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Director Nia DaCosta explains 'Candyman' reboot's relation to Juneteenth
DaCosta says 2019 was a powerful time, she finds the social condition in the US resonates with her upcoming film.
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Nia DaCosta directing the upcoming horror film, 'Candyman'. (Universal Pictures/Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
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irector and cowriter of horror sequel Candyman, Nia DaCosta, discussed the film’s social themes and its relation to Juneteenth in a video released by Universal Pictures.
“For me, especially last year, I was thinking a lot about the duality of the black experience in America,” she said. Juneteenth is a celebration of emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The holiday is also often observed for celebrating African-American culture. “It is a celebration of us, of life, of freedom, of possibility. On the other side, it's incredibly difficult and a lot of pain. And they kind of walk hand in hand.”
DaCosta says 2019 was a powerful time, she finds the social condition in the US resonates with the upcoming Candyman. She added that horror films were a perfect medium to deliver social issues, since it will impact the audience on a social level. “The right function of it is to make you uncomfortable and I think that discomfort is attached to explorations of race or gender,” she said. “It was the truth of the pain that was the upsetting story of Candyman. In the real world, we create monsters of men all the time. When people are murdered, they become either saints or vilified.”
Candyman originated from the 1985 short story "The Forbidden" of the horror fiction anthologies Books of Blood by Clive Barker. The short story told about the legend of "Candyman", the ghost of an artist and son of a slave who was murdered in the late 19th century for his relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man.
The first film adaptation directed by Bernard Rose in 1992 starred Tony Todd as the Candyman. The upcoming film is the fourth in the series written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, along with Tony Todd and Vanessa Estelle Williams from the original film. Candyman is scheduled to premiere on August 27, 2021.
