Sinners is inspired by Ryan Coogler’s “very personal” real-life history

With Sinners now in cinemas, here’s everything we know about the inspiration for the horror-western, including how it corresponds with director Ryan Coogler’s own family history.

Sinners sees writer-director Ryan Coogler re-team with longtime collaborator – and Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther star – Michael B. Jordan, for a film that combines music with the western and horror genres.

Jordan plays two characters in the genre mash-up – twin brothers called Smoke and Stack – who spend the early scenes of the movie trying to launch a juke joint in their hometown.

But then a stranger named Remmick – played by Jack O’Connell – shows up, and all hell breaks loose; quite literally when his monstrous truth is revealed. Here’s where the inspiration for that story came from.

Is Sinners based on a true story?

With Sinners delving into the supernatural, the film isn’t based on a true story, but it is inspired by elements of writer-director Ryan Coogler’s own family history.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Although he grew up in Oakland, Coogler’s family is from Mississippi, and the idea for the movie came from the stories his uncle and grandfather would tell him, as well as the blues music they listened to.

Speaking at an event to launch the film’s trailer back in January, Coogler revealed: “It’s very personal. It’s interesting, too, because each time I’m blessed enough to make something, it’s been the most personal thing I’ve made to date. And this was no different.

“My maternal grandfather passed before I was born. We grew up in a house that he’d built in Oakland, after he had moved to California, and I was fortunate enough to have a really, really close relationship with my Uncle James. And this movie is about… the seed of it started with that relationship with my uncle.

“He would listen to blues music all the time, he would only talk about Mississippi when he was listening to that music, and he had a profound effect on my life. I got a chance to dig into my own ancestral history with this film, and it’s been truly rewarding.”

Ryan Coogler is telling a big story on the largest canvas

While Sinners is filled with music, action, and horror, it also deals with big themes related to racism and slavery, and Coogler says it’s his way of dealing with complicated family history, using very modern technology.

“The film, for me personally, it was a reclamation of a time period and a place that my family doesn’t talk about,” Coogler explains, “much because there’s a lot of feelings associated with our history. We go there… showing the full humanity [of these characters].

“A big question of it was like, ‘Well, our grandparents, they were like us.’ It made sense for it all to feel modern and immersive. I thought that IMAX format – as well as the Super Panavision format – and that landscape really puts it in perspective. I think people want to experience something they can fall into.”

The film is in cinemas now, and you can check out our Sinners ending explainer, or head here to find out where it will be streaming first. Alternatively check out our list of the best horror movies of all time, as well as out pick of new movies out this month.