Jordan Peele, the Academy award winning filmmaker behind Get Out and Us is reviving the 1992 cult, horror classic Candyman, and we’ve learned that the first trailer for the film is dropping this Thursday.
While we wait for the trailer to drop this week, we have an exclusive description of what to expect. We’ll update this page with the trailer once its available.
Candyman (2020) Trailer Description:
It starts with 5 girls in a school bathroom saying the name Candyman 5 times in front of the mirror. It then shows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's character moving into the original neighborhood the original movie takes place in. Now it’s been cleaned up. He opens an art gallery focused on Candyman. His exhibit unleashes Candyman somehow. Now he’s terrifying everyone On the block. Destiny Child's "Say My Name" is also cleverly used in background.
The neighborhood in question, was Cabrini-Green housing project near Chicago, that was prominently featured in the original Candyman .
This past June original Candyman director Bernard Rose discussed how they settled on that location. “I asked the Illinois Film Commission where the worst public housing estate in the city was and they said without pausing, ‘Cabrini-Green,’” he said.
“They wouldn’t let us go there at first without a police escort. But despite its reputation, most people there were just getting on with their lives,” Rose continued. “The fear people had of walking around there was the very essence of racism — it is ultimately based on the fear of the other, or the unknown.”
Fans will be happy to hear, that Peele’s version has gone back to shooting in Chicago, and the sequel-remake’s plot has us returning to the “now-gentrified neighborhood where the legend began,” according to the studio’s description of the film.
Speaking to Deadline last summer, Monkeypaw Creative Director Ian Cooper said this: “We talk a lot about fans and the idea of appeasing fans and when you do that and how do you do that and when do you not do that,” Cooper said. “I think my issue with fandom is that it’s really problematic. It’s probably the most problematic thing facing the genre.”
“It typically comes with a dogma that is abrasive and that is more resistant to change and permutation than you would think,” Cooper continued. “I think what we’re trying to do with Candyman is both be mischievous in how we address the relationship to the first film but also be very satisfying.”
For those unfamiliar with Candyman, the film is based on a story by Clive Barker, and starred Tony Todd as the titular Candyman. A lynch mob cut off his hand, replaced it with a hook, and smeared him with honey causing bees to sting him to death. He was burned and cremated. Now if you say his name five times in the mirror, he comes back to kill you. The movie also spawned two sequels.
“What we’re doing with Candyman and how Jordan is crafting it on the page is going to be very exciting and rewarding to audiences that haven’t seen the original film as well as people who’ve seen the original film,” Cooper said. “In a broad sense of the word, this film will stand alone if you’ve never heard of a film called Candyman and will dovetail in a pretty complicated and interesting way to the original. In short, I think this will really fit in with what we’re doing with Us and did with Get Out in a way that will be circuitous.”
The new film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Us,” “Watchmen”, “Aquaman”) and Teyonah Parris (“If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Chi-Raq”), along with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“Misfits,” “Utopia”) and Colman Domingo (“Euphoria,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Fear the Walking Dead”).
The biggest question from fans is whether or not there will be any involvement from fan favorite Tony Todd. Deadline reported that Tony Todd said he was approached by the producers of Candyman, but Cooper does not want to elaborate on his potential involvement. “Tony Todd is just no comment, full stop,” Cooper said.
Notices for the “spiritual sequel” have been popping up around Chicago since August, fittingly under the secret title “Say My Name”, and Yahya has been posting about the film on social media.
Are you excited for this remake sequel? Leave us your thoughts down below! Whats your favorite Jordan Peele project to date? Got a scoop? Reach out on Twitter.
