1 week Ago By Zac Ntim
Ryan Coogler ’s Sinners has clocked a second commanding week at the box office, taking the flick’s worldwide tally to $ 161.6 M. The film’s rollout has been impressive and unconventional, with marketing materials largely aimed at educating audiences about the philosophy behind the movie’s technical ambitions, the prime example being Coogler’s now-viral Kodak explainer video .
This has created a community feel around the picture, which has been reflected in the box office. It has also placed a significant spotlight on the film’s DoP, Autumn Durald Arkapaw . An indie scene vet, Durald Arkapaw previously worked with Coogler on the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever .
Some of her other credits include Gia Coppola’s The Last Show Girl , Spike Jonze’s doc Beastie Boys Story , and Marvel’s Loki , for which she was nominated for an Emmy. Speaking with us here, just under a week into the movie’s buzzy theatrical run, Durald Arkapaw shares the secrets behind some of the most talked-about scenes in Sinners , like the surreal jazz sequence. She also pulls back the curtain on her tight collaboration with Coogler and explains how her own family’s history in the deep South shaped her work on the film.
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My husband is also a DP, and we live in Los Angeles, so it’s nice to shoot commercials after a film and take a breath. In 2024, I went from The Last Showgirl directly into Sinners . That was interesting and fun because Showgirl was also shot on film, 16mm.
Ryan actually sent me the script for Sinners the night before my first day of shooting Showgirl . DEADLINE: Did you read it? DURALD ARKAPAW: If Ryan sends you something he wrote, you read it. I knew he was writing something personal, but didn’t know the specifics.
I read it that night and couldn’t put it down. I was very excited and sent him a long email with my thoughts. He replied, “Good luck on the shoot.
” And it did feel like good luck. What a great piece of writing to read and be inspired by when you’re about to shoot on film. DEADLINE: With Sinners , you’re gaining a lot of attention.
People are loving your work, making explainer videos on socials, and shouting you out. DoPs usually try to stay out of the limelight. How have you found this? DURALD ARKAPAW: This time is special because it’s a very personal story for Ryan.
There was a lot of heart in this project, and the people he asked to make it are like family; some are actual family members. So there was a great deal of weight and responsibility we carried with us behind the work. Ryan wrote something on the page that we don’t see often, especially when it comes to our community.
We took that very seriously when making the film. Seeing this response from audiences, people telling me they connected with the film and that the photography was felt , makes me so happy. It was a lot of hard work from my entire team, so that kind of response genuinely puts a big smile on my face.
DEADLINE: Sinners is set in the South. I’m from London and recently traveled through the South for the first time. People say this a lot, but there really is something in the air down South.
You can feel the history. That’s hard to bring to the screen. But you guys managed it.
Do you have a connection to the South? DURALD ARKAPAW: Yes, the film is set in Mississippi, but Ryan did some pre-scouting and decided on New Orleans for the shoot. Hannah, our production designer, also lives in New Orleans. I have a personal connection to the city.
My great-grandmother is from Mississippi, and my father was born in New Orleans. I shot a commercial there in 2016, just after I had my son. Before that, I hadn’t been back since pre-Katrina, because most of my family lost their homes and moved to Texas.
The house I once knew as my grandfather’s no longer existed. It was interesting to return as an adult and mother. My aunt was on set as an extra in the grocery store scene.
Ryan put her in the movie. My cousins also came to visit and got to meet Ryan and Michael B. Jordan.
Ryan brings you those kinds of opportunities that allow for intense discourse. I ended up emailing my aunt, asking about my great-grandmother and how we ended up in New Orleans. She sent me back census documentation and family tree history I didn’t even know about.
So not only did Ryan give me this great script, but I was also able to explore my ancestry because of the film, and for that, I have so much appreciation. New Orleans has its challenges with the weather. At the drop of a hat, you get a thunderstorm or rain, so you have the weight of the land itself while trying to move 100-pound cameras around, alongside trying to tell a story and thinking about your ancestors under that same sun, picking cotton.
A lot was going on for all involved. It feels very rewarding that people are responding in this way. DEADLINE: Form and philosophy are inseparable in this film.
All of the experimentation is born out of what the story is trying to say. With a visual approach like that, at what stage are you getting involved in the project? DURALD ARKAPAW: Collaboration is always at the highest level when you’re working with Ryan, so I start prep on the ground when he does, which I find incredibly helpful. The backstory of our format choice is that Ryan originally wanted to shoot on 16mm, that was how he envisioned it.
Then he stepped it up to 35mm after speaking to our VFX supervisor, who needed more resolution for the twinning work. Then the studio called him and asked if we were considering large format. He called me afterward to discuss options and mentioned his interest in the 2.
76 format The Hateful Eight used. So I arranged a screening with the lovely Andrew Oran at Fotokem of some 70mm clips. We looked at The Hateful Eight , 2001: A Space Odyssey , and Tenet .
We did 35mm and 65mm camera tests out in the desert and watched them projected. We both fell in love immediately with 2.76 and 1.
