Sinners Director Ryan Coogler Recalls How His Collaboration With Michael B. Jordan Started

Acclaimed director Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller, Sinners, keeps sinking its teeth into the film industry with strong early success, adding further credence to his successful partnership with long-time collaborator Michael B. Jordan. Having worked with Jordan for over a decade, Coogler admits he always saw him as a “real movie star” in the making.

Speaking with GQ, Coogler delved into how his creative partnership with Jordan started, with Sinners being their fifth collaboration. After Jordan established himself as a TV star in The Wire, All My Children and Friday Night Lights, Coogler thought the actor could seamlessly transition to movies, putting faith in his “incredible” talent.

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“I think we got to work together at a very unique time in his career, because he was still doing television at the time and had just been in two movies that had wide releases,” he said. “I felt that he really popped in both those movies—in Chronicle and in Red Tails. And I remember I told him, ‘I think you’re a real movie star.’ And he almost kind of looked at me like, ‘Man, for real?’ I really imagine that it was something that he knew internally, but it was very interesting to see first-hand just how much even phenomenal actors can have questions about themselves, you know what I’m saying? And so even though he had been doing it for so much longer than I had been doing it professionally, in a way, we kind of got to grow up together. And because he was the lead in the stuff that we were working on together, I got to kind of see what he was capable of up close.”

Michael B. Jordan Starred in Ryan Coogler’s Directorial Debut

Coogler made his directorial debut with the Jordan-led Fruitvale Station, which won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival while earning solid critical and commercial success. Their partnership blossomed into more well-received projects, including Creed and two Black Panther films, making them household names. According to Coogler, Sinners was a great opportunity for Jordan to flex his range and bring his horror blockbuster to life.

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“I thought this would be a really special opportunity for him as an actor, but even more so for us as an audience, right now, to see this guy that we think we know so well, pushing himself in a way that’s different than maybe I could imagine,” he said. “When you see somebody who’s a proven movie star, who you think you know, do something completely different from what you seen do before, I think that’s always exciting for me.”

Sinners sees Jordan playing twin brothers, Smoke and Stack. The duo return to their native Mississippi to try and start life anew, only to be confronted by bloodthirsty vampires disguised as normal people. Set in 1932, Sinners is an original story by Coogler inspired by his family history. Jordan stars alongside Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell, Jayme Lawson and Wunmi Mosaku.

Like their previous work, Coogler and Jordan’s Sinners has been a winner, earning near-perfect critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore. The Warner Bros. thriller also exceeded box-office expectations, grossing over $61 million domestically to top the charts above another successful studio title, A Minecraft Movie.

Jordan recently expressed why he and Coogler have clicked for so long, believing they are “cut from the same cloth” and crediting his hands-on creative approach. Though time will tell when they’ll work together again, it likely won’t be in a potential Sinners sequel as Coogler ruled out the possibility of a follow-up.

Sinners is now showing in theaters.

Source: GQ

Sinners

Release Date

April 18, 2025

Runtime

138 Minutes

Director

Ryan Coogler

Writers

Ryan Coogler

• Michael B. Jordan

  Smoke / Stack

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