From Spike Lee to Francis Ford Coppola: The directors who inspired Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’
It feels weird to say about a director who has already achieved so much success, but it feels like Ryan Coogler is only just getting started. From his early efforts with Fruitvale Station to revolutionising both the Rocky franchise and Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the man behind Creed, Black Panther, and more has taken the world by storm in just a few short years. Most astonishingly of all, at the time of writing, he isn’t even 40 yet.
In 2025, Coogler has released his first original movie in over a decade, Sinners, starring Michael B Jordan (because of course it does) as a pair of twins, Smoke and Stack, who return to their childhood home with the hopes of opening a juke club in 1932. Infused with blues music and a supernatural edge to the second half, the film is a lot of fun, if a little confused in places. But how did it come together?
In a letter shared with IndieWire, Coogler revealed that there were over 40 different inspirations for the movie. “I had the gift of the opportunity of making a film inspired by my family and my ancestry,” he wrote, referencing the strong African-American presence that pervades the film. “But it was always a film that we wanted to make for audiences, in theatres. We always had our minds on you, the audience, and felt a deep responsibility to entertain you, and move you in the way only cinema can.”
The list of names credited in the letter is long and impressive. Coogler labels Spike Lee as a big inspiration, and it’s not hard to see why. Lee’s body of work strives to tell stories about Black individuals and communities, both famous and ordinary, with dialogue and scenarios unique to the Black American experience. Delroy Lindo, who plays Delta Slim in Sinners, is one of Lee’s most frequent collaborators, having appeared in some of his biggest movies, like Malcolm X and Da 5 Bloods.
Also on Coogler’s list is a director he’s sung the praises of before, Francis Ford Coppola. The first half of Sinners plays out like one of Coppola’s classic gangster movies, with Smoke and Stack driving around town, recruiting various allies to pull off their next big scheme. Coppola also has his own movie set in a music venue, 1984’s The Cotton Club, although that was decidedly more focused on white musicians, despite being ostensibly about jazz.
The other names on Coogler’s thank you note include some of the greatest filmmakers of all time, from horror auteurs like David Cronenberg and John Carpenter, to famous icons like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan, to ground-breaking female directors like Ava DuVernay and Andrea Arnold. To name all of the talented and industry-defining people mentioned in the letter would take all day, but it’s clear that Coogler did his research when putting together his latest hit.
Ultimately, it’s not any one person that the director feels he owes the most to: “We don’t get to do what we do if you don’t show up,” Coogler said of the audience. “To see your response to the film has reinvigorated me and many others who believe in this art form… I believe in cinema. I believe in the theatrical experience. I believe it is a necessary pillar of society.”
