Ryan Coogler’s Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld is the film everyone is talking about right now. And I really do mean everyone.
From Hollywood icon Halle Berry who’s calling it the “best movie of the year” to basketball legend LeBron James who says it’s an “ABSOLUTE INCREDIBLE FILM” (yes, all in caps) and beloved actor Pedro Pascal who says “shut the f*** up and go see this movie” – Coogler’s vampire movie of a different kind is mesmerising audiences around the world. It is the only horror film to get an “A” on CinemaScore in the last 35 years. And it’s got a 98% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
So what exactly inspired Coogler – who is behind films such as Black Panther and Creed – to pursue the horror genre? In production notes shared with CelebrityKind, the director says he pulled from the movies he grew up with – the ones that left him terrified:
Photo: courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
“My earliest memories of movies were while sitting in a darkened room, full of strangers, and being absolutely terrified by something that was happening on the screen. That feeling of being with others, the unison, the horror and delight made me feel like home. That’s where it began for me. The film Jurassic Park would not be classified as a horror movie, but when you ask people what they remember, it’s probably the scene when the Tyrannosaurus Rex is chasing people in a car, or when the velociraptor opens up a door (with his teeth). Those are terrifying moments, the moments that stick with you. Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Jordan Peele’s Get Out. To me, that’s horror.”
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According to Coogler, all his favourite filmmakers “left an indelible mark on the consciousness of the audience” and it was often their movies that became timeless. That’s what he was chasing with Sinners, and going by the rave reviews, he’s certainly achieved his goal.
“So, I have loved the genre of horror since I can remember, and couldn’t wait to do my own one day. I got to dig into the films that I loved growing up and analyse them, figure out what drew me to them. I tried to lean on those influences and figure out a way to tell my story in that space. It’s a genre that continues to resonate with audiences, with popular consumers of films. But it’s also a genre that comes up when people talk about great pieces of art in cinema as well. I think that’s because it feels ancient. The first story we probably told around a fire was a horror story.”
Coogler says his aim was to make audiences feel the way he did watching movies growing up: “Sinners is my love letter to all of the things that I love about going to the movies, as a cinephile, especially watching films with an audience. It’s the communal experience-and this movie was made to be seen with a crowd of people you don’t know.”
(Feature Image Credit: Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler on set in ‘Sinners’; courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)
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