You’d be hard-pressed to recall a more auspicious film debut than that of Miles Caton in Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed Oscar contender, Sinners. Caton plays the young blues musician, Sammie Moore. Just eighteen years old when the audition process for Sinners started, and acting across from seasoned veterans like Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, and Hailee Steinfeld, Caton more than holds his own; he carries much of Coogler’s look at race in the old south that turns into a vampire movie down the stretch. In our conversation, we discussed the casting process, how his role evolved as filming progressed, and what might be next for this remarkable young talent.
Caton was on tour supporting H.E.R. when the headliner suggested he try out for the part of ‘young guitar player’ in Sinners. “It was a two to three-month process. I started at the end of 2023, going into 2024. We were finishing up our last show. We had a festival in Africa, Johannesburg, and so I sent them my audition then. Then we flew back home. I sent in a video of me playing a guitar. That’s when I had just picked it up, and I found out that the role required me to learn guitar.”
I was stunned to learn from Caton that he had never played guitar before sending in his audition recording. “I looked up “Bring It On Home to Me” by Sam Cooke and had to play a couple of chords just to send in a video, and from that video, they thought I could play guitar. Once I got to do the in-person audition, they were like Oh, he can play guitar. So they had me try to learn a song on the spot, and they saw that I couldn’t really pick it up right. You need to learn how to play the guitar. So from then on, after I had gotten the role, they got me a guitar teacher, Randy Boland, an incredible guitarist. He taught me the blues in a crash course for two months.”
Having a deep musical history, Caton found that being able to lean on his talent also helped him with his acting. “Having music as the support throughout this whole film was definitely essential. It gave me a place of comfort, some familiarity. It allowed me not to be as afraid to do different things in the acting space.”
After clearing the initial steps, Caton then auditioned for Coogler. After sending in his audition recording of the first scene in the movie, “…that’s when they got back to me and said we want you to fly to LA to do an in-person audition with Michael B. Jordan. Maybe two or three weeks later, he called me and asked me to be a part (of the film). After that, we had Zoom meetings where he told me further about the role and what I would do.”
I asked Caton if he felt at all intimidated being on a film set for the first time, surrounded by heavy-hitters like Coogler, Jordan, and Lindo.
“Entertainment and being an artist, a performer, that’s been something that has been my dream my whole life. It’s something I’ve been working towards since I was three years old. So those spaces never scare me. I always try to take it as an opportunity to learn from the people I admire or aspire to be in the place they’re at. That’s how I look at things when I go into these places where I meet these big people. I take it as an opportunity to learn and to grow, but looking at the movie as a whole and everything that I would have to do, it definitely felt like Whoa, this is the big leagues. This is no messing around. I really had to lock in on what I had to do and try to perfect it as best as I could.”
Upon watching Sinners for a fifth time, I noticed how seamlessly Caton fits into the cast, which, on first viewing, almost hides the extent of his camera time. He is the window through which the audience sees the story.
“Signing onto the film, what I initially thought was a small but cool role that could be like an introduction to me and my artistry and what I do, it was 10X more than what I could have imagined. I picked it up as we started to film; they were calling me in more and more. I think the focal point for my character was supposed to be the guitar, but I think once they heard my voice, and once Ryan saw me in person, he pivoted the script and made it more about the voice, for Remmick to be lured and drawn to. As I showcased what I did, and as we moved through filming, I was incorporated more and more into the story than the initial script. It didn’t start off with me going back to the church; it started off with Remmick jumping into that scene and going into the house. That was the first rough draft we got. To see how all of those things developed and how I was just adding more and more into the film, it was just mind-blowing. But that’s how Ryan explained it to me. He said your character’s important because he is the lens and the guide for the audience as we’re navigating through the film, he’s experiencing the same things that we are. This is a new world for him.”
Because young actors can struggle with listening in a scene when they don’t have lines, I mentioned to Caton how effective I thought he was as a listener on screen, particularly in the scene where Lindo’s character recounts a horrible memory as he, Caton, and Jordan drive down a dirt road.
