A veteran Hollywood star has revealed he once got paid USD 27,000 (EUR 26,000) in compensation for the pain he suffered getting stung by honeybees while shooting a legendary 1990s movie.
Tony Todd took a leading role in the 1992 supernatural horror flick Candyman.
Based on The Forbidden, a short story by English novelist Clive Barker, the film follows Helen, a graduate student as she researches urban legends in Chicago.
Todd plays the Candyman (Todd), a mysterious figure who allegedly kills anyone who speaks his name five times in front of a mirror.
Reflecting on the release of the acclaimed film 30 years ago, Todd revealed he had received a compensation of USD 1,000 (EUR 963) for every sting he suffered during the shooting of an infamous scene in which a swarm of bees falls out of Candyman’s mouth as he leans down to kiss Helen.
Around 200,000 of the social insects were reportedly used for the film’s most memorable moment.
The 67-year-old movie star told Entertainment Tonight: “The bees were the worst nemesis. I had a great lawyer at the time and we got paid. So I didn’t mind it, I’m going like, ‘Bring it on!’ And it only totalled to 27 stings.”
Todd pointed out: “We had a dental dam so they couldn’t go further down (my mouth).”
Virginia Madsen – who starred as Helen – said: “It’s a classic scary tale told by the fireside and we knew that it was that way when we were first making it, so it wasn’t surprising that it kept living on and on and on.”
The 61-year-old actress also opened up about her unabated superstition. Madsen said: “I have never said (Candyman’s name) five times in the mirror, even in the movie, just in case.”
Looking back with Entertainment Tonight on the iconic scene involving the bees, Madsen revealed she was allergic to stings.
The film star explained: “That’s why they had the paramedics on the set, which didn’t make me feel very confident. But the bees that were on me were baby bees so they can sting but they said they are less likely to.
“Then you had to sit for a good 20-25 minutes while (the bee wrangler) vacuums them off you.”
Candyman was directed by Bernard Rose. It had a budget of around USD nine million (EUR 8.7 million) and earned USD 25.8 million (EUR 24.9 million) at the box office.
Film critic Cavett Binion called Candyman “haunting, intelligent and poetic” while New York Times journalist Janet Maslin described it as “an elaborate campfire story.”
