“Sinners” Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian 7th nomination at the Golden Globes
It is not surprising that Sinners caused a sensation this morning when the Golden Globes nominations were announced. With seven nominations, including Best Drama and Best Director for Ryan Coogler, the film was praised for its unique visual storytelling and music.
“For me, I was just trying to write in the most honest way,” Coogler says. “We were constantly trying to think about the themes and why we were so excited about the film… but we were also thinking about the opportunity to entertain people in theaters around the world.”
When researching what excited her most about the film, producer Zinzi Coogler said it was the characters that drew her in. “I was immediately drawn to each character on the page in a way that made me feel like I knew them personally,” she says. “When the script got about halfway through, I remember feeling so excited and scared for everyone I had fallen in love with.”
Producer Sev Ohanian says it was the story that attracted him. “I just remember being captivated by the script and feeling how bold and ambitious the story Ryan had put together was,” he says. “It was decidedly original and I couldn’t wait to make it.”
Among today’s awards is a nomination for their original song “I Lied to You,” which is central to one of the film’s most memorable scenes. “Halfway through the script, I realized these characters were going to encounter some pretty crazy vampires,” says Ryan Coogler. “So I wanted to offer a moment of victory to the ancestors of the past and the future.”
To illustrate coming from “the most honest place,” Coogler says the scene and song were inspired by his uncle James, who died 10 years ago. “He loved the blues, and when he was alive, I didn’t love it as much as he did,” he says. “But after he passed away, I was playing songs to remember the time I had with him. And the ability of a song to unlock memory… it’s a cinematic version of that, and it became so much more as I was writing it.”
