The legendary guitarist Buddy Guy has said he took on his role in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners “to help the blues”.
The iconic Chicago blues musician, 88, makes a poignant appearance at the finale of the new horror-thriller, playing an older version of Miles Caton’s Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore, the son of a preacher man whose musical talents play a key role in the film’s narrative.
The story, directed by Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) follows Sammie and his cousins Smoke and Stack, both portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, as they attempt to open a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi, only to be confronted by both real-life and supernatural horrors.
In a scene at the end of the film set in the early 1990s, an older Sammie, played by Guy, is shown to have grown into a celebrated blues musician and plays a song for his cousins.
Now, in an interview with Variety, Guy has spoken about what convinced him to take on the part. “Well, they came into my club here in Chicago, and I was surprised,” he said. “They say, ‘Look, we want you to play this little part that’s called Sammie.’ And I’m saying, ‘Well, let me see’.”
“Because I don’t have a high school education to be reading long scripts,” he continued. “I did learn how to read and write. I’m like BB King: I’m not fast at it, but if you give it to me and give me time, I can memorize it. But the older you get, the less you can memorize.”
He added: “Whatever can help the blues stay alive, I’m all for it, and I will try anything. I said, I don’t know if I’m good enough to do that. But I’ll give it a try, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, at least I’ll say I gave it a try.”
In a four-star review of Sinners, NME wrote: “Sinners really comes to life via the musical numbers. Coogler’s longterm creative partner Ludwig Göransson, who won an Oscar for crafting Black Panther’s music, conjures up a masterful, blues-soaked score. Coogler uses it to prove just how influential the genre is via a spellbinding sequence that tracks through the juke joint, whirling around Preacher Boy and showcasing a hip-hop DJ, an MC and an electric guitarist.”
Watch Coogler and Göransson discuss their work together on the film, and their long history of collaboration, for NME above.
