Actor Tony Todd was already well-known before starring in Bernard Rose’s 1992 film Candyman, but his performance in that film turned him into a horror movie legend. A supernatural killer with a tragic backstory, the imposing Candyman could be summoned by saying his name five times into a mirror.
Now, a new report says that Oscar winner Jordan Peele (Get Out) is in talks to produce a Candyman remake – and there’s even a chance he could direct it.
It took years for me to work up the courage to watch Candyman. The VHS box art, which features a bee crawling into a person’s eye with the dark silhouette of Tony Todd as the title character replacing the eye’s pupil, was enough to give me nightmares as a kid. But when I finally checked it out, I was surprised to find that this is more than just a riff on Bloody Mary – it also had a lot to say about class and race.
Bloody-Disgusting reports that Peele is in talks to produce a remake through his Monkeypaw Productions, but it’s still unclear if he also plans to step behind the camera and direct it as well. Considering Peele’s filmmaking history thus far, a Candyman remake seems like a great match between filmmaker and material. Peele’s work has explicitly addressed race within the confines of genres filmmaking, and this story provides another opportunity to do the same thing.