00:00If I had to boil it down to like one scene that I can't believe we were able to pull off,
00:03I would say it's the cigarette patch that happens the first time that you see the
00:06Smokestack twins. You know, we wanted to make it feel real and believable. We knew that would
00:11be the first time that we introduce Michael's performances as these two characters. And just
00:17like the collaboration of every single department. Hey, what's going on, everybody? I'm Ryan Coogley.
00:22I'm here with The Hollywood Reporter. We've been in and out of here all day.
00:25Ain't never need to invite them. Yeah, something ain't adding up.
00:31Yeah, I mean, I grew up watching a lot. We were a movie in a TV household for sure.
00:37I think the biggest ones are Rod Sterling's work on The Twilight Zone. That's, I think,
00:46like the North Star for me in terms of anything that's been put to film or television.
00:51You could watch a 30-minute episode and be scared and thrilled and all of the genre elements work.
01:01But also, if you look closer, I think you feel it every time. You know, he's saying something about
01:06where society is and where it needs to be. You know, one of those episodes was a huge tonal
01:14inspiration for Sinners. Something I was interested in about this time that we were putting Sinners
01:20out. I think that whenever you're dealing with a film that has, like, context of people being
01:25looked over or mistreated as Black folks were in the Jim Crow assault at the time the film was set
01:31in the 1930s, you know, I think that, unfortunately, you know, we're always dealing with issues like
01:36this in society. So the film could come out at any time and folks would be able to make parallels.
01:41I think that in this case, you know, it was a time when people wanted to go to the movies,
01:47wanted to have their minds blown, but it was also some social context to it as well.
01:51A scene, a performance, I still can't believe we pulled off in the film. The film is full of them,
01:55you know. I would say two that stick out are working with Francine Mazler and finding Miles
02:01K-Team, you know, writing a script. You know, I knew that, that, you know, Mike would, would play
02:07the twins, but, but I didn't know if we would find a kid who could fit all the things that Sammy had
02:11to be. Um, this, this generational, uh, musical talent, but also, uh, an actor who, who you could
02:18believe had their whole life in front of them, but who could stand toe-to-toe with Michael B. Jordan,
02:23Haley Steinfeld, Womi Mousaku, um, Deori Lindo, uh, and all of the other, you know, Saul Williams,
02:28all the other incredible thespians that we, that we, that we have, we have to put this kid in front
02:33of, um, that you would believe him. Um, so, so just finding that, that incredible talent that is,
02:38that is Miles K-Team. And I would say, in terms of, I had to boil it down to like one scene that I
02:43can't believe we were able to pull off, I would say it's, it's the cigarette patch that happens the
02:47first time that you see the Smokestack twins. You know, we, we wanted to make it feel real and
02:52believable. We knew that would be the first time that we, that we introduced Michael's performances as
02:57these two, as these two characters. And just like the collaboration of every single department and
03:01really being able to hang on the bones that were, uh, Mike's incredible performances. But it took a
03:07lot, specifically visual effects work and camera work and, uh, and pulling that off. Um, and I,
03:13and I thought it was, you know, by the time we were done with it, it was, it was effectively seeing
03:16me. So it's still, it's still mind-blowing on that. At this point in my career, do I feel more
03:20pressure and more freedom as a director? That's a great, that's a great question. I think that I feel
03:24them in equal parts, you know, like, like, um, because in many ways, the more freedom that you
03:30have, the more pressure that you feel on each decision, I would say, you know, when you're
03:35given a lot of trust in, in a lot of times with directing, trust is earned, right? Cause you, you
03:39know, you get trust because you've done things that have worked before. So then you feel the pressure
03:43like, man, can this keep working? Can I, can I continue to make the right, the right types of
03:47decisions? You know what I mean? Now that I'm in a different scenario, which, which breeds like a type of
03:52internal pressure, you know, where you can find yourself, I think, second guessing and things
03:56of that nature. What I've been blessed with is, um, my, my real life pressure has increased
04:02to, to a point that, that my, my, my professional pressure is, is, is, um, it pales in comparison
04:10to the pressure of, um, being a husband, being a father, uh, three times over, um, having aging
04:17parents and family members, that, that, that life pressure has, has, has grown as I matured
04:24to the point where, you know, I show up on set. It's a relief, you know what I mean? Like
04:28compared to, compared to that stuff, you know, so, so that, that, that's been fortunate.
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