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Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)

October 24, 2024 / 37:14

This episode discusses the connection between the real-life murder of Ruthie May McCoy and the film Candyman, featuring insights from reporter Steve Begira and director Bernard Rose.

Steve Begira recounts his experiences covering the murder of Ruthie May McCoy in 1987 and how his work inadvertently influenced the Candyman film. He expresses concerns about the film's portrayal of the projects and the decision to center a white character as the protagonist.

Bernard Rose, the director of Candyman, shares his perspective on adapting Clive Barker's story and how his visits to Chicago's Cabrini Green housing projects shaped the film's narrative. He reflects on the racial dynamics and the exploitation of real-life tragedies in horror films.

The episode also features commentary from media scholar Robin Means Coleman, who critiques the film's handling of race and class issues, and discusses the broader implications of using real-life stories in entertainment.

Ultimately, the episode raises questions about the ethics of storytelling in film, particularly when it involves real victims and their families.

TLDR

The episode examines Ruthie May McCoy's murder and its influence on Candyman, featuring insights from journalist Steve Begira and director Bernard Rose.

Episode

37:14
00:00:00
I'm not a fan of horror movies reporter Steve begira didn't know how details from his stories made their way into the
00:00:07
original Candyman film until after it was released his first article came out in
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1987 they came in through the bathroom mirror a murder in the projects the two suspects John hress and
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Edward Turner had been arrested years passed before they finally got their day in court and while they were awaiting
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trial a British director was developing a new movie we're going to step away from the pursuit of Justice in Ruthie
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May mco's case and focus for a moment on how her story made it to the big screen
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I had actually gotten either a phone call or a letter back when people wrote letters from somebody in Hollywood
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saying we're doing this movie that's based in a housing project in Chicago [Music]
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back in the early 90s reporter Steve begira got an ask from Hollywood he doesn't remember the person's name but
00:01:08
the Hollywood rep asked Steve to be their guide when they visited Chicago we understand that you're an expert
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on the projects and could you show us around when we come to town to film and we'll give you I don't remember what it
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was but it was like a couple hundred doar in a screen credit the last thing Steve wanted to do was support a movie
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that made a light of the Project's living conditions or that trivialized the murder of Ruthie May he'd been
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pitched before about turning Ruthie May's story into a movie but at that first meeting Steve was told that the
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main character of the film couldn't be Ruthie May or someone in the projects the person making the pitch thought that
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the protagonist would have to be white for the film to even have a chance at getting made and Steve wasn't a fan of
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that idea he'd gotten to know Ruthie May's family and spent years trying to hold
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the police and the Chicago Housing Authority accountable for her death he wasn't going to trust just anybody so
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when the second Hollywood type reached out I said send me the script and if it's not an exploitive
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movie I will probably help you out ultimately Steve never helped anyone put Ruthie May's story on the big screen but
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her story still became part of a cold classic what's Steve didn't know was while he was following the prosecution
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of the two men arrested for killing Ruthy May production on the first Candyman film was already in gear it
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must have been a couple of years after Candyman came out somebody told me hey you know there's stuff in here that
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seems to be from the story you wrote that's when I watched the movie he noticed that a young Virginia Madson
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with curly blonde hair was the lead she ended up playing the Curious graduate student who parachutes into the projects
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the main character was a white woman and this story I had done at least was about
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a black woman how did a movie about the horrors of a black housing complex end up
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centering on a white Outsider and how did elements of Ruthie May's story end up in the Candyman
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film this period after her death and before before the trial is when writer and director Bernard Rose started
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working on Candyman he was the only person who could really answer my questions we
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reached out and waited then one June afternoon we finally got the chance to talk it's always a pleasure to talk
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about candy man from a different angle Rose told me how he found out about Ruthie May's story and didn't shy away
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from defending himself to critics I can see why people think oh why why are they
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taking these details from this but you know I mean look that's what fiction is I'm Dom Pongo from 48 hours this is
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Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder episode 4 based on a true
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story I wasn't trying to make a thesis I was trying to make an entertaining horror film Bernard Ro wrote and