43 and decided to move forward with our favorites. Once our format was confirmed, it became important to go through the script and decide what could be IMAX and what should remain in the 2.76 Ultra Panavision aspect ratio.
Since the IMAX camera isn’t a sync sound camera, you’re always going to lean away from that format for dialogue-heavy scenes. Ryan and I had allotted some specific scenes as IMAX, but as we started shooting more, we fell in love with the footage, and he ended up switching some scenes over to IMAX. He also had to figure out the best and most elegant way to do that with his actors.
The end result, crafted by Ryan and our editor Michael, is seamless and beautifully done. DEADLINE: I think you guys found a great rhythm for the ratio shifts. That moment outside with Jack O’Connell, where the screen expands, has stayed with me.
DURALD ARKAPAW: I know exactly which scene you’re talking about, Smoke, and everyone getting lined up for battle as Remmick stands in the doorway. I remember that exact moment on set. Ryan saw the shot and called me over, saying how cool it would be to open the 2.
76 frame to 1.43 at that moment. We spoke with our VFX supervisor and did what was needed on set to make that happen in post.
He just saw something that moved him in that moment and made a choice that serves the story so well. DEADLINE: Those night scenes are crazy. So vivid.
I imagine it was so difficult to light those scenes? How’d you go about it? DURALD ARKAPAW: Whenever you’re shooting a night exterior where the only light source is the moon, it should feel realistic. That is very important to me. We shot all our night exterior work on location by a river.
Hannah built a three-walled lumber mill set for both day and night scenes. For our night work, there were multiple units on condors across the river, a 20×20 softbox, and a 40×40 softbox on a construction crane. It was a lot of work, but I have a fantastic crew and have been working with my gaffer for over 10 years.
When you’re dealing with a vampire story, shadows and darkness are essential. You don’t want to show everything, it’s paramount to create mystery in the frame. Ryan makes brave decisions in our filmmaking process.
Which allows me to as well, and take big swings. He appreciates the darkness and the importance of lighting becoming a character in the film. DEADLINE: One of the scenes people are discussing most is the surreal music scene in the juke joint.
Did you shoot with the music on set? How’d you pull it off? DURALD ARKAPAW: We did shoot with the music. It’s a wonderful evolution in prep with a shot like that. It was a beautiful sequence on the page, and it can become so many things once you start discussing its execution.
In prep, we had many discussions with Ryan about how he wanted the camera to move, where the transitions would occur, and what it should ideally look like on screen. We had storyboards for this sequence. Then we worked with VFX to create a previs that helped guide all departments.
On the ground, you’re collaborating with the choreographer, operator, and music team to ensure the camera moves at the right moments to capture the different music styles and cultural representations. The scene consists of three Steadicam shots on IMAX inside the lumber mill, then tips up into a VFX take over utilizing a burning roof plate, which we shot on our last day of photography. Then the camera tilts back down into a night exterior shot on a 50-foot Moviebird telescopic crane that pulls back and lands on the backs of the three vampire characters.
So many departments were involved. It’s a pretty amazing collaboration. I’d never read a scene like that before, but it didn’t surprise me, because that’s how Ryan rolls.
Having people respond to it so emotionally means the world to everyone involved. DEADLINE: I read that you’re a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood , and it was an inspiration for your work on Sinners . What did you take from that film? DURALD ARKAPAW: You know that feeling when you’re in a theater watching a movie so immersive that you forget where you are? It’s so emotional and affecting that you can’t stop thinking about it? That’s There Will Be Blood for me.
It’s one of my all-time favorites. The visuals and the music are so tied into the characters and storytelling, it’s unforgettable. You feel it in your bones.
So when I read this script, it was an immediate callback. They both have a religious throughline, and the framing is so important in both films. Ryan is also a big fan of that film.
The characters in that story are so textured and layered, just like in Ryan’s script. It was a wonderful inspiration for me. DEADLINE: I think one of the reasons people have fallen so hard for this film is that they feel personally invested because of the time you all took to educate audiences.
This is the first time I’ve seen fans invested in the format they can watch a movie in. Why did you all decide to lean into educating audiences about the production process, using moments like Ryan’s viral explainer vid? DURALD ARKAPAW: That’s all Ryan. Honestly, he’s one of the smartest people I know and also an old soul.
I remember the day he mentioned it. We were in the IMAX theater, having just finished watching a film print. Afterward, he pulled me aside, brought over our post-producer Tina and our producer Zinzi, and said something like, ‘I think I want to make a video explaining all the different aspect ratios, what we did, and where you can see them.
’ We all thought it was a great idea. It’s funny, I have so many moments like that with him, where he asks for something whose meaning or weight isn’t obvious at first. Then I see its full impact once the world sees it, and I realize exactly why he asked for it in the first place.
He’s so thoughtful and always seems to understand the power of these choices long before anyone else. DEADLINE: Do you know what you’re going to work on next? DURALD ARKAPAW: I do know what I’m doing next, but right now I’m currently just shooting commercials. Generally, I work with my friends, which makes for a great work experience.
We all work very hard on these films. I have no problem putting space between projects and being able to hang out with my family and creatively refresh..
