to go with that one. That sounds good. Wait, wait. Give me that vampire sound again. So the blues, Ryan, you spoke to this a little bit, really factors into the story. Yeah. And there are supernatural and superstitious kind of elements at play. Absolutely. You seem to really believe that in real life. Is that kind of something that you lend yourself to? I do, man. I do, too. Yeah, like as African-Americans, all of us are products of the Great Migration. Yes. You know, if you didn't stay in the South, there's a lot of us still there. But we carried a lot of the traditions from Africa. You know, I walk down the street. I don't split poles. My wife, the same way. We split a pole on accident, like going backwards. Yep, yep, yep. Don't walk on cracks. We don't skip each other's feet. You know, so it's a part of our heritage. You know, and I grew up as an athlete. You know, and athletes are very superstitious as well. You know, got to lace your shoes up the right way. If something's off, you got to go back and fix it. And this film enabled us to kind of dive into that history. You know, and explore it in a really cool, cinematic way. This is the first time I actually shot a movie where, you know, we actually had the music already finished. So we were listening to the songs that are actually like in the movie while we were actually filming it. And it just set the vibe totally different. It's beautiful. And the atmosphere. You know, Ryan and his partner, Luvic, you know, he's a composer since Fruitvale Station days. They met in film school at USC. And they really, really, really put a lot of time, energy, and effort in making the soundtrack. And it sounds incredible. It's beautiful. And you guys, the two of you, have been friends and collaborators for over a decade. Which in Hollywood years is like dog years, right? And you first met when you met to discuss making Fruitvale Station. What were your first memories? And what made you guys think, you know what? I think this is going to work. Let's stick with each other. What y'all looking back at me? I mean, the first memories, you know, was his work. You know, like him being an artist himself. I read his script, you know, before I had an opportunity to actually meet him and talk with him. And I just remember reading the script and just bawling, crying. And I just knew it was something that I wanted to be involved with. And I got a chance to meet him out in LA. It was at Starbucks, you know? And we sat down. It seemed like he talked forever, man. But I felt like I was talking to like one of my best friends, like immediately. Right. And Ryan always kind of gives off a, to me, he's always seemed more mature to me. You know what I'm saying? He always seemed like more of an adult. I'm like, man, we the same age. But yeah, he was the same age. But he seems like he's got all this stuff together. You know what I mean? But, but, but... Whoopi calls him an old soul. Oh, definitely. You know, and, and, you know, being a director, being a, being a coach, being somebody who has to motivate his actors and, and kind of like have a lot of the answers to, to me as an actor was looking for. He always made me feel confident and have confidence in myself at a really, really young age. He believed in me. So, so he was one of the first people that really let me know, you know, like, hey, Mike, yo, I think you're a movie star. At a time where I was doubting myself. You know what I'm saying? At a time as an actor, you're trying to figure out which way you want to go. What kind of actor you want to be? Can I lead a movie? Can I not? He kind of reinforced it like super, super early in my career. And Michael, you, you've grown up coming on our, coming on this show for all my children. You've acted since you were young. You've directed. You've worked extremely hard and had huge success. What drives you at this point? What like keeps you wanting to do the next thing? Oh, man. A lot. My family is like probably the most important one, you know, just always want to, you know, make them proud, you know, always want to raise the bar. I'm not, I'm not, I'm never satisfied. You know, I kind of always want to look for the next thing, the next challenge, like challenging myself, kind of push, push the boundaries. And then I have, you know, a whole generation of other actors, other, other individuals, a whole culture that I want to continue to push and motivate and inspire and lead by example, you know? And if I can keep working with my, you know, my collaborators and friends and other like-minded individuals, I think that we can keep. My thing is about change, man, in a big way. And I think you have to like walk it before you talk it. And for me, I just want to wake up every day and try to be better. And I hope that inspires other people to be better, too. Our thanks to Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler. Sinners opens in theaters on April 18. But because y'all are so nice and so good looking, too. And courtesy of our friends at IMAX, you're all getting two tickets to the, to experience Sinners in IMAX.