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directed the original Candyman that came out in 1992 he's talking to me on a zoom from
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West Hollywood wearing glasses and an all black shirt rose has a grain goatee and an easygoing Vibe he told me he
00:04:45
would have never predicted that his Candyman would still have an audience decades later it feels like it has a
00:04:51
much bigger Shadow now than then before I asked him about Ruthie May McCoy and how parts of her story ended up in his
00:04:57
movie I wanted to know how he got the idea for Candyman in the first place you'll remember the movie's primary
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source material and the work that's officially credited in the film is Clive Barker's short story called The
00:05:12
Forbidden I knew Clive Barker I knew him socially actually when I I'd been doing
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another film up Pine with guds according to Rose he met Barker for lunch while they were both working at the same
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Production Studio critics liked Rose's first feature film paper house it was a dark
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fantasy and he was looking for a new project when he came across Barker's story The Forbidden I read that and I
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thought you know what this actually really works as a story this is a great and interesting story Rose now in his
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60s is originally from London if you didn't catch that accent he told me that he'd always thought that a horror film
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needed a supernatural element that's what appealed to him about the Forbidden which is about a graduate student named
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Helen who investigates urban legends it's set basically in a district of just outside of Liverpool called Kirby which
00:06:06
is very full of low-income housing and what they call in England Council housing as Helen visits the council
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housing she conjures up Supernatural forces while working on a research paper I liked the fact that its heroin was an
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intellectual and she wasn't a kid all of this sounds familiar to anyone who has seen candy
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but what I found really interesting was the reason Rose took a liking to this story the director told me that he loved
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how Helen approached this undertaking from an analytical perspective not an emotional one she was interested in this
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phenomenon of urban legends and and what was going on in this housing project but
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her interest wasn't to help people it was to write a study and I liked the kind of arrogance of that
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he actually liked that Helen had little empathy for the community she was researching he thought that arrogance
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made the story work you know I think it's much more interesting to follow somebody who's flawed and and I think
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there's always an element of punishment in a horror film that that she gets into
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trouble and it's like there has to be something that she's done wrong in a sense and the thing that she's done
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wrong is she's poked her nose in where it wasn't really wanted you know for his movie he kept this aspect of Helen the
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character Virginia Matson plays is a middle class woman essentially parachuting into a low-income
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neighborhood it was exactly the opposite of what they would have made you do in a
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kind of movie of the week TV film where she would have been trying to help people she's never trying to help people
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she makes no effort to help anybody in the film he said that's a big part of the
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conflict she didn't understand and was actually in a weird way exploiting the inter action she just wants to write a
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paper and and get praised for it you know Rose was inspired and thought this could be his next movie his original
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plan was to keep the setting the same as Clive Barker's story until the author himself suggested
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otherwise Barker had also directed the film Hellraiser and he had learned that American movie Distributors sometimes
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balked at movie stars with thick accents the film was set in Liverpool and and Liverpool accents were just like beyond
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the P for them so they decided to make the characters American so according to Rose if Hellraiser hadn't had a
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distribution problem then Rose might never have set Candyman in Chicago and in a way I wouldn't be here talking
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about Ruthie May McCoy today in his first draft Rose hadn't thought of Chicago yet he hadn't even
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set Candy Man in any particular city was just Aid Western City it could have been
00:09:00
anyway it could have been St Louis I don't know it could have been Milwaukee his approach to the story changed after
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he decided to actually visit locations I wanted to go Scout somewhere and do some
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research and I ended up going to Chicago mostly cuz I'd been there and I remembered how spectacular the buildings
00:09:17
were I mean it was that shallow you know it's a spectacular looking city right yeah and and it's bias but I agree it's
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a city of Architects really it is it is and it's a city where architecture is very important his interest in the
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architecture stood out to me since how the projects were designed is so crucial to how Ruthie May died and to the movie
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itself Rose might not have clocked that yet but when he went to Chicago he started on a journey that would lead him
