Let’s All Thank This Music Artist for Miles Caton Being Cast in ‘Sinners’

Like roughly every other person on Planet Earth, I’m a massive fan of Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s wildly successful horror film—a success that flies in the face of some notable trades expressing dubiousness despite it already making an impact in its opening weekend. It’s looking to be a juggernaut of a movie with its impressive midweek box office numbers fueled by word-of-mouth and repeat viewers. I plan on counting myself among them, especially since I left before the credit scenes in my initial viewing to my massive chagrin (such is the price of going opening day without doing my due diligence).

There are too many positives in the film to count, but one of its greatest boasts can be found in its supporting cast, including newcomer Miles Caton, the breakout star whose performance as Sammie is essential to the plot, including a barn burner (juke joint burner?) of a scene. With little clue as to what exactly would transpire in the movie or Caton’s background, I took him at face value as simply an actor until later in the film’s first act, when his mouth opened and out came a sonorous voice weighty with a depth and experience beyond the performer’s 20 years. There are plenty of good singers out there, but finding someone able to embody the blues in a way that can pull in viewers from a range of musical experience feels like a small miracle.

As it turns out, I’m not far off; were it not for some intervention, we wouldn’t know Caton on this large of a scale. As luck would have it, however, Caton has a years-long working relationship with the singer/actor H.E.R., and it was only thanks to her pushing him to audition for the role that wound up with him being seen and eventually cast by Coogler:

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She [H.E.R.] called me one day, and she told me that there was a role that she thought I should audition for…and so I went in there, I just sent in my audition tape, and the next thing I knew I got a callback. I flew out to L.A., where I met Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and Ludwig Gransson. And I did the audition, and we talked more about, kind of, what the movie was going to be about and the whole process.

According to Caton, Coogler called him only a few days later to inform him that he had indeed been cast. As for H.E.R. and her reaction to the news, Caton states, “she said, ‘I knew you could do it.’ She was so proud of me.” As we all are, sir. Only H.E.R. gets the pleasure of saying she ‘knew him when,’ and is the big reason why we know him now.

Sinners is now playing in theaters.

Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba. She can be found on Bluesky here.