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Miles Caton revealed which of his Sinners costars dished out “the best” words of wisdom.
Caton recently caught up with PEOPLE exclusively at the Time100 Next Gala at Chelsea Piers in N.Y.C. During the conversation, the actor opened up about learning from his more experienced castmates while on set of the hit horror movie.
“I feel like [I learned] a little bit from everybody,” Caton, 20, began, adding, “I’m really cool with Mike [Michael B. Jordan], [writer and director] Ryan [Coogler], of course, [and] Omar [Benson Miller].”
“Shout out to Omar Miller, man. He’s got the best advice,” he continued.
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Caton went on to say that he used the project as a learning opportunity, noting that he took something valuable from each and every person with whom he worked.
“I feel when I was on set, I really took advantage of just hearing everybody’s story, just seeing what they went through or their different experiences, and just trying to learn from everyone,” he said.
Caton also told PEOPLE that he “learned so much” by observing Coogler, 39, direct the project.
“I learned so much from Ryan being on set — and more from what he did than the things that he told me. Just seeing how he operates, seeing the way he treats people, seeing the way he runs his ship and how everybody just has so much respect for him. It was something that I really admired and he encouraged me throughout the whole process,” he explained.
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And the admiration is mutual. When Coogler was asked to write a tribute for Caton — one of the honorees at the TIME100 event — the Black Panther director was effusive in his praise for the young actor.
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“We threw Miles Caton to the wolves. Or to the gators … whichever you prefer,” Coogler wrote in his tribute.
He continued, “This 19-year-old kid hadn’t been in a movie before and didn’t play guitar, but we needed him to play a generational musician in our 1932 vampire horror movie about the culture that gave birth to the Delta blues — and after a worldwide search we were sure he was the one for the job.”
“He had to learn to play slide on a resonator guitar, write music, move to New Orleans, learn stunt choreography, get covered in special-effects makeup and fake blood and shoot intimate scenes and ones in the water (a stone’s throw from the aforementioned gators).”
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“Most important, he had to take audiences on the emotional journey of our film Sinners, performing alongside veteran actors. Miles didn’t just do it all with grace, professionalism and humility — he made it look easy. I have never been so impressed by someone so young, and I have no doubt Miles is destined for greatness,” Coogler concluded.
