GOTHIC SOUTH OF SINNERS
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RED DIRT AND BLUE NOTES IN THE
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
by Shaun O'Banion
SLM Elston Howard/LMGI helps bring the Mississippi Delta
to Louisiana in Ryan Coogler's Vampire Horror Sensation
Set in the Jim Crow South of the early 1930s, director Ryan Coogler's break-
out hit Sinners transforms the landscape of the rural Mississippi Delta into a
vampire hellscape—only it wasn't shot in Mississippi at all.
SLM Elston Howard/LMGI braved the alligators, snakes and overgrown grass
weed of Louisiana to help Coogler ground the tale of twin brothers, both played
by Michael B. Jordan, who return from Chicago to reclaim their family's sawmill
by reimagining it as a juke joint.
Dirt roads, swampy backwaters and weathered timber buildings become the
visual and emotional backdrop for a tale of survival, resilience and cultural
expression, amplifying the historical weight of segregation and the hope
