The trailers for director Nia DaCosta’s upcoming Candyman reboot / “spiritual sequel” (watch the original film HERE), have made it clear that this movie is going to be shaking up the Candyman mythology a bit. While we’ve seen and heard glimpses of Tony Todd’s iconic Candyman in the promotional materials, we’ve also heard other characters being referred to as Candyman – like a fellow named Sherman Fields, who used to pass out candy to neighborhood children. Accused of putting razor blades in the candy, he was murdered before he could be proven innocent. Our friends over at Bloody Disgusting got a hold of a good quality picture of actor Michael Hargrove as Sherman Fields, and you can see that below. This image of the Fields version of Candyman is also seen in the trailer embedded above.
DaCosta’s Candyman is set to reach theatres on August 27th. Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, and Colman Domingo, the film has the following synopsis:
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 and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright, 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 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 terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.
Original Candyman cast member Vanessa Williams is in this one as well, reprising the role of Anne-Marie McCoy. The Anthony McCoy mentioned in the synopsis is believed to be Anne-Marie’s son, the baby from the first film.
DaCosta wrote the screenplay for the reboot with producers Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. Ian Cooper is also a producer on the project.