It’s no surprise that Sinners made a big splash this morning at the Golden Globes nominations announcement. With seven nominations, including Best Picture Drama and Best Director Motion Picture for Ryan Coogler, the film has been lauded for it’s unique, visual storytelling and music.
“For me, I was just trying to write from the most honest place,” says Coogler. “We were constantly trying to think about the themes and why we were so excited about the movie… but we were also thinking about the opportunity to entertain folks in theaters all over the world.”
When looking for what excited her most about the movie, producer Zinzi Coogler says it was the characters that drew her in. “I was immediately pulled into every single character on the page in a way that I felt like I had known them personally,” she says. “When the script makes its turn just about midway through, I just remember feeling so excited and afraid for everyone that I had fallen in love with.”
Producer Sev Ohanian says the story is what got him. “I just remember being gripped by the script and feeling how bold and ambitious the story was that Ryan had put together,” he says. “It was unapologetically original and I couldn’t wait to make it.”
Among the accolades today is a nomination for their original song “I Lied to You”, which lies at the heart of one of the most memorable scenes in the film. “By the time I got halfway through the script, I realized these characters were going to meet some pretty crazy vampires,” says Ryan Coogler. “So, I wanted to have a victory moment for them of the ancestors from the past and the future.”
As an example of coming from “the most honest place”, Coogler says the scene and the song were inspired by his uncle James who passed away 10 years ago. “He loved blues music, and while he was alive, I didn’t love it as much as he did,” he says. “But after he passed away, I would play songs to remind myself of spending time with him. And the ability for a song to unlock memory… this is a cinematic version of that, and it became so much more when I was writing it.”