While the vision comes from director Ryan Coogler's eyes and the leading men's performances is a result of Michael B. Jordan's execution, the narrative weight of music's otherworldly ability to conjure spirits of the past, present, and future, consequently necessitating an exceptional score and soundtrack.
The man behind the iconic sounds of franchises like Black Panther and The Mandalorian made extra efforts to collaborate on Sinners. Stars Miles Caton (Sammie "Preacher Boy" Moore) and Jack O'Connell (Remmick) have multiple on-screen songs, while veteran Delroy Lindo (Delta Slim) commands a number of instruments in the film.
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ScreenRant spoke with Caton, O'Connell, and Lindo to dissect each of their respective creative processes with Göransson, Caton's unique path to landing the role of Preacher Boy, and O'Connell's chaotic energy brought to his big bad.
Ludwig Göransson Worked With All Sinners Stars Individually
"I was living my best Beyonce life for a number of weeks..."
The Sinners cast had frequent one-on-ones with composer Ludwig Göransson to fine-tune their music-infused performances.
"It was a real treat. I think Ludwig's a real master at what he does," Jack O'Connell, whose character of Remmick sings a couple of authentic Irish tunes, discussed. "What he had at his disposal, it was expert. I don't have a lot of experience in recording music, so I was living my best Beyoncé life for a good number of weeks. By the end, I really got into it and started believing that I was a recording artist, my bubble was burst (laughs)."
Remmick's tunes are made possible by Miles Caton's Preacher Boy, whose gift of song is what lures the vampires to Club Juke in the first place.
"Ludwig, he's a genius, man. Prior to filming, I had gotten connected with him, and I actually learned how to play guitar for this project," Caton revealed. "I had a guitar teacher teach me the fundamentals of the blues and stuff. Once we got to New Orleans and started filming, I met [Ludwig] at a studio. It was a great, great space, and that's where he kind of talked to me about the plan that he had for the music and for my character."
Backing up Preacher Boy is Delroy Lindo's Delta Slim, a character that plays both the piano and harmonica. Lindo gave flowers to both Göransson and his wife, Serena McKinney, a violinist who helped her partner on bring his scores for projects like Oppenheimer to life.
"Ludwig and Serena bring such a wealth of experience," Lindo said. "The magnitude of what they do and how they do it and their relationship with Ryan Coogler, they bring all of that into the room, and that informed everything that we did. I was working on another project, and I met [Ludwig and Serena] in Los Angeles, and from the beginning, there was a clarity, an intentionality about how we were going to go about doing this work. It became real immersive."
Miles Caton's Journey From Concert Tours To The Big Screen
"Somebody in the crowd had seen me perform..."
The musical ask of this film was a second nature to Caton. While he is an acting newcomer among several tenured thespians, Caton's experience performing goes back to his teenage years alongside a multi-time Grammy Award winner.
"I've been touring with H.E.R. since I was 16 years old. Towards the end of the tour, she called me and she said that there was a role," Caton recalled. "Somebody in the crowd had seen me perform, and she said, 'I think you should audition for it.' This was my first time really acting. To find out it had this incredible cast, I was so truly blown away. Every day was a learning experience for me and just getting to see these guys work up close was incredible."
One of those guys Caton got to see work up close was Jack O'Connell. O'Connell bears fangs as Remmick, the leader of the vampires that infiltrate Club Juke.
"He does operate in plain sight, and he totally infiltrates the story really with this vampiric element," O'Connell explained. "Chatting to Ryan about it, there was a real intellectual depth to what he was telling me how Remmick was going to bring, and that is the ancient tradition which blues music is rooted in. This influence of Irish folk stuff, too, and the theory that a lot of cultures were mixing together in the American South, I flipped over that whole thesis. It gave me something real solid ground to feel like I was on with this absolute mental character."
That back-and-forth dialogue between actor and director continued with Delroy Lindo. Lindo revealed that when he was first approached with the story for Sinners, he had some second-half that Coogler was receptive to.
"Ryan was very open to the notes, the responses, and the questions that I had for him," Lindo shared. "He committed to working on the things that I brought to his attention, and he did. He was as good as his word. It was just very collaborative, and that was really affirming all the way around."
This was Lindo's first time working with Coogler, and he was particularly moved by the 38-year-old director's base of knowledge.
"It was genuine back and forth. The thing that you're talking about in of the mixing of cultures, Ryan had really impressed me."
"He had a real particular grasp of history, musical history, and how those components would inform this narrative," Lindo continued. "He knew what he was talking about, and for me, it bred a certain kind of confidence in of getting on this journey with him and being part of telling this story."
Sinners is in theaters now.
Source: ScreenRant Plus
Sinners
- Release Date
- April 18, 2025
- Runtime
- 138 Minutes
- Director
- Ryan Coogler
Cast
Smoke / Stack
Mary
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Ryan Coogler
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