“I have to credit a lot of that to (acting and dialect coach) Beth McGuire. I would travel on the train to Manhattan to visit her every week and to practice and go through the script and really break down the reasons why my character is the way he is. She explained to me that it’s always important to find what the person is going after in the scene. What is the reason? Why is the person there? Why are they interested in what the other person is saying? She really encouraged me to lean into the conversation every time that camera went on. She said that I should listen like I was hearing it for the first time and just be present in the moment.”
Caton may not have been intimidated working with such a successful director while being surrounded by major acting talent, but he did take notice.
“It was incredible, man. I’ve seen Creed and Black Panther, so seeing these guys work in person and watching that process was really inspiring. The dedication that Mike had for his two characters, spending so much time on developing them and making them distinct, but also having similarities, was really like fine-tuning, really great work. And then Delroy: he’s just a legend, just a master of the craft. His improv is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that. When you’re acting with him, you just have to go with it because he just goes for it every time. You don’t know what he’s going to say, and it just makes for a really good scene.”
To play Sammie Moore, Caton, a New Yorker, had to learn to speak with a Mississippi accent. He credited McGuire, again, for helping him find what he needed for the part.
“That was another big worry for me, like man, I really want to nail the accent. I don’t want to have a crappy accent for my first film. That was Beth. She really worked with me. We listened to different audio tapes from old blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Son House. We listened to their interviews and we would not mimic, but just really listen to how they were saying things and the rhythmic pattern in which people from that time spoke. I would listen to it every day, and she would teach me the technical ways to get that sound and that shape.”
While Caton had always appreciated music before his time, a crash course in the blues was necessary.
“The closest thing that I felt like I had, starting out with this project, was Sam Cooke. I grew up on Sam Cooke. “A Change Is Gonna Come” was the first song I ever learned as a kid. I had that as a reference, but I had never really dived into the blues and the different artists that made it the genre that it is today. And then finding out how much the blues has influenced other genres, like rock and hip hop, R&B, etc, this film gave me the opportunity to really dive into that. And my love for the blues and for music in general has just grown so much more.”
The most talked-about scene in Sinners occurs in the second half of the film, when Caton performs, and Coogler intersperses the history of Black music in America throughout the performance. Caton reflected on shooting that scene, and then watching the finished cut.
“That was a scene we shot later on into filming, probably like the last month. I had been so anxious to do it, preparing for it, practicing on the guitar for it. There was a lot of anticipation built up for that scene. And I remember maybe two days before, they had made an animated video of how the scene would work. I remember reading it on the page and being like, man, this is incredible, but what’s the logistics? How is it going to play out in real time? They played me the video, and they showed me the character and where I would stand, and the different dancers, ancestors, and musicians that would be around. Once I got there, I saw all of the dancers, I saw all of the ancestors, and just incredibly talented people doing their thing. There was really great energy there. Then, watching it back, I was just blown away. Just blown away. When you’re filming, when you’re actually there and you’re shooting it, you’re singing the song, you see the camera pivoting around and doing the different movements, but you can’t really see what it looks like on the camera. So when I watched it back, and I saw how much work they put into getting those angles and the timing of everything, it was just perfect.”
Having now earned success in both music and film, I asked Caton what his priorities would be going forward.
“Everything doesn’t have to be a mainstream box office success. I’m an artist first, so the creativity and the process are always going to mean more to me than the output of what people feel about it. If it’s special to me and I feel like it’s something that people gravitate towards, that’s the type of role that I chase. The goal has always been music. That’s my love, that’s my passion. And taking on this project, I’ve grown a real genuine love and respect for acting, and it’s something that I really want to pursue. I actually am set to do another film next year. I’m working on music too. I’m finishing up an EP that’s going to drop next year.”
With Caton getting Oscar buzz for both his performance and for a song he co-wrote and performed in the film, I had to wonder if it all felt like a lot for a twenty-year-old to take in.
“I feel great, I feel accomplished already. This is just the start of my career. And there’s so many ideas and so many different things that I want to do. So I’m pacing everything. I’m not in a rush for anything. We made something special. The world knows the impact that the movie has had. We can be proud of the work that we did.”
Interview conducted at the Virginia Film Festival
