Delroy Lindo, Li Jun Li & Omar Miller Talk Film
There’s no such thing as a Ryan Coogler film without a stellar, star-studded cast.
Source: Sinners
Like many of his award-winning box office hits like Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, and Creed, his latest genre-bending, supernatural thriller Sinners is no different.
Set in the Jim Crow South in the 1930s, the film follows twin World War I veterans, Smoke and Stack – both played by Michael B. Jordan – as they move back to Clarkson, Mississippi after years of working with Al Capone in Chicago, only to come face to face with the otherworldly.
In an attempt to somewhat turn away from their criminal ways, the twins buy a juke joint with plans of opening on the night of their return with help from local grocery store owners Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao).
The entrepreneurial brothers employ Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), a local legend and Blues musician, along with their Blues-singing cousin Sammy ( Miles Caton) to perform on opening night – with security being covered by a sharecropper- turned- bouncer, by the name of Cornbread (Omar Miller).
What seemed to be a perfect Mississippi night on the town, gets steamy, then gory, as the juke and its patrons face a bloody reckoning with the supernatural.
At first glance, the film could be classified as horror. However, its paranormal elements are only a piece of a larger story that sinks its teeth into the life and experience of Black, Asian, and Indigenous communities in the segregated south – using Blues music as a metaphorical metronome that illustrates how the past can impact both our present and our future.
While the film tackles history with depth, Coogler finds balance with light, laugh-out-loud humorous moments often brought by Lindo, Miller, and Li’’s performances.
“I think you just have to play them truthfully because real life is both tragic and comedic at the same time,” Li told BOSSIP’s Char Masona.
We chatted with the legendary Delroy Lindo, Omar Miller, and Li Jun Li, about the balance between comedy and truth and what a film like Sinners will mean for the future of film.
Source: Sinners / Sinners
“I hope that it starts a trend of work not being so boxed and defined by genre,” Lindo said about the standout film.
“This was a big swing by Ryan,” Miller added. “Hopefully this reignites a reinvigorated passion for cinema.”
Watch the full interview up top!
Source: Courtesy / Warner Bros. Pictures
Sinners hits theaters and IMAX on April 18.
