Abundance of
Windy City talent
to appear in
latest film by
blockbuster director
and Metro Goldwyn Mayer
With principal photography underway in Chicago on Candyman, from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures (MGM) and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, director Nia DaCosta has cast several local performers in key supporting roles.
The film’s previously announced stars include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Us, Aquaman), Teyonah Parris (If Beale Street Could Talk, Chi-Raq), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits, Utopia) and Colman Domingo (HBO’s Euphoria, If Beale Street Could Talk).
Chicagoans in the cast
Joining them are Brian King (Showtime’s The Chi, Starz!’s Boss), award-winning stage / screen actress Rebecca Spence (Princess Cyd, Public Enemies, Steppenwolf Theatre), Glenview native Kyle Kaminsky (One Night in Hollywood, DriverX), Chicago actor Cassie Kramer (Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, Bimbo), and a trio of Chicago stage veterans — Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, Dreamgirls), Cedric Mays (Chicago’s Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatres), and Christiana Clark (Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater).
Also appearing are broadcast news anchor Nancy Pender (formerly with WFLD-FOX/32) and reporter Pam Jones (currently with WGN-AM/720). They will portray, (you guessed it!) television reporters.
“Spiritual sequel” to 1992 film
Written-produced by Peele and Rosenfeld and directed by rising filmmaker DaCosta (Little Woods), Candyman is a spiritual sequel to the 1992 gothic horror film by Bernard Rose, based on Clive Barker’s short story, The Forbidden.
The film will be shot entirely in Chicago and feature various locations throughout the city, including the neighborhood where the legend began — the now-gentrified North Side where the notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
The film is being produced for Monkeypaw by Ian Cooper (Us), with David Kern (Lincoln Lawyer, the Underworld franchise) executive producing.
MGM will co-finance Candyman with BRON Creative, headed by BRON’s Aaron L. Gilbert and Creative Wealth Media’s Jason M. Cloth, as part of their larger slate deal. Adam Rosenberg, MGM’s Co-President of Production and Tabitha Shick, MGM’s Vice President of Production, will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
Filming on Candyman continues into early Fall, 2019, with the U.S. release slated for June 12, 2020. Universal Pictures will distribute the film globally.
Send your film updates to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