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to hearing about the murder of Ruthie May McCoy Rose wanted to visit the projects the people from the Illinois
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film office were nervous about taking me there see they weren't just nervous they
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were downright terrified and their fear would end up becoming a big part of the original
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Candyman [Music] movie for people who have seen Candyman it's odd to think Bernard Rose's first
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script didn't mention race at all the conflict was just about class originally which might make sense for someone
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writing from a British perspective where race and class might not be as inextricably linked but in America you
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can't talk about class inequities without talking about race too and definitely not in the highly segregated
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City of Chicago in the final version of rose's script Helen has a black friend who is also middle class that goes with
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her to visit the projects she feels as alienated from the people in the projects as Helen does except that she's
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more embarrassed at Helen's Behavior because she understands that it's embarrassing to behave this way race
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takes center stage and Rose's movie whether he intended it that way or not Janet massin of the New York Times put
00:11:10
it this way in her review she writes the horror unfolds inside a housing project
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and plays out provocatively against a backdrop of racial Injustice in the movie The Killer is a Reincarnation of a
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well-to-do black man who was tortured and lynched by a mob in the 1800s Daniel robotized crime was dating a
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white man's daughter the mob hunts him down beats him chops off his hand and smears his battered body with honey
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before bees sting him to death the lynching is [Music] graphic but all of those plot details
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were only added after Bernard Rose went to Chicago I contacted the people who were at the Illinois film office and
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certainly in that era if you said you wanted to come in and potentially shoot a film in a city they would show you
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around and they they would always ask you for a list of locations as to what your film needed
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and you know I top of the list was housing projects the first place they took me was Cabrini Green he said they
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also took him to another project but not Grace Abbott where Ruthie may had lived
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I know I don't I ever went that Rose was surprised by how nervous the people from
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the Illinois film office seemed as they took him to visit kabini green which was
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the closest project to downtown no project is more notorious than Cabrini Green the 23 high-rise buildings of
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Cabrini with their 15,000 residents are described as a chamber of Horrors the occupants are terrorized Day and Night
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by vandals and teenage gangs 7,000 families are on a waiting list for public housing in Chicago but about 400
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units at Cabrini Green have been vacated by families trying to escape the lawlessness though CBS news reports were
00:13:08
from 1970 by then between media attention and its depiction in TV shows Cabrini began
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to have quite the reputation in Cabrini Green at the time there was a police station in the middle of the
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project and I think we had to go there and then we were escorted around the place by an officer you know and they
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they didn't think it was safe to go there otherwise that was their attitude were you taken aback by that yeah
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extremely to be honest with you I was shocked and of course when somebody has that kind of drama around going so into
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what is basically just an apartment block I mean it's not really any more complicated than that
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it's a bunch of apartment blocks he said the upper floors were empty and he had to admit the buildings were creepy there
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was an atmosphere there a fear but the fear was not from the people who lived there the fear was the people from the
00:14:03
Illinois film commission and the cops and and that that really kind of shocked me I thought wow there's something here
00:14:13
because one of the one of the first key tenants of making a successful horror film is having a scary setting I thought
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these people are scared of going here did they tell you anything about what about why they were so scared of this
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community they basically said there were groups of gangs that held the neighborhood hostage during his visit
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Rose was able to talk with cops Who police the buildings on a day-to-day basis I learned that actually the danger
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was exaggerated and that that in itself was heart of the racism that surrounded the place and what is the primary
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component of racism is fear right Outsiders were afraid of the people who lived there afraid of what could happen
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there their Prejudice stoked Their Fear what the cops said to me is if you're a a white person walking around here
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they're not actually going to bother you at all because they're going to assume you're a social worker or a cop Rose
00:15:08
