It’s not uncommon for the spine-chilling stories being told in horror movies to carry over onto sets and creep out the cast and crew. There have been eerie on-set happenings during the making of many classics like The Conjuring, Poltergeist and Psycho. We can count the latest Candyman movie among the bunch, as director Nia DaCosta recounted a seriously creepy memory that happened while preparing the production.
The most visceral part about the Candyman legend is how the character is often surrounded by a swarm of bees and his hooked hand is often slimy with honey. Original Candyman actor Tony Todd infamously had actual live bees in his mouth while filming a scene in the film. While speaking at the Candyman press conference, which CinemaBlend attended, filmmaker Nia DaCosta recalled the crazy way actual bees found their way onto Candyman:
When I was in L.A. with my line producer in the pre-production house, we heard this sound and looked outside and all the windows were open and we just saw this huge swarm of bees that felt like it appeared out of nowhere. Huge. And I'd never seen that big of a swarm of bees before and we're like rushing around closing all the windows and like freaking out. And then we kind of just looked at each other and we're like, that is fucking creepy. And then after that, we just kept finding dead bees all around the house. It was very strange.
To be clear, they did not bring these bees to set. They just found them. Crazy, right? As Nia DaCosta recalled, an unreal amount of bees basically invaded them while they were prepping Candyman. Are you getting chills yet?
2021’s Candyman continues the story that was introduced to horror fans back in 1992. The movie co-written and produced by Get Out’s Jordan Peele alongside co-writer/director Nia DaCosta adds the terrifying legend into the modern world as it takes audiences back to the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, which has since been gentrified. The movie follows Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris, as artists who come across the legend and come face to face with it. Check out the latest Candyman trailer below:
What’s always been haunting about Candyman is the fact that it has roots in reality, especially through the history of Chicago housing projects. The movie is partially inspired by an incident in the 1980s, when a woman named Ruthie Mae McCoy was murdered by a man who came out of a mirror. And in Candyman, if you say his name five times while looking into a bathroom mirror, he will appear and kill you.
Nia DaCosta is a fairly new filmmaker, but she’ll be one to keep a close eye on. After making the critically-acclaimed film Little Woods with Tessa Thompson and Lily James, the filmmaker was noticed by Jordan Peele for Candyman. She has since also signed on to be the director of the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels, coming in late 2022. Check out Candyman in theaters this Friday, August 27.
