Like many aspiring filmmakers, Coogler had significant student loan debt from his master's degree at the University of Southern California's School of the Cinematic Arts. "Back then, bro, I wasn’t making no money,” the 38-year-old director revealed on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast on April 15. “I was $200,000 in debt for film school. It was bad.”

As Ryan Coogler basks in the critical and commercial triumphs of his latest film, "Sinners," he turns a mirror back on the people who helped make that success possible. Coogler, who brought Marvel's "Black Panther" movies to life,

Sinners' director Ryan Coogler unpacks the personal meaning behind the film's post-credits scene: 'I broke down crying in tears because I realized that this whole movie was about that.'