NEVER- ENDING STORY

SINNERS STAR DELROY LINDO ON SPEAKING UP AND THE POWER OF AFFIRMATION

- STORY: CLARISSA CRUZ / NYT

Delroy Lindo accepts the Cast In A Motion Picture honour for Sinners at the Actor Awards in Los Angeles, on March 1.

(PHOTO: REUTERS)

Delroy Lindo is tired of the sound of his own voice. It's a fabulous one, deep and commanding, fitting for a man prone to thoughtful pauses and allergic to slick sound bites.

But he’s heard a lot of it lately, given how often people want to discuss his performance as the liquor-loving blues musician Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler’s acclaimed movie Sinners, the role that earned him an Oscar nomination last month for best supporting actor, one of the record-breaking 16 nods the film received.

Its recognition many feel is overdue, given Lindo’s stellar turns in Da 5 Bloods (2020), The Cider House Rules (1999) and Malcolm X (1992). Coogler, who has said Malcolm X changed his life, attested to the power of Lindo’s portrayal of Delta Slim.

“I don’t know if I've ever been a part of a character who could be this poignant,” Lindo, 73, said. “In those moments of emotional truth, where you see the cracks between when he’s drinking and not, it just knocks everybody flat.”

“The best part of this process has been that people are so genuinely happy for me. It’s not an ego thing. It’s nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with affirmation. And the power of work to impact one’s fellow human beings, which is why one got into it in the first damn place.”

This interview was conducted before the Baftas, where an audience member with Tourette syndrome involuntarily shouted a racist slur when Lindo and his Sinners costar Michael B. Jordan were presenting. When reached for additional comment Lindo, through a representative, declined and pointed to his statement to Vanity Fair that he wished “someone from Bafta spoke to us afterward”.