The original screenplay for Candyman 2021 featured a major role for the original movie's protagonist Helen Lyle as the new villain, but here's why the plan changed. The original Candyman is considered one of the best horror movies of the 1990s, and revolved around Virginia Madsen's academic Helen discovering - far too late - that the urban legend of the Candyman was very real. Tony Todd's haunting portrayal of the hook-handed slasher also saw him become a horror icon.
Todd would later reprise the role for two sequels. 1995's Candyman: Farewell To The Flesh was the directorial debut of Bill Condon and further fleshed out the character's backstory, but it still couldn't match the quality of the original. 1999's Day Of The Dead reduced Candyman to a mere slasher villain and lost a lot of what made the series unique. Nia DaCosta recently revived the franchise with 2021's Candyman, which was also co-produced and written by Jordan Peele. Candyman 2021 built off the foundational of the 1992 movie to explore the historical impact of racial violence in America, while also adding new elements to the slasher's mythology
Instead of just being Todd's murdered artist Daniel Robitaille, DaCosta's Candyman 2021 reveals that several Black men have taken the mantle over the decades as the cycle of racial injustice has repeated itself. The sequel also revealed that the truth behind Helen's death - who in the original, sacrificed herself to save the life of baby Anthony while they were trapped in a bonfire - had been twisted into another urban legend that made her a villain too. It also turns out an early draft of the legacy sequel featured a much larger role for Helen, who was the primary villain for much of the story.
This draft of Candyman was penned by Peele and co-writer Win Rosenfeld before Nia DaCosta joined, and revealed that the grown-up Anthony had summoned the spirit of Helen, not the original Candyman. This makes a certain amount of sense since Helen is seen as a phantom at the end of the original after her husband summoned her in a mirror. This unused draft revealed Helen's investigation into the Candyman legend in the original had the effect of erasing him, and the creation of a new Candyman was a big part of the story. There are many differences between this draft and the movie, but Candyman himself would only appear in the finale, while Helen's phantom served as the primary killer, donning the slasher's coat and hook while wearing a piece of canvas over her badly burned head with a face painted on it.
Helen was later removed from Candyman 2021 when DaCosta came on board to rewrite and direct, which is when the concept of the Candyman "hive" was introduced. Curiously, actress Cassie Kramer was announced as playing Helen in the new entry, and in the original teaser, a shot of the badly scarred Helen phantom actually appears in the church scene in the finale. This scene was removed from the movie, however, and Helen's spirit doesn't appear, though Virginia Madsen makes a vocal cameo while Kramer plays a librarian in the same scene.
It appears one cut of the movie had a role for Helen's phantom to play - possibly guiding Colman Domingo's William in his obsession to create a new Candyman - but this plot thread was dropped. It's fascinating to think Helen could have served as the new villain of Candyman 2021, but the sequel ended up going in a very different direction.
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September 26, 2021 at 02:10AM
