Although Michael B. Jordan's most recent horror movie, Sinners, has received a lot of accolades, the actor faced an especially "disgusting" obstacle behind the scenes. The vampire thriller, which was released in April 2025, brought Jordan and longtime co-star Ryan Coogler back together and, due to gallons of fake blood, caused an odd emergency meeting on site.
In the gothic thriller movie, Michael B. Jordan plays the role of twins Smoke and Stack, set in the 1930s in New Orleans. Jordan was pushed to his breaking point by the constant usage of fake blood, even if the New Orleans extreme heat and costumes weren't enough. Jordan said in an interview with People magazine:
“I liked the fangs. Fangs were dope. The blood was a bit messy and uncomfortable at times. The blood was a lot,”
Coogler said that the pain spread throughout the entire production. He laughingly said:
“I got called into a meeting a few weeks in by my producer and my wife Zinzi Coogler, and she was like, ‘Hey, we gotta talk about Mike.’ I’m like, ‘What? What’s going on?’ And she’s like, ‘The blood — he doesn’t like it.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’”
Michael B. Jordan explained the circumstances. He laughed and continued,
"First of all, there’s a difference between complaining and venting. I was just more venting, you know what I’m saying? But they care about me, so they had a meeting. I appreciate the meeting.”
Jordan wasn't the only one who found the floor difficult to handle, despite the sticky mayhem. It was sticky, according to his co-star, Hailee Steinfeld, who portrays one of his love interests in the movie. She complained,
“It was sticky. SO sticky. Parts of my body were glued to each other.”
She went on to say that even though the blood was safe and vegan, makeup artists were often running in with spray bottles of water to unstick her fingers, and even then, it still caused pimples.
Another co-star, Wunmi Mosaku, said,
"The special effects guys have you all wired up and they're pumping blood and it just gets everywhere,"
echoing the unease.
“You just have to get very comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
She said.
Mosaku also shared that she learnt a great deal from Michael B. Jordan, not to complain but to vent.
"What I learned from Michael was he doesn't complain. He would just kind of be very still in his very thick suits — very thick, very hot. He would be like, 'There's nothing we can do to change it, so let's just kind of push through,' because the complaining brings you down a little bit."
"Except for the bugs. The bugs were hard to not complain about."
She clarified.
The movie's director, himself, Coogler, talked about the scenes during the shooting:
"I remember some times where I'm like, 'Okay, action,' and you're like, 'This is disgusting....,'"
And Michael B. Jordan replied,
"Disgusting."
Michael B. Jordan's exposure therapy, Sinners
After releasing multiple movies back to back together like Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler collaborate once again with Sinners, marking it four time. Their creative stories and chemistry make the movie more enjoyable.
Michael B. Jordan has acknowledged that he doesn't usually enjoy horror movies, which made the project more intriguing. Part of the reason Jordan agreed to work on the movie was to try self-exposure therapy.
"I wanted to do this partially trying to help take the edge off a little bit. I was like, maybe if I know how it's done and I'm in it I might like [horror movies] a little bit more."
He added,
"I do like them a lot more, I just want to say that."
Sinners is now out in theatres and has received a lot of praise. It is one of the best-reviewed movies of the decade.
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