‘Sinners’ Composer Ludwig Göransson Talks Creating The Musical Movie Of The Year

Ludwig Göransson has scored some of the most visually and emotionally arresting films of the last decade, including both Black Panther films, as well as Tenet, Oppenheimer, and others. The two-time Oscar winner (who has also earned several Grammys and an Emmy as well) has a new movie out today (April 18), Sinners.

In his latest collaboration with director Ryan Coogler, Göransson isn’t reaching again for orchestral bombast or cutting-edge synths or even to hip-hop, where he’s found great success in the past – he took home both Record and Song of the Year at the Grammys for “This is America” by Childish Gambino. Instead, he’s reaching deep into the roots of American music and trying his hand at something new: the blues.

“I grew up around the blues. My dad is a blues guitar player,” Göransson shared with me during a recent interview. He recorded most of the Sinners score in a church-turned-studio in New Orleans, where he moved to make sure everything musical about the film was not just authentic, but crafted where the genre – which plays a key part in the movie’s story – was created.

The scope of the film is vast. Set in a faux version of early twentieth century America’s south, it taps into the roots of the blues and the legends that haunt it — specifically, Robert Johnson, juke joints, and the devils at the crossroads. Göransson, a Swedish composer, might seem like an unlikely translator of that history. But he doesn’t pretend to speak for it. Instead, he surrounds himself with those who do.

“I wouldn’t say that I deeply understand the blues the way the people who created it did,” Göransson admits. “My experience is very different… But trying to emulate those great artists from the ’30s and ’40s wouldn’t sound true coming from me. It wouldn’t sound true to anyone else.”

“It took a while to find my voice,” he says, “but being immersed in that environment — with the actors, with Ryan, seeing the whole process every day — really helped. By the end, I was living and breathing the film.”

He also leaned on collaborators with blues in their bones. Brittany Howard, Raphael Saadiq, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and even Buddy Guy all contributed to the film’s musical DNA. “They were all real blues musicians who live that life,” Göransson says. “Kingfish was in there… Bobby Rush played harmonica… We had these real heroes playing and contributing to the music.”

The result is a score that not only complements the film’s themes, but builds on them. The movie – which arrives with a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes – is brilliant, but it wouldn’t work without an equally-as-perfect musical backing. Though he may seem like someone who wouldn’t be a fit for a blues-centered story, Göransson may have pulled off his most impressive piece of work yet.

McIntyre: I was shocked that this is a blues score. That’s so outside of your — I mean this in a good way— so outside of everything I’ve heard from you. How do you approach something brand new like that?

Göransson: It’s fun because the whole time while we were making the film, Ryan kept saying, “It’s so crazy that I’m making a movie about a guitarist and you’re the composer.” Score-wise, I knew that the guitar was going to be the main piece of the score. One of the things that he wanted early on was to make sure our hero guitar was the right type of guitar. So, the 1932 Dobro that Sammy is carrying throughout the whole film, I’ve got about three of those.

McIntyre: That’s real?

Göransson: It’s a real 1932 Dobro, with the resonator that kind of gets stuck in your head. That’s what I used to write the whole score. I grew up around blues. My dad is a blues guitar player, which is interesting. I grew up in Sweden, right? The impact that American blues musicians had, it’s massive. My dad was a musician, and as a 15 or 16-year-old he discovered Muddy Waters. These were the blues artists of the ’50s and ’60s in America, when they were not celebrated there. Bands like The Beatles started listening to these blues artists and brought them to Europe, where they were celebrated as heroes. And only after that did people in America go, “Oh, look—these guys are Americans.”

McIntyre: From covers, right?

Göransson: Yeah, yeah. My dad actually wanted to name me Albert, after Albert King. Blues was always around me. That’s how my dad expressed himself, playing blues guitar. My love for music didn’t come until I heard Metallica for the first time. Heavy metal. That was my way of finding my own personality. My dad had the blues, so I thought, “What’s going to be my thing?” So I had metal, not really understanding at the time how clear the lineage is between blues and metal and rock. I was like, “I’m doing my own thing.” It’s been really cool, in this movie, to be able to tie all those threads together. That’s what the score is doing — telling that story. It’s a very personal score.

McIntyre: The blues you’re playing here, or at least the time period it’s pulled from, is so specific. Did you have to go back and study pre-1950s blues? What kind of research went into this?

