No, the ‘Candyman’ Cast and Crew Won’t Say “Candyman” Five Times in a Mirror

As anyone who’s seen the original 1992 Candyman movie knows, saying Candyman’s name five times in front of a mirror will summon the hook-handed killer’s presence. He’s like Bloody Mary, only bloodier. Maybe you’ve tried the mirror invocation, or maybe you’ve just heard about it through pop culture osmosis.

The cast and crew of the new Candyman movie, however, were having none of it.

/Film’s own Danielle Ryan attended a press conference for Candyman, where director Nia DaCosta and stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, and Colman Domingo were asked point-blank about summoning Candyman.

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Have you or would you say Candyman five times in front of a mirror?

Teyonah Parris: I would not. Not alone.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: I think we both kind of agree, not agree, but we just mutually had come to the consensus that we’re not messing with that.

Teyonah Parris: No one’s got time for that.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: Yeah, nobody got time for that.

Nia DaCosta: No, never. I never will.

Colman Domingo: Absolutely not and I never will.

Colman, you said in a previous interview that you tried to stay away from Candyman for a long time. Why is that?

Colman Domingo: Because I’m a big wuss. Well, I stayed away from Candyman for a long time because I think that, like one of the characters in Candyman says, Black people shouldn’t invoke things or something like that. Because we’re already under enough distress and trauma, just making it day-to-day in this world, that we shouldn’t invoke even more. So I think that that’s why I stayed away from it and because I’m a big wuss.

Real Bees Crashed the Party

Domingo and DaCosta also responded to a question about whether they experienced anything spooky on set. This is where things get really interesting.

The original Candyman made memorable use of honeybees. They would come swarming out of Candyman’s mouth and were just generally his spirit animal. The actor who played Candyman, Tony Todd, even negotiated a $1,000 bonus for every bee sting he suffered, which meant that he came away with an extra $23,000.

Here’s what Domingo and DaCosta had to say about spooky on-set happenings. (Domingo’s quote has been lightly edited to remove a potential spoiler.)

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Colman Domingo: I don’t have any tremendously wild stories. Like there was actually that spirit happening there, but I can tell you for sure, our production design was so great that when I walked into that one building that’s towards the end of the film…I was amazed. You walk in there and I was terrified. It felt like terror. I was terrified, but it was a space that my character lived in and lived around and permeated, and so I had to take that in as well. It’s a lot of things you have to take in as a performer and a lot of it, sometimes is toxic. It’s all part of the greater examination for good, but you’ve got to take it in.

Nia DaCosta: For sure. Yeah. When I was in LA with my line producer and 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, kind of felt like it appeared out of nowhere. Huge. And I’d never seen a swarm of bees that big before, and we’re rushing around and closing all the windows and freaking out. And then we just looked at each other and we’re like, “That is f**king creepy.” And then after that, we just kept finding dead bees all around the house. It was very strange. So that was definitely…Yeah.

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How crazy is that? Personally, if I saw a bunch of bees show up announced on the Candyman set, my reaction would be the same as Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man remake. “What is that? What is it? Oh, no, not the bees!”

Candyman is in theaters on August 27, 2021.

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