Sinners made history as the first horror film to receive an A Cinemascore, but filmmaker Ryan Coogler wasn't so sure about his Great Depression-era vampire epic when he pitched it to Michael B. Jordan. During an appearance on Good Hang with Amy Poehler, the writer-director recalled, "The story of how it worked out: I was trying to get the screenplay together because Mike's busy, and I didn't want him calling me constantly asking for updates. But what ended up happening was he called me and pitched me something while I was working on this for him."
Coogler had to say no to his longtime collaborator's proposed project, which left Michael wondering what the reason behind the rejection was. The Black Panther director continued, "At first, I told him, 'Mike, I can't work on that right now.' And he got upset [laughs], like, 'Hey man, what's going on? I wanna get this going. There's something you're not telling me.'
"I explained, 'Look, I'm working on a thing, I'm bringing this to you. It's twins, it's period, it's vampires. And I remember how he reacted because he just got quiet for a long time [chuckles]. I thought, 'Oh shit, did I lose him?' But then he said, 'Man, you know what? That sounds pretty interesting, man.'"
Sinners went on to make a killing at the box office, grossing $368 million worldwide and earning rave reviews. It has also been getting various award nominations and is expected to receive Academy Award nods as well.
