Miles Caton has a “once-in-a-lifetime voice.” So it’s no wonder that Ryan Coogler cast the 20-year-old in Sinners, his novel thriller that’s much mor
Miles Caton has a “once-in-a-lifetime voice.” So it’s no wonder that Ryan Coogler cast the 20-year-old in Sinners, his novel thriller that’s much more than just a vampire movie. It also dabbles in mysticism, explores ancestral histories, and is a love letter to the power of blues music.
The latter is where Caton comes in. The first-time actor, who stars in the film as musician Sammie, is the son of gospel singer Timiney Figueroa and a musical prodigy himself. At the age of 12, he appeared on NBC’s talent competition Little Big Shots, and he’s been touring with Grammy winner H.E.R. since he was 16 years antique.
“I grew up in church, in a family full of musicians, so that’s something that has been ingrained into my life and everything that I do since I was a kid,” he tells Vanity Fair. “The culture of it means a lot to me. To be able to have this experience—to do research and learn about the blues and the story behind it, was really special for me.”
Set in 1932 in Mississippi, the film follows twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) who open a juke joint with their cousin Sammie, a musician whose talents attract the attention of bloodthirsty vampires. When Caton was first tapped to audition for a top-secret novel movie, he had no idea it was a film that Coogler wrote and would direct. After acing the audition process—on his first tape, he sang Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me”—Caton had to learn blues guitar and how to hold his own opposite Jordan. In the film, Caton makes this all look straightforward. Now that Sinners is both a critical and box office hit (it landed number one at the box office this weekend with $48 million domestically), Caton spoke to Vanity Fair about what he learned from working with Coogler and Jordan.
Vanity Fair: How do you relate to Sammie?
Miles Caton: In a lot of ways, we were kind of in the same place in life. We were both 19, both come from a religious background. So those were things that clicked for me immediately. And then just seeing his ambition, and his determination to pursue his music, was something that resonated for me.
After your audition tapes, what happened next?
I was brought in for a chemistry read with Michael B. Jordan and Ryan. I worked with [composer] Ludwig Göransson. He played me “Death Letter Blues” by Son House. That was one of the songs that I started learning to get a feel for what the process would be like for learning the blues. And I felt like the chemistry read went pretty well. I was nervous, but I was excited to be in that room and just to get to meet those people. I went back home, and I think it was a week that went by. I was at the mall when got a call from Ryan Coogler telling me he wanted me to be a part of it. I lost it. And then after I got the role, they sent the whole script. That’s where I found out everything that the role entailed.
You didn’t even know there were vampires in it when you were auditioning?
No, it was a surprise. So my initial thought was, Whoa, what’s going on? And then as you read the story, and as you see how he blends all of those things together with the 1930s and Jim Crow and Prohibition, and you see how he ties all of those elements in the music, I thought it was going to be something that was really different. It was risky, but something that would be really impactful.
Was acting something you had always hoped to pursue?
When this opportunity presented itself, it wasn’t. I was on tour. I was really submerging myself in the music side, working, producing my stuff, and working on building my sound. That was the main focus and still is today. But when this opportunity came, I just took it as a chance to really further myself in everything. As a kid, I was always the family clown—just always doing stuff to try to make people laugh. So I felt like eventually that was something I would branch off to. When this opportunity came, it was something I had to do.
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