Göransson: I’m glad you bring that up. I wouldn’t say I deeply understand the blues the way the people who created it did. My experience is very different. Ryan sent me these old recordings from the 1920s and ’30s — Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson. When you think about music from that time, you think about old recordings that sound terrible. It’s like looking at a black-and-white photo and thinking that’s how the world actually looked. But there was color back then! Ryan wanted to portray that world in a way we’ve never experienced it before. These musicians weren’t old men playing by themselves. They were edgy, dangerous young guys. This music was the kind that would get you pulled out of church.

Those recordings were often just one person and a microphone. But the reality was, they were playing for crowds. And learning how the band was formed… Back in the ’20s, people played alone on the corner or in juke joints. They didn’t want to share money. It wasn’t until later, when Howlin’ Wolf moved to Chicago and brought musicians from different parts of the Delta, that bands started forming and performing in bigger venues.

McIntyre: The moment the film began, with that opening graphic about people receiving powers from the devil through music – the first thing I thought of was Robert Johnson. How much of an influence do you think he had on the story itself?

Göransson: I think a lot of those musicians were influences. Robert Johnson is obviously the most famous today. People still talk about him as one of the best guitar players in the world. When you listen to those old recordings from the 1920s and ’30s, what he’s doing on the guitar is insane. The playing, singing, rhythm, phrasing — no one can do that anymore. That kind of expression is gone. I’m glad we still have those recordings, and that’s why his story still resonates, because he was just so good.

That whole mythology of music and the devil… I think that’s something that will always be around. Music has such power. Anyone who goes to a live show can feel it. That artist becomes something else on stage, almost like an idol, and then when they walk off, they’re just a regular person again.

McIntyre: Blues is one of those genres you can’t fake. People who understand it can immediately tell when it’s not authentic. Were you nervous about that? How did you make sure what you were creating wasn’t just blues-adjacent?

Göransson: That was one of the biggest challenges — finding my expression of the blues. Trying to emulate the great artists from the ’30s and ’40s wouldn’t sound true coming from me. It wouldn’t sound true to anyone else either. So how do I find my place in this?

It took time. It helped that we moved to New Orleans for three months while they were shooting the film. My partner Serena, who was the executive music producer, and I basically lived on set and in the studio. Every day, actors would come in to record songs, and we’d go to set and shoot them. After that, I’d go back to the church studio in New Orleans and work on the score. It took a while to find my voice, but being immersed in that environment — with the actors, with Ryan, seeing the whole process every day — really helped. By the end, I was living and breathing the film.

McIntyre: So you were right in the middle of where the blues was born, but there’s also something deeper in the music that you captured. It felt emotionally real. What helped you go beyond just replicating the sound to actually writing something so touching?

Göransson: Writing the songs specifically meant working with the right artists — people who could really channel that expression of the blues. For Jamie’s song, “Perlene’s Song,” I went to Nashville and worked with Brittany Howard. She wrote it. She’s an incredible instrumentalist and singer — totally the real deal. For the surreal montage moment, I worked with Raphael Saadiq. Also a true instrumentalist. He plays guitar, he sings. It was important to have people like that involved. That was the key to unlocking that part of the film.

McIntyre: That surreal moment — I’ve been telling people about it since I saw the film. It’s one of the most incredible music sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie. The music, the direction, the cinematography… It almost felt like a different film, but in the best possible way. What was it like crafting that scene, blending blues with African rhythms and contemporary hip-hop?

Göransson: That was a big journey. The song I did with Raphael Saadiq was the foundation of that whole scene. We all had to work really closely together — visual effects, the DP [director of photography], Ryan, Serena, the choreographer, everyone. I got a previs from Michael Ralla — the visual effects artist — so I could see what Ryan had in his head. It was basically a little animated layout of the whole scene, so I knew the timing and could build the music around that. We did rehearsals where Ryan and the cinematographer were literally walking between extras to map it out. I had my rig on the floor, kind of DJing on the spot. We had one day to shoot it, and that day felt magical. It felt like we were putting on a live show. Every time we did a take, it felt a little different. Ryan was guiding the Steadicam operator — this massive IMAX camera rig — through the scene. All the actors and extras had to focus really hard because we only had so many chances. It really did feel like a concert.

