In Oakland, Ryan Coogler Shares the Story Behind ‘Sinners’

Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre was in rare form on Wednesday, April 16, for a packed private screening of Ryan Coogler’s latest film, Sinners.

An artistically crafted horror film set in 1930s prohibition-era Clarksdale, Mississippi, the movie stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual performance of slick-talking twin brothers hellbent on making money while providing a safe haven for the Black community. The two open a juke joint and host a party unlike any other. Then the vampires show up.

At the Grand Lake, audience members shared long hugs, selfies and conversation amongst one another. Along with Coogler’s friends and family, attendees included Oakland mayoral candidate and former congresswoman Barbara Lee, comedic political pundit W. Kamau Bell and well-known community pillar and rapper Mistah F.A.B.

Someone not too far from me yelled “Warriors!” as Steph and Ayesha Curry walked in, making their way to sit near Draymond Green and Moses Moody. Moments later, the crowd erupted as Coogler and his wife, Oakland-raised film producer Zinzi Coogler, entered the building.

After the two-hour, mind-bending, southern-musical thriller of a film, I had the honor of talking with Ryan Coogler onstage. We were accompanied by highly decorated actor Delroy Lindo, who plays blues musician Delta Slim in the film, and Grammy-winning musician and founding member of Tony! Toni! Tone!, Raphael Saadiq.

Over the course of 25 minutes, we touched on Saadiq and Lindo’s involvement in the film and roots in Oakland. But it was clearly Coogler’s night, as he rhapsodized at length about the film’s inspirations and the way his family history fueled his creative process.

Conspicuously, Coogler all but refused to explicitly state what was evident to the crowd who’d just seen Sinners: that the film is an allegory for the oppression Black communities have faced historically, and today, in this country. But you can read what he did say below.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

PENDARVIS HARSHAW: In my line of work, it’s important not to bury the lede. This piece that we just saw, it’s an allegory for a much larger topic. It’s set in the 1930s, but it speaks to what’s happening today. Can you please explain the allegory that’s in this film?

RYAN COOGLER: I’m not as smart as you, Pendarvis (laughs). I was just trying to make something that came from me, and something people could enjoy in a big group. Honestly, I wanted to make a great movie. And while this was an opportunity for me to work with my wife, it really was an opportunity for me to look backwards at my recent ancestors. I got a chance to talk to my grandma, and interview her. She’s 96 years old. Talking to her about her past, and what her early life was like in Texas, I learned so much about myself.

My grandfather, who was a Mississippi man, died about a year before I was born, so I never met him physically. But I found out that my grandma’s first date with him was a movie date. That brought it all full circle. And I’ll tell you something – this might embarrass my grandma – I asked her, “Man, what was it like, in that movie theater?” And she said, “Well, I was tryin’ to watch the movie, and he was tryin’ to make out with me!” (laughs)

So a lot of the movie is like, the conversations I had with my grandma, and with my Uncle James, rest in peace. He was from Austin, Mississippi. He was my introduction to blues music — Buddy Guy is someone he would go see, in the later years of his life. So I was just trying to make something that felt like home. That was it. Any allegories you might find there, like I said, it’s a byproduct of me just trying to make something honest.

I want to follow up with you real quick. The scene of the party, and the juke joint, and the roof on fire. We built something to liberate ourselves.

Yeah.

And then the vampires come.

Yeah.

That’s not an allegory?!?

I’d say you outsmarted me, bro. (laughs)

I just got to be honest, though, about being here, at the Grand Lake. I’ve shown movies all over the world, bro. And ain’t nothing like what happened just now. I wasn’t able to be here when we played Fruitvale Station. I wasn’t able be here when we played Black Panther, because I was in other parts of the world. So this was … I’ve been missing this.

After my uncle passed away — my uncle and his two sons were a massive part of my life, and I wasn’t around when they passed. I missed funerals, because I was trying to pursue the dream of making movies, or trying to pursue the dream of trying out for the NFL. These were people that really impacted my life. And when I think about them, I’ll listen to music I listened to when I was with them. With my uncle, it was blues music, and in the process of listening to the music, I’d feel like I was in his spirit. I felt like he was right there listening with me. That was the basis of the movie.

You and I are both products of institutions in the Bay, and there’s an issue that I’ve noticed with a lot of artists, where they get stuck in the Bay. Speaking to a room full of people who are creators: How do you get your work beyond this region?

That’s a heavy question, bro. Man. The pursuit took me out. I was trying to get a college scholarship, and that’s what got me in Sacramento, which is still in reach of the Bay. When it was time to go to a specific film school, I had a teacher who was from USC who advised me to go there. I didn’t apply anywhere else. So that got me to L.A., and that transition was difficult, bro. I was able to make that transition because I was able to tap in with some of my L.A. homies. Some of them might be here tonight. Some of my L.A. homies played football with me in Sac, and they kind of eased me in.

I don’t know if y’all have found this to be true, but there’s a whole lot of different L.A.s, you know? There’s the Hollywood L.A., and then there’s like L.A. L.A., which is basically like Oakland, with a few slight differences. I was able to get down with people who are actually from here, and they kind of took me in, and I was able to have a home away from home. Does that make sense? If I didn’t have that, I don’t think I would have made it down there.

I read your artist statement about this film, how you pulled from horror films of the past, be it The Shining or Get Out. You mention Jurassic Park as a horror film — I laugh because I literally ran out of this theater when I was a kid watching Jurassic Park. It is a horror film!

But my question to you is, in that note, you also mention how you wanted to create something that allows people to be in community. Why now? Why is community so broken right now?

It’s such a great question, bro. For me, I was coming off a lot of things that made me feel isolated. There was the global pandemic that obviously changed a lot of our habits. And anything that involved — like you guys here — people being around strangers, that atrophied. A lot of businesses that I love in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles were shut down. My favorite movie theater, the ArcLight Hollywood, that’s gone. My favorite restaurants, a lot of them, gone. And watching what happened with these youngsters, man, they had to have graduations on Zoom.

And I lost my friend Chadwick. That started a whole process of — the project that I was on, it kind of doubled, tripled the time for me to get through it. I was in Atlanta for a long time, much, much longer than I wanted to be, and I couldn’t recharge the battery. I was kind of stranded out there, away from my family. And then, coming back, because the tech engine expanded into entertainment, we had a couple big labor issues, massive ones. One I was directly involved in, the WGA, which saw a stall in terms of work. I couldn’t go to the studio, I couldn’t cross the picket line — my uncle would kill me if I did that.

So it was a lot. It was a lot of isolation stacked on top of each other. And I got into this business because I love being in the theater. I love watching movies with strangers. I love that me and my wife’s first date was to the movies — we saw Bring It On at the Jack London Regal. I also tried to do the thing my grandpa was doing. (laughs) Hey, I was a lot more successful, you feel me?

But I’ll take it back to your question — the thing I was trying to do was to get back to this (gesturing at the theater audience), you know? And I wanted to do it in a personal way. One of the reasons it’s important right now is that it’s being attacked, isn’t it? And at times like that, you know… you got to raise the issue.

‘Sinners’ is in theaters now.