*Wunmi Mosaku admits she felt a flicker of intimidation walking into the audition for “Sinners,” after all, Michael B. Jordan was in the room. But any nerves quickly gave way to mutual creative synergy. “It was just so easy,” Mosaku recalls of their early chemistry in an interview with W Magazine.
“There was a mutual respect, exploration, and collaboration. And then they offered me the job in the room, which was crazy,” she says.
Now a box office phenomenon, “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler’s eerie, genre-bending tale set in a vampire-ridden Jim Crow South, has crossed $200 million globally. Mosaku plays Annie, a Hoodoo healer with a tragic past and enduring love for Jordan’s Smoke, one of two bootlegging twins he portrays. In her conversation with the publication, the Nigerian-born British actor reflects on the emotional depth of Annie, a woman haunted by loss but grounded in spiritual power.
“Being a mom is an integral part of Annie, and it’s an integral part of me, now,” she says. “I was like, ‘I can learn from her as a mother.’”
To portray Annie, Mosaku immersed herself in the spiritual roots of Hoodoo. “That was the key for me with Annie: finding her anchor and the source of her power, which is her faith and love,” she explains. Guided by a consultant and extensive research in New Orleans, Mosaku explored practices and beliefs tied to her Yoruba ancestry. “Learning that history as a Yoruba woman myself, when I knew nothing about it at all, really opened up something for me.”
Scroll to continue reading
The emotional core of the film lies in Annie’s relationship with Smoke, one shaped by shared grief and enduring love. Mosaku credits Coogler’s meticulous backstory building for helping deepen the emotional layers of Annie and Smoke’s relationship.
“Ryan had a whole timeline… he even gave us middle and last names,” she explains. During a pivotal scene, the choice to have Annie address Smoke as “Elijah”—his real name—unlocked something vital.
“It was tingly,” Mosaku recalls. “She calls him Elijah three times in the movie… That’s who she loves.”
As for the future of “Sinners,” Mosaku believes there’s more story to tell. “I’d love to see a prequel,” she says.
“There’s so much history between these characters. I think audiences would be hungry for it.”
MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: ‘Sinners’ Surpasses $200M as ‘Thunderbolts’ Opens with $76M
Sign up for our Free daily newsletter HERE.