McIntyre: That must’ve taken days to choreograph and rehearse.

Göransson: The prep took two months. Then we had just one day to shoot it.

McIntyre: That’s insane. How many original songs are in the film?

Göransson: That’s a good question. I need to figure it out. There are a bunch of original songs, and also a bunch of non-original songs.

McIntyre: I’m not familiar enough with that world to know what’s traditional and what’s original.

Göransson: Well, the traditional songs are things like “The Irish Station” and “Let’s a Go,” which is Scottish, and “Walk Around to Dublin,” which is Irish. That one was written into the script by Ryan because he wanted this magical performance by Jack O’Connell.

There’s history there, with the Irish vampire coming into that story. What happened to immigrant workers in America is basically what happened to them in Ireland too, going way back. And the character is trying to save them, right?

Then there’s “Travelin’,” the song Miles performs in the car. That’s an original song by Alvin Youngblood Hart, a Memphis blues musician. One of the first things Ryan and I did before shooting was go to Memphis and do the Mississippi Blues Trail. We brought my dad from Sweden too. Got him on the trip. We met a lot of musicians along the way, and some of them actually appear in the film.

McIntyre: When you were writing and recording the score, how many of the musicians were people you’d already worked with versus local blues players you brought in just for this?

Göransson: That was the whole point. They were all real blues musicians who live that life. I consider myself a good guitar player, but we featured real blues guitarists on the score. Kingfish was in there — Christone “Kingfish” Ingram — from Clarksdale. Eric Gales. Bobby Rush played harmonica. And, of course, Buddy Guy is in the movie. We had these real heroes playing and contributing to the music.

McIntyre: You’re also listed as an executive producer on the film. Was that just about the amount of work you put in, or did you actually help shape the story? Are you interested in being more involved in musical storytelling going forward?

Göransson: Ryan knew early on how much music would be in this film and how involved I’d need to be — not just in composing, but across all departments. Serena and I had to work closely with costume, casting, everything. You needed someone overseeing the music’s integration in all parts of the film. That level of involvement is why Ryan brought me on as a producer too.

McIntyre: I was blown away by Miles Caton. The moment he opens his mouth, especially in that barn scene, his voice stops you. Did his casting or his performance change your approach to the music once you saw what he could do?

Göransson: It definitely affected things. We looked at so many kids. It was hard to find the right person. Then as soon as we saw Miles, and he opened his mouth, Ryan and I both knew — this was it. He was 18 at the time, and I could tell from the way he sang and spoke that he was a real musician. He didn’t play guitar at first, but that didn’t worry me. I could tell he was serious. He had three months before shooting, and he used that time to study every day with a guitar teacher in Philadelphia. He lived in New York, and would commute.

After three months, he wasn’t just noodling around, he was playing real guitar solos, with a slide on his finger. That slide used to be just a bottle you’d break and put on your finger to play. The melodies you can make are more vocal that way, because you can slide between notes instead of just jumping from one to the next.

I was still surprised when I finally saw him play on set. He was really good. And his voice is just so beautiful, so unique, so mesmerizing. There’s a scene where he’s singing in the car with Stack, and Stack hears his voice for the first time — that’s a genuine reaction. That was my reaction too.

McIntyre: What makes your working relationship with Ryan Coogler so special? I want to say “successful,” but that’s not quite right, it feels deeper than that. You’ve made such distinct and powerful scores together. I remember watching your Black Panther docuseries, and it was clear how much work went into it. What is it that works so well between you two?

Göransson: I’d say it’s how deep he wants to go. And it’s art, right? He invites you into that process, and I think we both just enjoy the journey. Every time we dive into one of these projects, it feels like we’re transcending our previous work. Whenever we go on one of these adventures together, we come out the other side having leveled up.

McIntyre: When I first interviewed you, it was just days after you won your Grammys for “This Is America.” Since then, it’s been mostly film and TV. Are you planning to stay on this path, or do you want to get back to working with artists again?

Göransson: What’s cool about the way things are now is that I get to do both. I’m curating the soundtrack, working with artists, writing songs for the film with them. So I’m incorporating both worlds — film scoring and producing music — into one. I think that’s one thing I do that’s maybe a little different. Most studios have one composer and one soundtrack producer, and they never really overlap. I thought, why not just combine them?