Podcast 234: Sinners

Movie Title: Sinners
Release Date: April 18, 2025 — U.S. theatrical release
Runtime: 2 hr 17 min / 138 minutes — sources vary slightly by rounding
Director: Ryan Coogler
Screenplay Written By: Ryan Coogler
Based On: Original screenplay
Is it a remake?: No. Insufficient verified data indicating it is based on a prior film, novel, or remake property.

Main Cast:

Michael B. Jordan as Elijah “Smoke” Moore / Elias “Stack” Moore
Hailee Steinfeld as Mary
Miles Caton as Samuel “Sammie” Moore / “Preacherboy”
Jack O’Connell as Remmick
Wunmi Mosaku as Annie
Jayme Lawson as Pearline
Omar Benson Miller as Cornbread
Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim
Buddy Guy as elderly Sammie
Li Jun Li as Grace Chow
Saul Williams as Jedidiah Moore

Budget:

Estimated $90–100 million. Wikipedia reports $90–100 million; industry reporting cited there notes the final budget rose to around $100 million.

Box Office:

Domestic: $279,989,632
International: $90,300,000
Worldwide: $370,289,632
Opening weekend: $48,007,468
Distributor: Warner Bros. / IMAX
Release window: April 18, 2025 – July 18, 2025

Awards:

98th Academy Awards: 16 nominations; 4 wins.
Oscar wins: Best Actor — Michael B. Jordan; Best Original Screenplay — Ryan Coogler; Best Cinematography — Autumn Durald Arkapaw; Best Original Score — Ludwig Göransson.
Additional Oscar nominations included: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor — Delroy Lindo, Best Supporting Actress — Wunmi Mosaku, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song, and Best Casting.
Listed among the National Board of Review and American Film Institute top ten films of 2025.

Short Plot Summary:

Set in 1932 Mississippi, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack, World War I veterans and former Chicago mobsters, as they return home to open a juke joint for the local Black community. Their cousin Sammie, a gifted blues musician, joins them despite warnings that the music may invite danger. As opening night unfolds, the celebration draws both human threats and a supernatural evil. The film blends period drama, music, Southern Gothic horror, and vampire mythology.

Key Quotes:

“I am your way out.” — Remmick
“Last time I seen the sun.” — Stack
“For a few hours, we was free.” — Stack

Trivia

Director:
- Sinners is the fifth collaboration between Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and Ludwig Göransson.
- Coogler developed the film through Proximity Media. Warner Bros. won the distribution rights after a bidding war involving Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures.
- Coogler reportedly sought unusual studio terms, including first-dollar gross, final cut privilege, and ownership of the film after 25 years.
- Coogler cited influences including Quentin Tarantino, Jordan Peele, Christopher Nolan, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Spike Lee, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Faculty, No Country for Old Men, The Thing, The Twilight Zone, and Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot.
Cast / Casting:
- Michael B. Jordan plays dual roles as twin brothers Smoke and Stack.
- Miles Caton made his film debut as Sammie / “Preacherboy.”
- Buddy Guy appears as elderly Sammie, connecting the movie’s blues mythology to a real blues legend.
- Halsey reportedly auditioned for the role that went to Hailee Steinfeld.
- Machine Gun Kelly was reportedly offered an opportunity to audition for the role that went to Peter Dreimanis but declined due to discomfort with the language required for the part.
Soundtrack / Score:
- Ludwig Göransson composed the score and worked on the soundtrack; he also served as an executive producer.
- Göransson drew from blues music and performed the score on a 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar, the same type of guitar carried by Sammie in the film.
- Coogler sent Göransson recordings from the 1930s and 1940s, including Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson, during pre-production.
- Songs were recorded at Royal Studios over five days with musicians including Alvin Youngblood Hart, Cedric Burnside, Brittany Howard, Raphael Saadiq, Bobby Rush, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and Buddy Guy.
- Much of the music was recorded live on set, with cast members performing alongside blues musicians.
- Hailee Steinfeld wrote and recorded the original song “Dangerous” for the film.
- The soundtrack and score were released through Sony labels instead of Warner Bros.’ usual WaterTower Music label.
Location:
- Although set in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the film was shot in Louisiana within roughly a 50-mile radius of New Orleans.
- Donaldsonville, Louisiana doubled for Clarksdale’s main street; the production built or dressed more than a dozen small businesses, including a grocery store, gas station, movie theater, barber shop, and hotel.
- The juke joint was built on the former Hidden Oaks Golf Course in Braithwaite, Louisiana, a site that had been closed after Hurricane Katrina flooding.
- Plantation scenes were filmed at Laurel Valley Plantation in Thibodaux, Louisiana; alfalfa plants stood in for cotton.
Behind-The-Scenes:
- Principal photography ran from April 14 to July 17, 2024, under the working title Grilled Cheese.
- Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw shot the film on 65mm using IMAX 15-perf and Ultra Panavision 70 cameras.
- The movie alternates between 1.43:1 and 2.76:1 aspect ratios.
- Arkapaw became the first female director of photography to shoot a movie on large-format IMAX film.
- Kodak created a 65mm version of Ektachrome 100D 5294 specifically for the production.
- Some costumes originated from research and designs Ruth E. Carter had done for Marvel’s Blade before that project moved away from a period setting.
- The film’s release moved from March 7, 2025 to April 18, 2025 partly because post-production needed more time due to the scarcity of film-stock labs.
- The theatrical release included 10 IMAX 70mm prints and 5 standard 70mm prints.
Nostalgia:
- The film heavily draws on Delta blues history, juke joint culture, Prohibition-era settings, and 1930s Southern folklore.
- Coogler connected the story to his own family history and his uncle James, a Mississippi native and blues lover.
- The 1992 epilogue uses Buddy Guy as elderly Sammie, tying the story’s fictional blues legacy to a real-world blues icon.
Easter Eggs:
- Production designer Hannah Beachler said the church design includes crossed beams forming the “Wakanda Forever” gesture as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman.
- Christopher Nolan receives an on-screen special thanks credit and is listed among Coogler’s cited influences.
- The film’s vampire-juke-joint structure has a clearly cited influence from Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn.
Misc:
- The film premiered April 3, 2025 at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City before its wider U.S. release on April 18, 2025.
- Clarksdale, Mississippi hosted special screenings even though the town lacked a working movie theater; the screenings were held at the civic auditorium and included panels/Q&As.
- Warner Bros. made Sinners available on HBO Max with Black American Sign Language interpretation, described by the company as the first streaming-service film offering with BASL.