The project code name for Ryan Coogler‘s “Sinners” was “Grilled Cheese.” After spending four years making “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the filmmaker said he “wanted to make something that we could make fast and that we knew we could make well.” That’s a grilled cheese sandwich.
After making a few movies that grossed a couple billion dollars, he likened his pursuit with “Sinners” to that of Ralph Fiennes’ character in “The Menu,” someone who could make a plethora of elaborate dishes, but really just wants to make a cheeseburger.
“That’s something we know we can make quick. Everybody — anybody — off the street can sit down and enjoy that,” Coogler told IndieWire during a recent interview. “It ended up becoming a very complicated grilled cheese sandwich, but that was where we were at at first.”
Coogler also compared his temporary departure from IP-driven studio films to Jon Favreau’s detour to make “Chef” after making “Iron Man.” But “Sinners” is nothing like the cozy food movie “Chef.” It’s a period drama and gangster film that turns into a sexy and musical vampire action film, all of it deeply personal to Coogler’s roots, inspired by the birth of Blues music, and one starring Michael B. Jordan as two twin leads, no less!
“That’s when we know we’re in the right place at the right time, when our movie is difficult to describe, and it feels weird, and people furrow their eyebrows when they hear it,” Coogler said. “Because that’s kind of what makes us us. That’s when we’re doing a Proximity film.”
Though Coogler has proven he can consistently deliver at the box office, “Sinners” is a $90 million original film not based on IP. It represents a major test and risk for Coogler and his production banner Proximity Media, as well as Warner Bros. Pictures and its film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, for whom “Sinners” is just the first of several pricey and ambitious projects driven by name-brand filmmakers to come this year.
The two took a victory lap on the backs of “A Minecraft Movie” this month, but they still need “Sinners” to be a commercial hit. Proximity could help.
Coogler said that, though it may seem otherwise on the surface, “Sinners” is not intended for a niche audience. Like all of Proximity’s films, it’s intended to be an “exhilarating experience” for whomever is up for taking that ride. Coogler described it as delivering a Michelin Star restaurant experience in a McDonald’s.
“We aim to tell stories about characters, subject matters that are often overlooked, but tell them in the most eventized platform that we can,” said Zinzi Coogler, Coogler’s wife and partner at Proximity, be it through Proximity’s narrative film or TV slate, or its non-fiction and podcast divisions. “We keep that at the center of us. That’s what makes us a unique voice within the industry. And that’s what we’ll continue to aim to do, to find those voices. We’ve been fortunate to have filmmakers that we want to champion and support and execute on their visions for what their stories are.”
In recent weeks, Coogler has been on a media blitz in support of the film, and while it didn’t get a festival rollout, Warner Bros. has pushed the film as part of premieres and events in New York, Mexico City, and Los Angeles. IMAX has also touted the movie, staging some 70mm screenings at 10 different locations. To date, “Sinners” still has a perfect 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and an impressive 83 out of 100 on Metacritic. IndieWire called it Coogler’s best film of his career.
Though it seems like Coogler has been a mainstay in the industry for quite a while, “Sinners” is only Proximity’s fourth theatrical feature. Up next, they have two Marvel series coming out soon as part of an overall deal with Disney for television, including “Ironheart” and the animated “Eyes of Wakanda” series. But they’re intending to partner with past collaborators on future projects and have more to tease soon.
Sev Ohanian, Coogler’s production partner whom he met at film school at USC, says Coogler is someone who makes “incredibly audience-friendly movies with substance,” and that is reflected in all the titles Proximity hopes to produce. But he also believes that the makeup of the company and the people it works with sets itself apart from other production companies. The people being hired are not coming up as assistants or development executives but are independent, freelance financiers and storytellers, or part of Proximity’s popular internship program.
“Where we have found success as a company is really being heat-seeking missiles when it comes to making a project, trying to just skip through all the BS and really put it together in a way that actually can get us results,” Ohanian said. “It’s how we made movies like ‘Fruitvale Station’ and even [Ohanian’s’] ‘Searching.” We’re probably entering a new phase of our company.”
“Sinners” is an interesting test case for another reason: the film was made at Warner Bros. under the pretense that Proximity Media would again own the film’s IP after 25 years of WBD’s right to distribute the film, a similar model to what Quentin Tarantino secured for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” It’s a bet Coogler is making on himself and the film’s future value, something rare in an age when building a library of IP is more valuable for studios than ever before.
Coogler explained that, for Proximity, every project is bespoke, so this deal will not necessarily be replicated for all of his future titles. But for “Sinners,” a movie about sharecroppers opening their own business and establishing their culture with music, hanging on to the rights fit the film’s theme, and “it makes sense to ask for this.”
“I’m not the first filmmaker to get it. Warner Bros. is not the only studio that has done this with projects, though sometimes reading articles it seems like it,” Coogler said. “Much has been made of it, but this is such a personal story. And looking up, I’m not 40 years old yet, but I’ve had this opportunity due to some of the success I’ve had making movies for the studios, and I’ll forever be thankful to Warner Bros. and to frankly the other studios that offered it. It’s an opportunity now.”
If “Sinners” does succeed, we’ll all be curious as to what Coogler decides to grill up next.
