Those 'Candyman' Bee Stings Made Tony Todd A Rich Man

The lead actor of Candyman had a not-so-sweet time on set, but he was richly rewarded for his suffering.

Tony Todd, who portrayed the terrifying ghost of a man who was murdered in the late 1800s, revealed in an interview with The Guardian that he earned a ton of extra cash while filming the Bernard Rose-directed 1992 horror film. The star pocketed a cool $1,000 each time he was stung by a bee during shooting, which was a lot.

In total, Todd took home $23,000 in addition to his agreed-upon paycheck for the film, though he seemingly would have been fine without the additional compensation, as he fully embraced bees as an integral part of Candyman's story. The actor explained,

"I negotiated a bonus of $1,000 for every sting during the bee scene. And I got stung 23 times. Everything that's worth making has to involve some sort of pain. Once I realized it was an important part of who Candyman was, I embraced it. It was like putting on a beautiful coat."

Candyman features Todd's character often covered in bees, but the most stunning moment happens when a group of bees emerge from his mouth. That sequence was achieved by placing actual bees inside Todd's mouth, with a dental dam in place to keep the critters from making their way down his throat.

The bees used in the film were actually specifically bred to appear on the big screen. According to iHorror, the Candyman team used newborn bees that were about 12 hours old, making them appear like adult bees with less harmful stings.

Unfortunately, Candyman's lead actress, who happens to be slightly allergic to bees, apparently went without a bonus, but she was still well taken care of on set. Virginia Madsen, who played graduate student Helen in the flick, almost passed on the role due to her allergy. When director Bernard Rose told her that she probably was just psyching herself out, Madsen got tested for insect allergies, and learned that she was more allergic to wasps than bees. With that knowledge, Madsen had more confidence heading into Candyman, and was comforted by all the precautions in place. She once told HorrorNewsNetwork,

"I really just had to go into this zen sort of place and the takes were very short. What took the longest was getting the bees off of us. They had this tiny 'bee vacuum,' which wouldn't harm the bees. After the scene where the bees were all over my face and my head, it took both Tony and I 45 minutes just to get the bees off. That's when it became difficult to sit still. It was cool though, I felt like a total badass doing it."

Now that everyone knows about Todd's bee sting compensation deal with the original Candyman team, the crew behind the upcoming remake might start devising their own deal with the actor. Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele has teamed with Little Woods filmmaker Nia DaCosta for a remake of Candyman, due out sometime in 2020, in which Todd is set to reprise his iconic role.

The OG star is stepping up to the plate for the "reimagining," acting opposite Sorry to Bother You actor LaKeith Stanfield and If Beale Street Could Talk actress Teyonah Parris.

The fact that Todd suffered dozens of stings while filming the original means he'll probably sustain just as many if not more during the upcoming reimagining. Hopefully when Todd puts on that, quote, "beautiful coat" to play Candyman again, the remake team can also offer him stacks of cash for any pain that comes with it.

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