Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits) and Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) are ready to say his name five times in the mirror. The two actors have joined Yahya Abdul-Mateen II(Us) and Teyonah Parris (If Beale Street Could Talk) in MGM and Jordan Peele’s forthcoming reboot of the classic horror film Candyman, which has begun principal photography this week in Chicago. Universal Pictures will distribute Candyman globally with the U.S. release date set for June 12, 2020.
The film from MGM and Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions will be directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) and will be a spiritual sequel to Benard Rose’s 1992 gothic horror movie which was originally based on Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden. The film will be shot entirely in Chicago and feature various locations throughout the city, including the neighborhood where the legend began: the now-gentrified North Side where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
The original movie followed the urban legend of the titular character and starred Tony Todd as Candyman, a former slave turned artist who fell in love and with a white woman and fathered a child during the late 1800s. Because of this forbidden relationship, his lover’s father hired a lynch mob to kill him. He was smeared with honey and bees attacked him. He was burned to death and his ashes were scattered upon what became the present-day the Cabrini-Green housing project. The story of his death became an urban legend and by saying his name five times in the mirror, he comes and murders you. The horror became popular among the masses and spawned two sequels.
Stewart-Jarrett is best known for his roles on British TV series Misfits and Utopia. In 2018 he starred on Broadway in the Tony Award-Winning revival of Angels in America. A Tony and Lawrence Olivier-nominated actor and playwright, Domingo is known for his role as Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead. He also appears on HBO’s Euphoria. He can next be seen in A24’s Zola, Noah Hawley’s Lucy in the Sky and The God Committee alongside Kelsey Grammar and Julia Stiles. He is currently filming Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom with Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman.
Abdul-Mateen II can next be seen in HBO’s forthcoming Watchmen. He has also appeared in Black Mirror, The Get Down, Aquaman and The Greatest Showman. Parris starred in Justin Simien’s Dear White People feature which inspired the Netflix series. She also starred in Spike Lee’s Chi-raq and appeared in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk alongside Domingo. It was recently revealed that she will join the cast of Marvel’s upcoming WandaVisionseries for Disney+, starring as the iconic superhero “Monica Rambeau.”
MGM will co-finance Candyman with BRON Creative, headed by BRON’s Aaron L. Gilbert and Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth, as part of their larger slate deal. Ian Cooper (Us) will produce for Monkeypaw and Adam Rosenberg, MGM’s Co-President of Production and Tabitha Shick, MGM’s Vice President of Production will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
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