Sinners made history as the first horror film to receive an A Cinemascore, but filmmaker Ryan Coogler wasn’t so sure about his Great Depression-set vampire epic when he pitched it to Michael B. Jordan.
During a performance op Hang well with Amy Poehler, the writer-director said, “How it ended up working: I was trying to put the screenplay together, because Mike was busy, and I didn’t want to say, ‘Hey, I have something,’ and then have him wait for a script; I didn’t need him blowing up my phone, like, ‘Hey, where is it?’ But what ended up happening was he called me and suggested something to me while I was working on this for him.”
Coogler had to say no to his old collaborator’s proposed project, leaving Michael to wonder about the reasoning behind the no.
The Black Panther director continued, “And at first I thought, ‘Mike, I can’t work on that right now.’ And he got angry [laughs]like, ‘Hey man, what’s going on? I want to get this going. There’s something you’re not telling me. ”
He continued, “I’m like, ‘Look, I’m working on something, I’m bringing this to you, this is what it is: They’re twins, they’re period, they’re vampires.’ And I remember how he reacted, because he was just silent for a long time. [chuckles]and I was like, ‘Oh shit, did I lose him?’ And he goes, ‘Man, you know what, that sounds pretty interesting, man.'”
Sinners went on to make a lot of money at the box office, grossing $368 million worldwide and receiving critical acclaim. It has also received several award nominations and is expected to receive Academy Award nominations as well.
