Ryan Coogler says an unlikely Disney Channel classic helped spark the cultural and creative spark behind Sinners.
While speaking during his Sinners panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles event on Saturday (Nov. 15), Coogler explained that his fascination with the cultural parallels between Irish and Black traditions was unexpectedly sparked by the 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie, The Luck of the Irish.
“That was our first introduction to some of the similarities in Irish folk music to, basically, our music,” he told Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. “There’s a small Irish community in the Bay, and we would talk about it. That movie was kind of a touchpoint for us to jump off of, crazy enough. We’ve been fascinated with that culture in my family.”
When an audience member mentioned she had worked on the Disney film, he replied "God bless you," and said, "There's a lot of fans of you in Oakland, California, right now. We used to watch that movie like crazy."
Deadline noted that the film's influence helped shape Jack O'Connell's vampire antagonist Remmick in the film, which follows twin brothers Stack and Smoke, both played by Michael B. Jordan, as they return home in 1932 to open a juke joint that becomes the creature's hunting ground.
“The film was a great opportunity,” said Coogler. “It was also a big shoutout to Bram Stoker, who was Irish, and kind of gave us the first context around the concept of a vampire in popular culture. So it just made a lot of sense to explore the character that way. He’s not Satan, but we saw him as a pre-colonial Irishman who had this massive backstory that we would kind of hint at and peel back like an onion.”
Coogler also praised "the great Jack O'Connell," saying the actor delivered a "beautiful performance" and "brought the memory of his father to the role, the same way that I brought the memory of my uncle," which made it "a profound experience to see somebody take ownership of the film in the same way."
At the same panel, Coogler confirmed that his next project is the highly-anticipated Black Panther 3.
“Yeah, we’re working on it hard,” Coogler said. “It’s my next movie.”
Although Marvel hasn’t announced official details about the film, Black Panther 3 is reportedly eyeing a February 2028 release date, with production expected to begin in early 2027.