Candyman
All actors and roles (10)
All team (117)
Short description
Candyman follows Helen Lyle, a graduate student in Chicago researching urban legends. Her work brings her to the story of Candyman, a hook-handed figure said to appear when his name is spoken five times into a mirror. Helen treats the tale as folklore rather than fact, but her skepticism sets off a series of violent killings that draw her into the legend itself. The film is set in and around the Cabrini-Green housing project and draws on a story by Clive Barker.
Bernard Rose directed and wrote the screenplay, working from that source material. The film came third in a directing career that now numbers fourteen features, following Chicago Joe and the Showgirl and preceding Inside Out 4. Virginia Madsen plays Helen, with Tony Todd in the title role, Xander Berkeley as Trevor Lyle, Kasi Lemmons as Bernadette Walsh, Vanessa Williams as Anne-Marie McCoy and DeJuan Guy as Jake. Philip Glass composed the score.
Made for about 6 million dollars, the film returned roughly 26 million worldwide, a strong multiple on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 109,000 votes, on TMDB 6.7 from over 1,800 votes, and a critics' rating stands at 6.7 from 82 reviews, so audiences and critics are closely aligned. It runs 100 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Eddie Murphy was originally considered for the lead role, but he was deemed too short (175 cm). The lead role was given to Tony Todd, who stands 196 centimeters tall.
- In the scene where bees fill Candyman’s chest cavity, the bees were placed in a prop chest cavity, which was then suspended on Tony Todd’s chest. The bees were placed there very carefully and with all precautions, and then removed just as carefully.
- At the insistence of Tony Todd, a clause was included in his contract stating that he would receive $1,000 for each bee sting during filming. He was stung a total of 23 times.
- Virginia Madsen had to film scenes with bees. Knowing this in advance, she almost turned down the role because she was allergic to bees, but director Bernard Rose persuaded her. After filming the scene, it took Madsen and Tony Todd 45 minutes to remove all the bees from the actress.
- The filming of the scene in which Candyman’s hook breaks through the cabinet in Helen’s bathroom was organized in the absence of Virginia Madsen, so the horror on her face is far from acted. She screamed and ran off the set.
- The story of Candyman draws on elements of two real-life urban legends – Bloody Mary (who appears if you call her name several times in front of a mirror) and Hook (a killer with a prosthetic hand ending in a hook).
- Ted Raimi appears in a small role at the very beginning of the film.
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