Director Ryan Coogler on His Latest Hit: Sinners

Democracy Now! speak with acclaimed director Ryan Coogler about his latest film Sinners, which is set to be one of the biggest box office hits of the year.

Starring Michael B. Jordan, the genre-bending horror film is set in the Mississippi Delta during Jim Crow and is a “cinematic gumbo” of various influences and themes, Coogler tells Democracy Now! “I wanted to make a film that was kind of raging against the concept of genre and making the audience constantly question it, even while they were watching it,” he says. In particular, the film celebrates Delta blues, music made by Black artists “living under a back-breaking form of American apartheid,” and what Coogler describes as “our country’s most important contribution to global popular culture.”

Coogler also discusses his family connection to Mississippi, producing the film with his wife Zinzi Coogler, his highly publicized contract with Warner Bros. and more. Coogler’s previous films include Black Panther, Creed and Fruitvale Station.

You start dying when you stop dreaming.