Candyman Featurette Goes Behind the Scenes of the Film’s Real-World Artists

Whether it be mirrors, bees, or a hook for a hand, there are a number of components to Candyman that are intrinsically linked to the character, with one of those signature traits being that the original Candyman, Daniel Robitaille, was an artist. For the upcoming Candyman, writer/director Nia DaCosta knew the importance of featuring an artist not just on-screen, but also the inclusion of real-world artists whose work represented the themes of the film, with the above featurette for the new film explaining the importance of art to the character’s history, as well as his future. Check out the featurette above and see Candyman in theaters on August 27th.

Oscar winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend: Candyman. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, next year’s The Marvels) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.  

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 (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; Watchmen, Us) and his partner, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, WandaVision), 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; Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) exposes Anthony to the horrific true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, and spurred on by his white art dealer, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh inspiration 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.

Universal Pictures presents, from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, in association with BRON Creative, Candyman. Candyman is directed by DaCosta and is produced by Ian Cooper (2022’s Nope, Us), Rosenfeld, and Peele. The screenplay is by Peele & Rosenfeld and DaCosta. The film’s executive producers are David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert, and Jason Cloth.

Candyman lands in theaters on August 27th.

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 Star Wars and horror!