Oakland’s Ryan Coogler, Delroy Lindo among ‘Sinners’ record 16 Oscar nominations
Oakland native Ryan Coogler, and his Southern-gothic, musical horror epic “Sinners,” were the big winners in 2026 Oscar nominations Thursday, scoring a record 16 nominations for best picture, director and screenplay, along with a “dark horse” nomination for Oakland’s Delroy Lindo for best supporting actor.
Prior to Thursday, three films in the Academy Award’s 98-year history had scored 14 nominations: “All About Eve” in 1950, “Titanic” in 1997 and “La La Land” in 2016.
Among “Sinners” other nominations was a nod to star Michael B. Jordan, a longtime collaborator of Coogler’s, who plays twin brothers in the film, World War I veterans who return to their Mississippi hometown in the Jim Crow South in 1932. Using money stolen from Chicago criminal syndicates, Jordan’s twins, “Smoke” and “Stack,” purchase a sawmill in order to start a juke joint. But amid warnings about the sins of blues music, they soon find themselves confronting a supernatural evil.
In the film, Lindo plays Delta Slim, an old town harmonica player and musical legend. Another nomination for best supporting actress went to Wunmi Mosaku, who plays as Annie, Smoke’s estranged wife and a Hoodoo practitioner.
Coogler, who also attended Saint Mary’s College in Moraga before earning his undergraduate degree at Sacramento State and his MFA in film at USC, also scored nominations for best director and best original screenplay.
“Sinners” also scored nominatons for casting; production design; cinematography; costume design; film editing; makeup and hairstyling; sound; visual effects; original score; and original song for “I Lied to You.”
In terms of Coogler’s personal achievements with “Sinners,” the “Fruitvale” station and “The Black Panther” director becomes only the second Black filmmaker nominated in the same year for producing, directing and original screenplay, following Jordan Peele’s triple recognition for “Get Out” in 2017, according to Variety. He also is the seventh Black director to receive a best director nomination, following John Singleton, “Boyz n the Hood,” Lee Daniels for “Precious,” Steve McQueen, for “12 Years a Slave,” Barry Jenkins for “Moonlight,” Jordan Peele and Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman” in 2018.
This story is developing.