Spike Lee and Ryan Coogler are two filmmakers who have reshaped modern cinema in their own eras. But in a recent conversation for Variety’s Directors on Directors, the two legends peeled back the curtain on the profound, creative, and deeply trusting relationships they share with the “leading men” who’ve become essential to their storytelling.
For Lee, that bond has been forged over decades with Denzel Washington, an artistic partnership that spans classics like Malcolm X, Mo’ Better Blues, Inside Man, and most recently High & Low.
For Coogler, it’s been his enduring collaboration with Michael B. Jordan, starting with Fruitvale Station, evolving through Creed, and taken to new emotional heights in Sinners.
Lee reflected on how essential trust and emotional grounding are in a director–actor partnership, describing it as something that must be built on more than professional alignment; it requires heart.
“We’re both very blessed to have our leading men, and it’s a give and take, and you support each other… That’s what our job is… to get the best out of them… all this stuff, what we do, is based upon… love and trust. That’s the foundation. If you don’t have that, then… yeah.”
Lee spoke about the fact that he and Washington don’t have to see each other constantly to maintain that bond. It’s rooted in years of collaboration, respect, and a shared commitment to impact. Their families are close. Their lives intersect in meaningful ways. That stability allows them to go deeper onscreen, to take artistic risks, because the trust is non-negotiable.
Coogler echoed that sentiment as he talked about Jordan, who has become more than an actor he directs; he’s a creative partner who challenges him just as much as Coogler challenges Jordan.
Coogler shared how Jordan constantly pushes for honesty and emotional truth in every role, even when the performance requires extreme vulnerability or physical and mental endurance. Whether training for months of fight choreography in Creed or literally acting opposite himself in Sinners, Jordan holds nothing back, and expects Coogler not to either.
It’s that shared willingness to push, to stretch, and to jump creatively together that Coogler believes has shaped their cinematic language.
And that shared sentiment between both filmmakers, that great cinema is born from great relationships, became a through-line of the conversation.
Both directors emphasized that their leading men aren’t just actors who show up on set. They are collaborators, truth-seekers, emotional athletes, and trusted artistic partners.
That mutual respect has led to some of the most defining performances of the last three decades, Washington’s towering transformations under Lee’s lens and Jordan’s career-defining turns through Coogler’s storytelling.
Check out the full episode.
