Was Eddie Murphy really the first choice to play the lead role in ‘Candyman’?
Most actors who become A-list stars end up with at least one franchise of their own, but hardly any of them are set in the horror genre. For over 30 years, rumours have abounded that Eddie Murphy almost bucked the trend and played the title character in Candyman, but is it true?
One of the main reasons why so few well-known names spend years associated with a single horror saga is simple: as much as those kinds of films can be relied on to generate profits, knock out sequels at a rapid pace, and last for decades, it’s not unfair to say that slashers and supernatural tales aren’t really an actor’s medium.
Think of the most iconic characters, like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Ghostface, to name just four, and with the exception of Robert Englund, none of them are inextricably tied to a specific actor. Even in the modern era, Tobin Bell’s John Kramer is about the only one.
When Candyman first entered development in the early 1990s, Murphy was already the most bankable leading man in Hollywood. His career had taken off like a rocket when he swapped Saturday Night Live for the silver screen, and 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, and Coming to America had elevated him to the top of the pile.
It would have been an unexpected, and completely jarring, change of pace for him to suddenly decide he wanted to play an ominous, foreboding, sinister, and spine-chilling spectre who appears if anyone dares to say his name three times in front of the mirror, but it’s become a widely accepted part of industry lore that he was the first choice for Candyman and was offered the gig by the producers.
However, it’s not true, and it never was. If anyone has the credibility to debunk the speculation, it’s the guy who directed the movie. And, speaking to NME, Bernard Rose didn’t fuck around: “That whole bullshit thing that’s around about Eddie Murphy, there’s not a shred of truth to it,” he declared. “It was never even talked about.”
It’s impossible to imagine Murphy, or anyone like him, playing Candyman. For one thing, he was too closely tied to whip-smart, motormouthed comedy, and at that point in his career, nobody was really sure if he could even do drama, never mind convincing audiences he was a fearsome force of nature from the afterlife.
He’s also eight inches shorter than Tony Todd, who possessed both the stature and booming voice to strike fear into the hearts of viewers, never mind the fact he was brave enough to have live bees on his face to add an extra layer of queasy authenticity to his performance. The late character actor amassed hundreds of credits, but Candyman was his defining role, and one he played four times.
While Murphy’s name never came up when the film was casting, another future superstar’s did, after producer Alan Poul admitted that, were Virginia Madsen to decline the chance to play Helen Lyle, he had his eyes on an up-and-comer named Sandra Bullock to embody the female lead.
