Since his first screen credit in the 1976 thriller Partners, Delroy Lindo has always managed to stand out among even the most star-studded casts, be it as West Indian Archie in Malcolm X, Woody Carmichael in Crooklyn, Bass Reeves in The Harder They Fall or his latest role as Delta Slim in Sinners.
“I have no desire to denigrate or take away from myself, but I don’t think of myself as a leading man; I think of myself as a character actor,” says Lindo. “In terms of the space that I take up and that I work to fill on any project, I just think about how can I flesh out this character as much as possible and how can I most effectively fill the space that this character occupies in the script? Really, from that standpoint, it has nothing to do with being a leading man. And frankly, it has nothing to do with being a character actor. It has to do with how can I do the best job possible in this work.”
Delta Slim’s screen time in the Ryan Coogler horror pales in comparison to Lindo’s impact. His turn as the harmonica player who self-medicates to cope with life as a Black man in the Jim Crow South earned the veteran actor his first Academy Award nomination at 73 for best supporting actor.
Lindo pulled from various mediums to shape the legendary Mississippi figure. “It started with Ryan sending me two books. He sent me Blues People by Amiri Baraka, and he sent me Deep Blues by Robert Palmer. I then embarked on my own course of research,” Lindo recalls. “I looked at a lot of documentaries, listened to a lot of music — Son House, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ike Turner — also documentaries about people from the Delta, looking at not only the way they talk, their rhythms, how they are and who they are.”
It’s the glimpse into Slim’s personal blues as the character details the night he and a friend were arrested while riding past a chain gang with Stack (Michael B. Jordan, who also plays Stack’s twin brother, Smoke) and Sammie (Miles Caton) that most moved audiences. Lindo evokes more emotion with a soulful moan and patting of his hand against his thigh than any additional dialogue could.
“The very end of the monologue in the car, when I break into that holla, that was improvised,” explains Lindo. “That came as a result of working on the scene. We probably did six or seven takes of it … but broadly speaking, it was laid down by Ryan in the script.”
Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim in Sinners.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Lindo is currently raising money to bring to life a screenplay of his own titled Jabari’s People, a tale interweaving themes of grief and magical realism set in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, which would mark the feature directorial debut for the son of Jamaican immigrants who was born in London and later moved with his mother to Toronto before settling in San Francisco as a teenager. As for any offers that might land on his desk as a result of his Oscar nom, he hesitates to speculate.
“I really resist thinking along those lines because, as you know in this industry, nothing is promised. It is more challenging for actors of color, and I’m not crying the blues about that. That’s a statement of fact,” Lindo says. “We shall see.”
Nonetheless, the swell of admiration for his portrayal remains strong, mimicking the praise the actor received for his role as a retired Vietnam veteran in Spike Lee’s 2020 war drama Da 5 Bloods, for which Lindo was expected to receive a lead actor Oscar nom.
“I remember I had never had that consistent, that magnitude of appreciation for my work. It was gargantuan. It was like my mama wrote those reviews,” he recounts with a laugh. “This has been very, very similar.”
Recalling stories of being stopped by fans who’ve directly shared the influence his work has had on their lives, Lindo adds: “That honestly has been one of the things that has helped keep me going. I’m not saying that I would’ve stopped without that — I would not have — but it certainly goes a long way to giving one confidence and feeling affirmed that there are so many people out there that appreciate what I have done over the years.”
As audiences eagerly await his next role, Lindo admits he’s put a bug in Coogler’s ear about his hopes of reuniting for the Black Panther 3 Marvel sequel in development.
“I expressed to Ryan that if the stars line up, I would love to be in Black Panther 3,” Lindo says. “One of the things he said to me was anything that he were to offer me, he would want to be sure that it was worth my time. He didn’t say exactly that, but that’s essentially the sentiment. And I respect that.”
This story appeared in the Feb. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
