Delroy Lindo sees “Sinners” as more than just horror — and how he crafted one of the movie's most profound scenes
Delroy Lindo sees “Sinners” as more than just horror — and how he crafted one of the movie's most profound scenes
Gerrad HallWed, February 25, 2026 at 10:27 PM UTC
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'Sinners' star Delroy LindoCredit: Warner Bros
"Dad, you got that s---!"
Delroy Lindo's son called him from Europe where he's working the morning of Thursday, Jan. 22, to share the good news: The veteran actor and star of Sinners had earned his first-ever Oscar nomination.
But Lindo, who had previously gotten his hopes up before — he was widely considered a snub at the 2021 ceremony for his work in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods— chose to "maintain distance... to maintain my emotional equilibrium" this year, he says on The Awardist podcast. "I don't want to set myself up. It's really that simple," he says. "And I will tell you in that regard, I'm still processing in my own head, Wow, this really did happen. This really did happen, 16 times. 16, which is extraordinary."
Sinners broke the record for most nominations by a movie — surpassing the previous record of 14 held by La La Land, Titanic, and All About Eve — including Best Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Supporting Actress for Wunmi Mosaku, Original Song, Cinematography, and Score. While many have celebrated the Academy embracing a horror movie in such a way, Lindo has a different take on the movie.
"I do not [see it as a horror movie], and I always quote unquote push back. I try to bring — if they don't know, and most people do know — to their attention, think about the various narrative strains that are present in this film," the London-born actor explains. "The vampire aspect is only one of them, albeit a very fundamental and necessary component. But I felt that the vampires represented outside forces infiltrating a community, and we see what happens as a result of that infiltration."
Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim in 'Sinners'Credit: Warner Bros.
When Lindo first read Coogler's script, it was that theme, "exploring what it means when a community is violated," Lindo says, that hit him most. That was some two years ago.
"I feel very strongly that we are going through that now, right now as we speak, and the tragedy of that — God, obviously, none of us could have anticipated where we are right now in this country, as an example," he says, referring to the Trump administrations immigration crackdown and, with it, ICE raids and arrests in cities across the U.S. "But I recognized, or I thought I recognized, a very contemporary component in this story from the very first time that I read it."
Lindo's Delta Slim is one of the few musicians recruited by Stack (Jordan) to be part of his and his twin brother Smoke's new juke joint, which they're opening that night we meet them. When we first encounter Slim, he's drunk, playing harmonica at the train station. While we don't know much about it, it's evident that a life has been lived — he's seen and experienced things that got him here.
Lindo says the character development happened "in increments, step by step by step," starting with two books Coogler gave him to read: Blues People by Amiri Baraka (who wrote it under the pen name LeRoi Jones), and Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads by Robert Palmer.
"In reading those books, I got a sense of personality, yes, but life, life lived and lifestyles," he recalls. "In exposing myself to that literature, a doorway is open into my understanding. So now I'm getting a sense, for instance, of the itinerant aspect of a lot of these cats and their worlds and their lives, the very very fundamental and elemental relationship to their work, to their music that acts as a kind of a, I don't know, a North star."
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As for the music, he listened to musicians from the Delta, including Son House, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Ike Turner.
"It's this mix of data, of stimuli that I'm exposing myself to, and then filtering it through whatever my own process is to come closer to who my Delta slam will be," he says.
Delroy Lindo in 'Sinners'Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
All of that research and character study helped Lindo & Co. create one of the film's most impactful scenes, an impressive and haunting monologue where Slim recounts to young Sammie (Miles Caton) and Stack when he was younger and arrested along with several others, who were then forced to perform around the area, and even earn some money in the process. When they're eventually set free, Slim drinks away all of his money. But his friend, Rice, who was on his way to Arkansas to open a church, was confronted at the train station by the KKK, who made up a story about how he got all of the money, saying he stole it from a white man, and they lynched him on the spot.
In the script, the story stops there. But in the movie, it continues, with Lindo adlibbing about how they also accused his friend of raping the white man's wife, so as added punishment, the KKK mutilates Rice. When he's done telling his story, Slim starts humming and singing, using music to change the mood and escape the trauma of his past.
While Lindo improvised the end of the scene, he credits everyone involved with making it what it is.
"Even though I was the conduit in that moment, it was about all of us as a team. It was about Mike B. veering off the road and allowing the scene to continue because we had a finite amount of real estate. I would do the monologue, then we had to turn the car around and go back in the opposite direction, then turn the car around again, and go back in the opposite direction. And then the last two, maybe three, takes, when we got to the end of the real estate that we had, Mike veered to the left and continued driving," Lindo explains. "And that allowed the scene to continue. And Ryan kept the cameras going. And Autumn [Durald], our brilliant cinematographer, was right there. And the moment that resulted in the, I don't know, musical release, emotional release at the very end came about during those last two or three takes as a result of the fact that Mike and Ryan and everybody kept the scene going."
Lindo says it "means everything" to him how the scene has resonated with audiences.
Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan, and director Ryan Coogler on the set of 'Sinners'Credit: Eli Adé/Warner Bros
"That's where the blues comes from, which is monumental for me, man, 'cause that's not what I was thinking. Obviously, I'm just in the moment and reacting, responding in the moment," he says. "It's indicative of the whole company working together to create a moment that has had a profound impact on audiences."
Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.
You can listen to Lindo's full interview on The Awardist, below, where he also breaks down Slim's ultimate sacrifice, why he doesn't speak with a British accent, the message he hopes his Oscar nomination sends to younger generations, and more.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
