Ryan Coogler has directed five movies, and with the exception of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (where he only cameoed), Michael B. Jordan has led them all. Sinners is their latest collaboration, with Jordan starring in one of the best movies of 2025 as twin brothers Smoke and Stack. The actor’s dual performances has among the many reasons Sinners has been met with many accolades, including being recognized among the 2026 Golden Globe nominations, and Coogler has now discussed how Jordan “challenged” him while they were making the horror movie.
During his discussion with fellow filmmaker Spike Lee for Variety’s Directors on Directors series, Ryan Coogler talked about his professional relationship with Michael B. Jordan and how it “started to make a lot of sense” for him to play twins in Sinners. Coogler thought it was “interesting” for an actor to “whose superpower is the audience is always with him” to play a “coldhearted killer” and a “manipulator.” When Lee noted that Coogler “flipped the script,” he responded:
