Oscar-winning Sinners star Michael B. Jordan went to the lengths of writing diary entries for his characters in Ryan Coogler’s horror film.
Michael B. Jordan wrote diary entries for his characters in Sinners.
The 39-year-old star won the Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards on Sunday (15.03.26) for his dual portrayal of the Smokestack Twins in Ryan Coogler’s horror flick and went to detailed lengths to create a background for his alter egos.
Speaking backstage to Deadline at the ceremony in Los Angeles, Michael said: “I try to go from the earliest memory that I can conjure up and think of, and I write all the way up to the first page of the script.
“That gives me an opportunity to figure out where they’re coming from, and that informs a lot of their decisions. Smoke is quiet, he’s a protector, and then Stack is a little bit more light and buoyant, a little bit of a slick talker and a troublemaker. So, I tried to just establish different perspectives.”
Coogler explained how the Creed star was the first person who came to mind when he came up with the idea for the film – which claimed four Oscar wins.
The 39-year-old filmmaker said: “As soon as I imagined what those two characters were going to be, I knew I had to call Mike.”
In his acceptance speech, Michael paid tribute to the five other Black actors who have previously won the Best Actor award – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith.
He said: “I stand here because of the people who came before me and to be amongst those giants, those greats, my guys…
“I want to thank everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting my career. I know you guys want me to do well and I wanna do that because you guys bet on me.
“So thank you for keeping on betting on me. I’m gonna keep stepping up and keep being the best version of myself I can be, so thank you to everybody in this room that had something to do with my success, I love you guys.
“Everybody at home who supported the movie and went to see it once, twice, three times, thank you, because you guys made this movie what it is. I love you.”
The Just Mercy star revealed how he and Coogler took inspiration from the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman on the set of Sinners.
Speaking at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last month, Michael recalled: “It was early in the shoot – maybe the first two weeks – and it was the first day that I had to go between both twins, going back and forth, and we were trying to figure out who goes first, Smoke or Stack.
“I was having a lot of conversations in between, and I dropped my accent and it was full Mike talking for a second. And then I tried to get back into the mindset of one of the twins, and it took me a little bit longer to get back into character than I would have liked.
“I remember me and Coogs were having a sidebar conversation between one of the setups, and he was like – not these words verbatim, but along the lines of – ‘What would Chad do?’ And I kind of looked at him for a second and was like, ‘Alright, say no more.’ I knew exactly what he meant. And that propelled and pushed me, gave me another gear to go to. So yeah, Chadwick was with me. He’s always with me.”
Michael B. Jordan penned diary entries for Sinners twins
