Peele wrote the script along with Monkeypaw Productions partner Win Rosenfeld, and the film is being directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods).
The film, which is called a spiritual sequel to the 1992 gothic horror film by Bernard Rose, 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 Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
Collaborating with DaCosta is a creative team led by EP and UPM David Kern (The Age of Adaline, The Lincoln Lawyer), director of photography John Guleserian (Love, Simon, Like Crazy); production designer Cara Brower (Us, Twin Peaks [2017]); costume designer Lizzie Cook (Sense8, A Nightmare on Elm Street) and VFX supervisor James Mcquaide (The Boy, Underworld franchise).
Under the Monkeypaw Productions banner, Jordan Peele wrote, produced and directed the critically acclaimed blockbuster Get Out, which received four Academy Award nominations and earned Peele the Oscar for his screenplay. Most recently, Monkeypaw produced Peele's second original feature, Us, starring Lupita Nyong'o. In 2018, the company produced Spike Lee's BlackkKlansman, the true story of an African-American detective who infiltrated the KKK. Monkeypaw is also working on the stop-motion animated feature, Wendell & Wild, from director Henry Selick for Netflix.
Universal Pictures will distribute Candyman globally with the U.S. release date slated for June 12, 2020.
