Spoilers ahead. Hailee Steinfeld never fully understood her African American roots. She knew her father was Jewish and her mother Filipino, but Black American? Never crossed her mind — until Sinners came along. In writer-director Ryan Coogler’s vampiric horror, Steinfeld plays Mary, a white-passing woman in the Mississippi South straddling her feelings for her childhood-friend-turned-long-lost-lover, Stack (Michael B. Jordan) and her mixed racial identity. To bring the role to life, Steinfeld had to dig deep into herself and generations past.
“It’s not often necessarily about yourself all the time. It’s about the character,” she tells me ahead of the film’s release on April 18. “But with Sinners, I was constantly thinking about my situation, my family, my ancestors, my grandfather in each [scene] we were in and talking about.”
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Steinfeld says she spent hours speaking with her mom, learning about their family history, particularly her maternal grandfather’s racial identity as half Filipino and half African American. But it wasn’t just his identity that she uncovered; it was also his upbringing, his parents, and the broader lineage of her ancestors. It was a process she hadn’t realized she needed — one that helped her make sense of things in her own life. “This role has brought me closer to myself, to my family, and my family history,” she says.
It also helped that Coogler fostered an environment that encouraged this exploration. The essence of Sinners, Steinfeld tells me, is community. For Mary, it’s the absence of community that drives her arc. But it was the cast and crew that made Steinfeld feel truly accepted on her own journey. And while Steinfeld may not personally relate to Mary’s struggles, she damn sure plays her racial complexity well. A compliment she attributes to ongoing conversations with Coogler, who helped guide her in portraying the tension of not being Black or white.
“A lot of [my portrayal of Mary] had to do with Coogler,” Steinfeld explains. “The way that he wrote her and the conversations he had [helped] guide me to play this character that lived in both worlds.”
In Sinners, Mary is introduced as heartbroken and beaten down, grappling with her mother’s death, the white folks who terrorized her mother for being the child of a mixed-race couple, and the surprise return of Stack. I liken Mary to Juliet from the Shakespearean classic. There’s a sweet, aching pain to her. It’s not just the loss of her mother or her mother’s failing marriage that defines Mary, but the profound sense of disconnection she feels. It’s a subtle, poignant nod to the concept of “passing.”
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The thing about “passing,” as Stack subtly explains in the film, is that how well you blend in white society depends on who’s looking at you. In the ‘30s, even the smallest hint of Blackness changed everything from where you lived to where you worked and who you could date. These days, things have changed — thanks to landmark civil rights cases like Loving v. Virginia and more mixed-race families from all over the world — but this racial caste system still very much exists.
Sinners also offers a contemporary look into this racial dichotomy by subtly addressing the one-drop rule — a 1662 legal doctrine that declared anyone with any Black ancestry, regardless of how small, to be considered African American. Mary’s character is a reflection of how hypodescent dictates personal autonomy, notably the consequences of being subjected to it. No one would ever mistake Mary as a Black woman, but that doesn’t mean she’s white, either. Being a quarter Black means she’s caught “in the middle” of this rigid racial classification and that none of her choices are truly her own — not the way she moves through society, not how she navigates relationships, not even the way she sees herself.
Even Mary’s transition into a vampire is a direct metaphor for how multi-racial individuals toe the racial line. Her transformation comes from a seemingly innocent (in her eyes) conversation when white partygoers try to enter Stack’s bar. Since she is the only one in the room able to move seamlessly through white society, Mary offers to decipher the intentions of the white patrons — whether their approach is friendly or, as it often is, far more insidious. And it is insidious because just 10 minutes into the conversation, she’s bitten. This privilege of “passing” ultimately becomes Mary’s undoing. And her white privilege is the downfall of her Black community.
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This privilege of “passing” ultimately becomes Mary’s undoing. And her white privilege is the downfall of her Black community.
That’s not to say vampire Mary is some unfeeling, cold monster bent on devouring every human in sight. Her emotional wounds aren’t erased by her transformation; in fact, they’re only amplified. It’s this deep, unresolved grief and hunger for connection that drives her to turn Stack and try to bring others into the fold. “She’s not out to kill,” Steinfeld says. “She’s just out to connect and to be closer. Her desires haven’t changed.”
And though being a vampire allows Mary to regain autonomy — after all, who’s going to tell the woman with superhuman strength and razor sharp fangs she can’t be with a Black man in the 1930s South? — it’s not necessarily a happy ending.
Or, at least, Steinfeld doesn’t think so. “[Immortality] is a daunting thing,” she admits. I concur — neither of us declares we want to live forever. But for Mary, immortality means she can be with Stack, even if it means never seeing her mother or her best friend, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku).
While I won’t spoil whether Mary gets her happy ending (go watch the film and read our ending explainer to find out!), it’s clear that Mary is more than just a character to Steinfeld. And yes, Mary’s journey in Sinners doesn’t offer easy answers to audiences nor to Steinfeld herself. But what is clear is how the role helped Hailee understand her own identity — both the seen and the hidden parts of herself.
Steinfeld hopes her next role, whatever it may be, is going to be even more complex and layered than Mary. The actress is ready to move beyond familiar territory and take on challenging roles that push her boundaries. And honestly? I can’t wait to see what she does next.
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