Hailee Steinfeld knew Ryan Coogler's vampire drama 'Sinners' might leave a mark. She did not think it would be for a line so filthy that strangers now shout it at her on the street. Welcome to modern fandom, where a serious scene turns into a meme faster than you can say 'New Orleans hurricane season.'
The line that followed her out of the theater
In a new chat with Variety, Steinfeld said the film's heaviest moments took off online for reasons she definitely did not anticipate. The scene that broke the internet? It includes a Mary line you would not expect to hear in broad daylight at a coffee shop. But here we are:
"I heard you loud and clear, but then you stuck your tongue in my cooze and f*cked me so hard I figured you changed your mind."
Steinfeld, who most people know from 'Hawkeye' and 'The Edge of Seventeen,' called the whole thing surreal: a raw, painful beat in the movie getting turned into a running joke people repeat to her face. The internet does what it wants.
Shooting the viral scene: chaos from day one
Here is the inside baseball part: Steinfeld had flagged that sequence early as the big, daunting one — the kind you circle in the script and hope to shoot after you have lived with the character a while. Instead, New Orleans weather nuked the schedule. It was hurricane season, the order got scrambled, and she got the call: that scene was moving up. Way up.
So on day one — before she had time to build much rapport with Michael B. Jordan or Coogler — they rolled right into the most emotionally volcanic material. Not ideal. But it weirdly helped. With daylight dying, they kept the camera running as long as they could, and that raw, first-day, no-net energy gave the scene a crackling edge. It is the kind of production scramble that sounds like a nightmare and then reads as electricity on screen.
From grim vampire story to box office smash
'Sinners' is a dark vampire-horror set in New Orleans, and the movie did more than just trend. It hit big. According to Box Office Mojo, it pulled in $366 million worldwide, and critics were right there with audiences — the film is sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not too shabby for a blood-soaked Southern Gothic.
Sequel talk: Coogler says one-and-done, the story begs to differ
Fans already want a sequel, because of course they do. Coogler has said he sees 'Sinners' as a finished thing — not conceived as the start of a franchise. That said, the movie itself practically slips you a roadmap for more. Mary (Steinfeld) and Stack (Jordan) make it out alive — well, undead — and keep going as immortal vampires. Then the post-credits tag jumps to 1992, where Stack and Mary show up to meet an older Sammie. Translation: there is a huge, untapped stretch between 1932 and 1992 just sitting there, full of unholy mischief.
Steinfeld has not committed to a follow-up. But Mary became one of the film's standout characters, and her chemistry with Jordan is a huge part of why the movie lands. If Coogler ever changes his mind, do not be surprised if a 'Sinners 2' announcement breaks the internet all over again.
Sinners at a glance
- Director: Ryan Coogler
- Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson
- Setting/Tone: Dark vampire-horror set in New Orleans
- Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
- Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
- Box Office: $366M worldwide (Box Office Mojo)
- Streaming (US): HBO Max and Hulu
What do you want next?
Should Coogler give in and make a sequel, or leave this one as a perfectly contained bloody love story? Sound off — and yes, maybe do not yell that line in public.