Ryan Coogler Shares His Nerve-Wracking First Pitch of ‘Sinners’ to Michael B. Jordan
Now achieving remarkable box office success with over $368 million grossed worldwide, Sinners is on track for multiple Oscar nominations following strong critical acclaim. During the early stages of the film’s development, however, filmmaker Ryan Coogler was uncertain about the reception of his Great Depression-era vampire epic, which tells the story of twin brothers who open a juke joint in Mississippi.
In a recent appearance on Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Coogler recounted his initial phone conversation with the film’s star, Michael B. Jordan.
“I was trying to get the screenplay together, ’cause Mike’s busy, and I didn’t wanna say, ‘Hey, I got a thing,’ and then have him waiting for a script,” Coogler explained. “But what ended up happening was he called me and pitched me something while I was working on this for him. At first I was like, ‘Mike, I can’t work on that right now.’ And he got upset [laughs], like, ‘Hey man, what’s going on? I wanna get this going. There’s something you’re not telling me.’”
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Coogler continued, reminiscing about the moment he pitched his idea. “I’m like, ‘Look, I’m working on a thing, I’m bringing this to you, this is what it is: it’s twins, it’s period, it’s vampires.’ I remember how he reacted ’cause he just got quiet for a long time [chuckles], and I was like, ‘Oh shit, did I lose him?’ And he’s like, ‘Man, you know what, that sound pretty interesting, man.’”
Afterward, Coogler completed the script—which is available for reading here—and shared it with Jordan. In the podcast, Coogler also discussed the extensive drafting process of the screenplay, which included iterations shown to his producing partner and wife, Zinzi Coogler, and later to Sev Ohanian, his longtime business partner who produced the film through their company, Proximity Media.
