When the idea came to me for this movie, I thought about other supernatural creatures as a thing that they could confront at the juke joint. [...] And I kept coming back to vampires because of everything that the vampire implies in public consciousness. Vampires—it's not a steadfast rule, but it's pretty commonly associated with sensuality. Vampires are expected to be sexy, usually expected to be fashionable, usually expected to be knowledgeable, usually expected to be very powerful. It’s not thought of as wrong if a vampire is converted to vampirism but they maintain a human personality, the human memories. It’s a fascinating premise. I mean, you’ll see a version of this almost in every culture. [...] If I’m trying to have a conversation about our common humanity—which for me, this movie is about. [...] So for me, the vampire was a creature who’s, like, human adjacent, who was human at some point, became something else. But through their advanced age, they could see society for what it was.
--Ryan Coogler - Fresh Air, NPR











