Realism in Mississippi horror film

Special to Wesson News

Sinners, a new Warner Brothers release directed by Ryan Coogler, may be a unique horror film coming out of the imagination of a filmmaker who has emerged as one of Hollywood’s new top talents, but it has won accolades for its realism in presenting local cultures.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, for one, said that from the very beginning of  the production, Coogler and his team at Proximity Media made it a priority to ensure authenticity by casting actual Mississippi Choctaws, using accurate Choctaw language, and paying close attention to period-specific dress and cultural representation.

"We extend our heartfelt thanks to Director Coogler, Proximity Media, and Warner Bros. for their commitment to accurate and respectful representation of Native Americans," the group said. "Your dedication to using accurate Choctaw language and culture makes a meaningful difference."

Sinners is Coogler’s fifth film.  He became a quick favorite of movie fans with Fruitvale Station set in his hometown of Oakland, California, which explored the last day of Oscar Grant; Creed, dreamed up for his father, who loved Rocky unabashedly; and Black Panther, which let him grapple with the idea of what it means to be African.

“I knew it would be a period piece and a horror movie, so I knew film made the most sense for that,” Coogler told the Associated Press. “But after getting into the research of the project and learning the epic scale of the contribution of Delta Blues when it comes to global popular culture, how this music kinda launched pop music as we know it … I realized that this was a larger-than-life story.”

Sinners blends elements of supernatural horror, gangster drama, romance, blues music and action across one eventful day in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1932 in which a community opens a juke joint and then has to defend it from a vampire army growing outside.

Coogler’s family’s ties to a Mississippi of the past -- his maternal grandfather from Merrill, Mississippi, who moved to Oakland, where the family remains, and his Uncle James, who introduced him to blues music and died while Coogler was making Creed – inspired the film’s setting.

A lot of films, with Jurassic Park, Get Out and The Shining suggesting the horror elements incorporated in Sinners, also inspired the director.

In the film, Coogler’s longtime collaborator Michael B. Jordan plays identical twins -- Smoke and Stack who served in the war, worked with Chicago gangsters and returning to their Mississippi home with plans to open a juke joint.

Smoke is a little grumpier, a little more serious and haunted by a loss. Stack is a little lighter — a charmer who smiles through the pain.  Co-stars Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku play Stack’s ex Mary Smoke’s longtime love Annie and deal with the twins’ personalities.

Coogler also brings a new face to the screen  -- Miles Caton, a 19-year-old newcomer who is essentially third lead to Jordan’s twins as Sammie (or Preacher Boy), a blues prodigy who wants to play music and not follow his father to the church.  For his part, Coogler introduced him to some great blues artists -- Howlin’ Wolf and Charlie Patton, Buddy Guy.

The film’s ensemble includes Jayme Lawson as a local singer, Omar Miller as a sharecropper, and Jack O’Connell as an Irish vampire.

The Mississippi Choctaws involved in Sinners include Tobiah Ben as a stunt driver, Mark Patrick as a horseback scout, Marco Patrick as a horseback stunt rider, Jaeden Wesley as a chanter, Jay Wesley as a Choctaw posse member and cultural consultant, Eric Willis as a Choctaw posse member, Cynthia Massey as a cultural consultant, and Sherrill Nickey as a cultural consultant.

Choctaw realism is only a part of the film’s story.  Sinners also presents a more accurate version of the Deep South at the time than audiences may be used to seeing in Hollywood films, with Li Jun Li and Yao as Asian American shop owners.

In their roles, cast members said they all seemed to learn a bit about themselves in the filmmaking process, according to Associated Press. “This film brought me closer to my family and my family history,” said Steinfeld, whose grandfather was half-Black and half-Filipino. “I think that it will serve as such an amazing conversation starter for people and maybe encourage them to look into their genealogy.”

Delroy Lindo is the other side of the blues spectrum as Delta Slim, an older man in town who he said recognizes Sammie as the future, “not just musically, but of our culture.”

Sinners also presents a more accurate version of the Deep South at the time than The Ryan Coogler effect.

There was a shared sense of purpose on “Sinners” that no wool costumes in 100+ degree temperatures, chiggers or stray alligators wandering onto the Louisiana set could spoil.

The cast and crew, many of whom Coogler's worked with before including composer Ludwig Göransson, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, production designer Hannah Beachler and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, knew they were part of something special.

“When this man picks up the phone says you want to come play? You sort of don’t give it a second thought,” said Lindo. “This is a particular cat, this is particular filmmaker, this is the particular storyteller in our culture and in world culture because it’s cinema and cinema is international”

 EDITOR’S NOTE:  Reprinted from A Shared History: Copiah County, Mississippi 1823-1823, including articles written by Paul C. Cartwright, Tricia Nelson and Gene Horton compiled and edited by Paul C. Cartwright.