For Someone Who Died in 1792, the Candyman Is ‘a Sensitive Guy’

Though he strikes an imposing figure at 6-feet-5, Tony Todd admits he has a fear of bees and “anything that crawls.”

But he had to get over those fears for his role in “Candyman,” the new Gothic horror film based on a Clive Barker novel. Todd plays the title role--a hook-handed specter who, 200 years before, was a talented black artist who fell in love with a rich white man’s daughter and got her pregnant. Her father hired hoodlums who sawed off his hand, smothered him in honey and then set loose thousands of bees who stung him to death.

In one scene, Todd had to have a special device constructed for his mouth, which held 200 live bees. “I elicited the services of a hypnotist to help get into a trance state,” says Todd, who made his film debut in “Platoon” and starred in the remake of “The Night of the Living Dead.”

“I became very close to the entomologist, Dr. Norman Gray,” Todd says. “He assured me he was personally checking 30,000 bees and they were definitely wingless and stingless.”

Candyman, Todd says, is really “a sensitive guy at heart. He is not all bad. He has a strong personality. If there were any shortcomings about him I would say (to him), ‘Get a life. Get a social life.’ But the guy has been dead for 200 years and his social graces are lacking.”

Todd credits his grandmother for instilling in him a love of literature. “She encouraged me to read the classics. I had a great childhood. My priorities were straight.”

He became interested in public speaking at 13 after traveling to Japan with his Boy Scout troop and discovered drama in high school.

“They told me to play basketball because I was tall and black. I couldn’t dribble to save my life. I tried the swimming team, but nobody came to the matches. But they did show up for the plays. (Acting) gave me self-esteem, which I think is the key to making a mark in life.”