Jordan Peele’s reboot of the Candyman franchise may have its villain.
Variety reports that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who can still be seen as Black Manta in DC’s Aquaman, is in talks to play the titular killer, the son of a slave who became a successful artist but was violently dismembered and lynched when he fell in love with a white woman.
Nia DaCosta is set to direct what’s being described as “spiritual remake” of the 1992 film by Bernard Rose. Peele is producing.
If Abdul-Mateen signs, it’s a really excellent piece of the puzzle. As many of us saw in Aquaman, he has the natural ability to play a character that’s both sympathetic as well as sinister, and that’s crucial to Candyman. Yes, he’s a killer with a hook hand summoned by saying his name five times in front of a mirror. But he’s only that because of the horrible way his life ended due to racism.
The remake is currently scheduled for release June, 2020.