At the 98th Academy Awards, Michael B. Jordan won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of both Smokestack twins in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. (Jordan is now the sixth Black actor to win this prestigious award, joining the ranks of Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith.)
Jordan’s win is a significant achievement for Sinners, which took home a total of four of the sixteen Academy Awards it was nominated for, including a win for Coogler for Best Original Screenplay, Autumn Durald Arkapaw becoming the first woman to win for Best Cinematography, and longtime Coogler collaborator Ludwig Göransson winning his third Oscar for Best Score (his first win being for Coogler’s 2018 film Black Panther). Collaborating with Coogler has undoubtedly played a crucial role in Michael B. Jordan’s journey to becoming an Oscar-winning actor. It’s similar to Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, or Spike Lee and Denzel Washington. They do great work on their own, but there’s something magical that happens. It’s interesting to think that Coogler and Jordan started out around the same time, and ended up becoming Oscar winners on the same night. There’s a marked shift in Jordan’s career after he started working with Coogler.
Their first collab
Jordan showed promise early on—real ones remember Jamal being heartbroken when the league found out he was too old to play for the Kekambas. But the world at large got to see Jordan’s work in HBO’s The Wire. Jordan’s portrayal of Wallace, a kid who lost his life far too young to the streets, was so impactful that images of Wallace with the cornrows began flooding the timeline after his Oscar win.
It wasn’t until around 2012 that Jordan’s movie career really started to take shape, with two films (Red Tails and Chronicle) dropping weeks apart. That same year, Coogler and Jordan met in Hollywood at Forest Whitaker's production office (which is crazy considering all three were part of the first Black Panther). Coogler was searching for an actor to portray Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station, and their conversation led to the burgeoning director sharing his enthusiasm in Jordan for that role, and his future.
"I said, 'Hey, man, I think you're a movie star. Let's do this project together and show the world,'" Coogler told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. That clearly struck a chord with Jordan, who was trying to figure out his way in Hollywood. "It was the first time anybody told me that," Jordan recalled. "At that point I was going around town and introducing myself and trying to get on people's minds, but there was never somebody saying, 'This is what I think you can do.' I would look at myself in the bathroom mirror and try to build up the belief that I was gonna be successful, but I never knew how directors or writers or filmmakers thought about me. But when Ryan said it in that Starbucks, that was the first."
Fruitvale Station ended up being a breakthrough for Coogler, who then chose Jordan to play Adonis Creed in 2015’s Creed. This successfully revitalized Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky franchise. Coogler was a lifelong fan of the Rocky series, watching them with his father. He knew that Michael B. Jordan was his Adonis, so much so that, before filming Fruitvale, he was already pitching him to Stallone, who’s biggest question was about the young actor’s dedication. Coogler’s response? “You’ve got to meet him. There’s nobody in the world who’s more ready to do this.”
And he was right; Jordan put himself through intense training and workouts to condition himself like a boxer. What’s funny is, before Creed, folks were ready to write off Jordan after Fantastic Four flopped that summer.
By the time Creed II (which Coogler was only able to executive produce due to his work on Black Panther) dropped, Jordan was producing his own projects. You could also tell that his vibe on-screen was different. Jordan wasn’t a stranger to working with some of Hollywood’s best, but he created pockets to shine within, from his intensity while challenging T’Challa to the monologue he cut right before his death; Jordan felt more assured in his choices, which reflected in his performance. His work as Erik Killmonger in the aforementioned Black Panther was some of the finest supervillainry (until Thanos appeared), delivering a performance that had many siding with the bad guy. From the moment Killmonger first looked over ancient Wakandan artifacts in a museum, his swagger felt different. He fully embodied the sinister Killmonger, who understood the reason for his actions, perfectly fine with mowing down the opposition to help better his people, even reprising the role in a cameo for Coogler’s 2022 Black Panther sequel.
Their biggest bet yet
Was this all in preparation for Sinners, aka the biggest gamble in both of their careers? Coogler was asking for a lot in exchange for distribution; if this film failed, it could be a huge blow to his momentum. And while Jordan has been the leading man before, this role demanded much more than his previous work; he had to embody two characters, leading a talented ensemble cast through a horrific nightmare. Were their previous collaborations the regular season leading into Sinners at the Finals?
It feels like it, and after over a decade of collaboration, you can feel the bond these two have built, as creatives and as brothers. At a ceremony honoring his work at the American Cinematheque, Jordan reflected on his journey and the importance of working with Coogler over the years. “I was hungry for more,” Jordan admitted, “curious about my limits: who could I be? Was I a leading man? Did I have what it takes? These were all questions and doubts and things a young actor has. I didn’t have those answers yet.” Those questions were answered through his time spent with Coogler. “Finding a collaborator like him early in my career changed everything for me. I’m very fortunate to have him and our creative partnership. Words can’t describe the impact you had on me and my life.” This was months after the bombastic release of Sinners, in the midst of a whirlwind awards season that saw Sinners shining the light it deserved, and a lot of that is due to Jordan’s performance.
From that dynamic opening shot, where twins Smoke and Stack light and share a cigarette, you not only knew that Coogler was a visionary who wasn’t messing around, and that Jordan was willing to take it there, embodying two different personas throughout the film. And this isn’t just having us escape into the dialogue of these brothers; it’s also a high-action vampire flick, with Jordan having to take out hordes of the undead and the Klan before the film’s done. Coogler saw the vision early and likely understood what Jordan could do with a role like this, as he’d not only seen him turn into the Oscar-winning star he is today, but he played a massive part in Jordan’s maturation. Jordan knew it, too, delivering this message during his acceptance speech.
“You’re an amazing, amazing person,” Jordan said to Coogler. “I’m so honored to call you a collaborator and a friend. You gave me the opportunity and space for me to be seen, and I love you too, bro. Love you to death.”