Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are known for being a rock-solid creative duo, but their latest project put that trust to the ultimate test. Sinners, a chilling period horror set in 1930s Mississippi, asked more of them than ever before. Looking back, both Coogler and Jordan discussed the obstacles they faced during the movie production.
Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan on difficulties they faced during Sinners production
For Coogler and Jordan, working on Sinners felt like stepping into the unknown every single day. With Jordan playing twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, even scenes that looked easy ended up being a logistical headache behind the scenes. The director discussed the day he claims he nearly “lost his mind.” It involved both twins driving the same car, jumping out at just the right second, and vanishing into nearby bushes, all within a split second.
“You remember the day I almost lost my mind — where you guys had to drive the car and get into the bushes? Pulling off that shot was f—ing crazy, because Mike’s driving, and we had to do a repeated pass of the car driving up and landing, them getting out of the car with the correct timing, and then interacting with the bush with the correct timing,” he said (via EW).
For Jordan, the task was as much in the head as in the body. Playing twin WWI vets returning from Chicago meant constantly shifting between two minds. He said that in scenes with both brothers, he had to nail how one twin talked and moved before switching to the other. To pull it off, Jordan ran rehearsals with his twin double, Percy Bell, directing Percy so he could react naturally on camera later.
Jordan explained that whichever twin started a scene ended up laying down strict “rules” for blocking and camera angles. Since both characters couldn’t be in the same spot at once, they had to figure it out on the fly.
Originally reported by Rishabh Shandilya for ComingSoon.
