Elle Magazine

December/January 2026

The women of Sinners / Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld

The women of 'Sinners' Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, and Hailee Steinfeld-made history in the most talked-about movie of the year.

The appetite for Ryan Coogler's ambitious vampire film has been ravenous, to say the least. It's an erotic fever dream of supernaturalism, romance, and blues-and now one of the highest-grossing horror movies of all time. While Michael B.

Jordan stunned audiences in a dual lead role as twins Smoke and Stack, it is the motives, flaws, and desires of the film's female leads that drive the story. And with a team of women also shaping the narrative behind the scenes, Lawson, Mosaku, and Steinfeld were able to bring the full complexity of womanhood to the screen. As Steinfeld tells ELLE: "You see different versions of what it might feel like, sound like, look like, to be an empowered woman, be in complete ownership of who you are and your power and sensuality."

For ELLE's 2025 Women-in-Hollywood portfolio, the trio talks fan theories, eroticism onscreen, and what 'Sinners' can teach the industry.