Michael B Jordan And Ryan Coogler's BTS Relationship Created A "Spiritual" Vibe On "Sinners" Set

Buzz Feed

16-04-2025

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Sinners.
Music, madness and Michael B Jordan are just a few things you can expect from Ryan Coogler's historical-horror Sinners.
Instagram: @sinnersmovie
Hitting critic screens with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, everyone's expecting big things from this film and they should. Coogler's story isn't just about vampires and jumpscares, it unpacks the reality of 1930s Mississipi, grief, tradition and how music moves generations, even unlocking evil.
It's consistent with Ryan's filmmaking MO — Michael B Jordan, a mean and moving soundtrack and action that gets you amped up.
While twin characters Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael) drive the story, the cast overall sells the strong sense of family and community — even when they're on opposing sides.
In speaking to Sinners' Omar Benson Miller, Li Jun Li and Delroy Lindo ahead of its cinematic release, we learned that the familial dynamic came naturally. Michael B Jordan and Ryan Coogler's pre-established relationship was its foundation.
Here's what Li Jun, Delroy and Omar told BuzzFeed Australia about their bond and the challenges faced as a family:
BFOZ: We've heard a lot from your other castmates, Wunmi, Michael and Hailee about how the Sinners team created family on set. The connection comes through so strongly on screen, how did you foster that on set?
Delroy Lindo: One doesn't create it. It's either there or it's not. It happened organically, in other words. It was very genuine. It happened over the course of our working together.
I want to believe that on any job, one has a professional regard for one's colleagues, but in terms the friendships, the connections that evolved with this group, it was entirely organic.
Gareth Cattermole /Omar Benson Miller: And that tone was set by Ryan and Michael B, to be honest, because they already had the rapport and they extended that to all of us who then in turn, like Del said, vibed on a spirtual level. We all vibe together, which put us all together on a professional level as well.
BFOZ: Having worked together before this on Black Panther, Creed and more, did Michael and Ryan's relationship ever make you feel left out?
Delroy Lindo: Never. Never at all. Not for one nanosecond. Never, ever, ever. That's not who they are.
Omar Benson Miller: Once you were cast, you were in.
Li Jun Li: Ryan went out of his way to make sure that we were treated exactly the same way. It was really a very special experience.
Omar: Very Egalitarian.
BFOZ: During your time on the Sinners set, were there ever any hardships, like difficult-to-shoot scenes, that you needed to overcome as a cast (or, individually)?
Delroy Lindo: For me the singing [was] — not hard — more challenging. Singing and the playing of the piano.
Now the irony of my saying that, is that those scenes are not in the film, ultimately. And I had a long discussion with Ryan about why they're not in the film, but in terms of the making of the work, those scenes were very challenging for me.
Because Delta is a musician and not just any old musician, he's a gifted supreme musician, extremely well respected in this community, and I wanted that to come across authentically. So that was challenging. That was challenging for me.
Li Jun Li: For me, I think it was just some of the environment factors — the heat, the bugs that we were dealing with, and some of the bigger scenes because of the sheer volume of the cast involved.
[There were] technicalities and challenges trying to get everyone's coverage and the choreography of moving the cameras, especially through that large montage scene, which is stitched together as a oner.
I felt like those days were pretty tough.
Omar Benson Miller: One of the hardest parts to shoot on this film, most challenging rather, was at the end for those of us who had turned, which in this case is just me. When Rennick (Jack O'Connell) gets hit with the guitar and we all get hit in the head, we were fighting the light, so we had to get stuff right.
There was quite a few scenes where we were fighting the light.
Also, when he does the Rocky Road to Dublin and we're doing the dance in the circle, that all had to be done within a very short window because the sun was coming up.
And so with the former, we get hit in the head, we all go down, and when we're crawling on the ground, the ground is full of bugs and chiggers. The light is coming up, they're rushing to try to get the shot.
Omar: There was a lot that went into play, so really we're shooting overnight. It's super hot and you want to bring your A-game because we all wanted to perform for each other and for Ryan who trusted us with his material.