As we prepare for the 32nd Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA, Backstage is breaking down this year’s film and television ensemble nominees for your consideration.
Main cast: Miles Caton‚ Delroy Lindo‚ Michael B. Jordan‚ Jayme Lawson‚ Li Jun Li‚ Omar Benson Miller‚ Wunmi Mosaku‚ Jack O’Connell‚ Hailee Steinfeld‚ and Yao
Casting by: Francine Maisler
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Written by: Ryan Coogler
Distributed by: Warner Bros.
A stunning distillation of time and place, Ryan Coogler’s lush musical–gothic horror–Western–gangster flick mashup is made intimate and familiar by its sprawling cast. With Michael B. Jordan playing Smoke and Stack, twin Chicago mafiosos returning, in 1932, to the segregated South, “Sinners” becomes a film of establishing and reclaiming joy in the form of a Black-owned juke joint—despite the presence of the Ku Klux Klan and vampires preying on musical talent, led by a ferocious Jack O’Connell.
Jordan’s thoughtful dual performances, veering between wise and rambunctious, sets the stage for the action as the twins recruit Sammie, their über-talented musician cousin, played by newcomer Miles Caton (himself a musical prodigy); and alcoholic pianist Delta Slim, played by film and TV vet Delroy Lindo, whose delivery is as mischievous as it is meaningful.
Jayme Lawson as crooner Pearline, Li Jun Li and Yao as enterprising couple Grace and Bo Chow, and Omar Benson Miller as the animated bouncer Cornbread are all convincing as supporting players helping to realize the brothers’ vision before supernatural evil intrudes. But the past has a hold on the characters, too, its pull embodied by a pair of spurned yet resilient women from the brothers’ earlier lives: Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), both of whom propel the story and help make it, in the end, a poignant one.