You can’t go to a horror convention anywhere in the country without seeing Tony Todd there, and if he’s there somebody is going to ask about a Candyman remake. The underrated horror franchise didn’t make Todd a star, he was well-known among genre circles before that, but it did turn him into a slasher movie icon that made audiences terrified to say “Candyman” aloud for fear he might actually show up.
Well, Jordan Peele isn’t afraid, and Bloody Disgusting says he’s interested in making a Candyman remake a reality. The site says Peele, who won awards and kicked box office ass with Get Out, is in talks to produce the film, although it’s unclear if he’ll direct. It would be in his wheelhouse, for sure, dealing with race and class through the prism of genre. Candyman is an urban legend, said to be the son of a slave who found prosperity as a businessman and fame as an artist. When he fathered a child with a white woman, a lynch mob strung him up, sliced off his painting hand, and smothered him in honey so that bees could sting him to death. Creepy origin, right? The film was based on a Clive Barker short, and it seems the film rights may have finally reverted back to him.
I don’t know if you want to revive Candyman without Todd in the role, they’re so linked it’s tough to imagine. But the thought of Peele taking this on is pretty exciting. If true, of course.
