Jordan Peele has explained why he didn't direct the new Candyman. Released in 1992, the original Candyman (itself, a re-imagining of Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden") remains one of the rare mainstream horror movies to feature a black boogeyman (the eponymous Candyman) in the vein of Freddy Krueger. For that reason, horror fans were all the more excited when it was reported Peele would be producing a new installment in the franchise in September 2018, on the heels of his acclaimed directing debut with the horror-thriller Get Out.
Described as a spiritual sequel and co-written by Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and Nia DaCosta, Candyman (2020) revolves around Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a visual artist who becomes dangerously obsessed with the Candyman legend after moving into the now-gentrified Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago with his girlfriend and gallery director, Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). However, as much as the film's marketing has banked on Peele's involvement as a selling point, it was actually DaCosta who served as director.
In an interview with Empire, Peele revealed why he didn't direct the new Candyman, pointing out he was was busy finishing his second horror movie, Us, at the time. He went on to explain why he feels DaCosta was the much better choice anyway:
But quite honestly, Nia is better to shoot this than I am. I’m way too obsessed with the original tales in my head. I probably wouldn’t be any good. But Nia has a steady manner about her which you don’t see a lot in the horror space. She’s refined, elegant, every shot is beautiful. It’s a beautiful, beautiful movie. I’m so glad I didn’t mess it up.
A relative lesser-known, DaCosta made her own acclaimed directorial debut with 2018's crime-thriller Little Woods (starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James). Speaking to Empire, DaCosta talked about the importance of having a team of black artists involved on both sides of the camera for the new Candyman:
There is definitely a sense of taking ownership, and telling a Black story about Black people. It was very important for all of us to have our main character be Black, and for this experience to be through the Black lens. Let’s make sure we change the lens now.
Some may recall DaCosta's official hiring in November 2018 also came on the heels of Blumhouse founder Jason Blum claiming there aren't a lot of female directors interested in making horror movies, as a way of explaining why Blumhouse had yet to produce a woman-directed horror film up until that point. (Blum has since apologized for his comments and produced Sophia Takal's Black Christmas remake last December.) If anything, though, that only further supports what DaCosta said about the importance of allowing more black artists, and especially black women, to take ownership of black stories - even supernatural horror ones about hook-handed killers. So far, based on the film's marketing, DaCosta seems to have done a fine job of updating the Candyman property for 2020, which only further suggests Peele made the right call in passing the reins to someone else.
Source: Empire
