Candyman Producer Jordan Peele Shares What Made Nia DaCosta the Perfect Director

When fans debate about which of their favorite filmmakers they'd like to see revive their favorite horror movies, Candyman fans likely didn't throw filmmaker Nia DaCosta's name into the mix, due to a lack of genre projects to her name, but producer Jordan Peele recently confirmed that it was due to the new perspective that she would bring to the genre that made her a better candidate to helm the film than him. Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic means that, rather than seeing the film in June when it was expected to release, we'll now have to wait until September to see the reimagining of the classic film.

"Quite honestly, Nia is better to shoot this than I am," Peele shared with Empire. "I'm way too obsessed with the original tales in my head. I probably wouldn't be any good. But Nia has a steady manner about her which you don't see a lot in the horror space. She's refined, elegant, every shot is beautiful. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie. I'm so glad I didn't mess it up."

DaCosta went on to detail her approach to reviving the concept.

"There is definitely a sense of taking ownership, and telling a black story about black people," DaCosta detailed. "It was very important for all of us to have our main character be black, and for this experience to be through the black lens. Let's make sure we change the lens now."

In the film, "For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago's Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO's Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials. With Anthony's painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO's Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny."

Candyman lands in theaters on September 25th.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!