With production underway on Nia DaCosta’s Jordan Peele-produced Candyman offering, now comes rumblings on the exact role of franchise fave Tony Todd.
Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, it’s being reported that Todd will indeed be back as the titular hook-handed tortured soul. Todd had long since been signed on for the movie, yet it was initially believed that he would not be playing Daniel Robitaille, aka the man known as Candyman. Now though, the ever-reliable BD claims that Todd’s part in the film will be reprising his most iconic of roles.
Joining Todd in the picture are Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Get Out’s Lakeith Stanfield, If Beale Street Could Talk’s Teyonah Paris, Fear the Walking Dead’s Colman Domingo and Misfits’ Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
Candyman itself actually began life as a short story in Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Originally titled The Forbidden, the story was famously adapted as a 1992 Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen-starring movie from Bernard Rose. Plot-wise, the movie version took place in the semi-demolished Cabrini-Green housing development in Chicago. Todd’s Candyman was an artist and the son of a slave, murdered by bees by his lover’s father after first having his hand lopped off.
From there, the urban legend of the Candyman is that if you say his name five times while looking in the mirror, he’ll appear behind you – and likely slice you up good ‘n’ proper. Sequels followed with 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and 1999’s Candyman: Day of the Dead, and despite mild rumblings over the decades, the franchise has remained dead since that ’99 effort.
For this new Candyman, the film will return to the area that once housed the Cabrini-Green housing projects. This time out, we find a new group of poor souls wishing to explore the legend of the infamous Candyman. Which we all know, will likely not end well for the majority of those involved.
To be directed by Little Woods’ Nia DaCosta from a screenplay penned by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, Candyman is booked in for a June 12th, 2020 release.
