Photo Credit:Warner Bros Pictures
Michael B. Jordan got more than he bargained for with his latest role in Sinners—and it wasn't the vampires that had him squirming, but the gallons of fake blood.
In the upcoming 1930s-set vampire thriller, directed by longtime collaborator Ryan Coogler, Jordan plays dual roles as identical twin brothers, Smoke and Stack. Set in Mississippi, Sinners brought Jordan back together with Coogler (who he’s worked with on Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther)—but this time with a supernatural twist and a whole lot of gore.
“The fangs were dope. The blood? Not so much,” Jordan admitted. Coogler, 38, recalled being pulled into a meeting about Jordan’s distaste for the mess. “My wife and producer Zinzi Coogler was like, ‘We gotta talk about Mike. The blood—he doesn’t like it.’”
Jordan, now 38, laughed off the concern: “There’s a difference between complaining and venting! But they care, so they had a meeting. I appreciate that.”
Coogler teased moments on set where Jordan’s reaction to the blood was less than heroic. “I’d yell ‘Action,’ and he’d be like, ‘This is disgusting...’” Jordan didn’t deny it: “Disgusting.”
Though he’s never been a big horror fan, Jordan said working on Sinners helped him warm up to the genre. “I thought maybe if I’m in one, I’d start to like them. And I do—more now than before.”
Co-stars Hailee Steinfeld, 28, and Wunmi Mosaku, 38, who play Jordan’s romantic interests in the film, shared in the blood-soaked chaos.
“The special effects team wires you up, pumping blood everywhere,” Mosaku said. “You get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Steinfeld agreed: “It was so sticky. No one warned us. Makeup had to keep spraying our hands with water because our fingers kept sticking
together.”
The heat didn’t help either. Filmed in Louisiana during spring 2024, Sinners was shot under intense temperatures. Jordan endured it in thick, heavy costumes, impressing Mosaku with his mindset.
“Michael doesn’t complain. He just stands there, still, like, ‘There’s nothing we can do. Let’s push through.’”
She added with a laugh, “Well…except for the bugs. Those were impossible not to complain about.”