worked these details from his own experience into the script in Candyman Helen gets mistaken for a cop when she's
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seen in the projects when I rewrote it I rewrote it set as about kabini green and
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I just used everything I'd seen and heard that decision to replicate these fears on screen is a choice that has
00:15:29
sparked debate debate from Scholars like Robin means Coleman what 30 or more years that we've been having a
00:15:38
conversation about race and class in this movie Coleman is a professor at the University of Virginia and a media study
00:15:47
scholar she's written two books on black people and horror films and turned one into a documentary both books horror
00:15:54
Noir and the black guy dies first mention Candyman there are two films that I watch a lot it's the 92 Candyman
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and the thing she's been debating Candyman for the last 30 years and she understands
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that not everyone gets the controversies around this movie we've got to address the Skeptics who are like it was just a
00:16:18
movie and he saw a headline and it was you know a narrative vehicle to get her into cabrina green how else are we going
00:16:25
to do that but Ruthie May McCoy is a real life person her family are alive and out there and what we have are
00:16:36
entertainers who snatch someone's story real life horrific murder for entertainment purposes back when she was
00:16:45
writing the first edition of her book hor Noir Coleman wanted to pick a real life story turned into film she wasn't
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sure whether to write about Ruthie May or Jeffrey dmer and if you read the first first edition of the book I go
00:17:00
with Jeffrey dmer Ruthie May felt I think at that time I was writing it it felt too close to home it
00:17:10
felt like Ruthie May m may as they called her that could have easily been me my mother my grandmother Coleman and
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I talked about how Candyman doesn't actually grapple with the horror of people's lives and the projects with
00:17:26
Nuance I mean even without knowing the director intentions a lot of black folks watching this movie could tell that the
00:17:32
conversations about race were a bit of an afterthought back in 1992 when the film
00:17:40
was released colan said critics reviews were mixed there were two responses to Candyman and one I remember was from
00:17:49
Carl Franklin Carl Franklin is a black filmmaker famous for the Denzel Washington movie Devil in a blue dress
00:17:56
and Carl Franklin said seriously we're doing the black Boogeyman brutal Buck Trope in this movie again where the
00:18:06
obsession is over this white woman who were sort of putting on a pedestal in this critique Candyman is of course the
00:18:14
black Boogeyman it's a Trope that seizes on fear by perpetuating a portrayal of black men as violent and menacing often
00:18:22
chasing white women like the Candyman chases Helen the Trope goes all the way back to Hollywood's first Blockbuster
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film The Birth of a Nation which depicts the KKK and is blamed for inspiring a spike in real life lynchings and race
00:18:39
riots do we need yet another movie that glorifies that kind of stereotype that kind of Trope Roger
00:18:47
Ebert who was white had a different opinion based in Chicago Ebert was a well-respected movie critic Roger eert
00:18:57
on the other hand said you know like if I if you have to do horror this is the kind of horror you
00:19:04
want to see right eer is saying I do like the sort of social issues social Consciousness horror something that
00:19:13
leaves me thinking and reflecting what's interesting is that Bernard Rose told me he didn't go into
00:19:21
this film wanting to send any kind of message but there were signs that he knew that what he was making
00:19:29
touched a nerve I was in post production on Candyman at the time it was April 1992 parts of Los Angeles were on fire
00:19:38
in Los Angeles the deadly aftermath of the Rodney King verdict violence arson and anguished cries a disgrace it don't
00:19:47
make no riots broke out across the city after white police officers were acquitted of excessive force the public
00:19:53
outrage stem from the fact that these officers were caught on videotape brutally beating this black motorist his
00:20:00
name was Rodney King we were supposed to have a test screening somewhere that week and the riot started happening and
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people got very frightened and I was mixing in a stage in Hollywood and the mixer was grinding through the scene
00:20:14
with the dog and the blood and all this Rose is describing a gruesome scene where a Candyman had cut off a dog's
00:20:22
head in a project apartment and I said oh I'm not happy with that you need to go back and change something and he went
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he said no I'm not going back I'm not changing it because I'm not looking at this film anymore Rose was warned that
00:20:34
the film might be quote a bit too much and that test screening never happened and then the film got released without
00:20:43
it which is probably a good thing cuz who knows what they might have made me take out what he did include he told me
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largely came from his visits to Cabrini Green during his first visit with the Illinois film office he connected with
00:21:00
the woman who lived there we bumped into a lady who was had her kid in a stroller
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whose name was Henrietta Thomas who was like asking us what we were doing basically he explained how he was
00:21:13
working on a movie I told her it was about this sort of mythical kind of monster that haunted
00:21:20
the place kind of thing and she was basically saying oh yeah well you know that that's true by the way and what was
00:21:27
she talking about uh she said oh there are like ghosts and demons that haunt this place the director realized
00:21:34
Candyman could haunt a place like this too this idea went back to something from Clive Barker's The Forbidden so
00:21:42
really the whole thesis that Clive had that people who live in situations which make them uncomfortable it's not
00:21:49
uncommon for them to create something that's worse and more uncontrollable cuz in a way way it makes him feel safer
00:21:56
during his visit to the projects with the Illinois film office Rose asked the tenant he'd met Henrietta if he could
00:22:03
come back to Cabrini Green on his own I thought okay I'm going to just call her after we've left and just go there on my
00:22:11
own and see what really happens the two had dinner and he got to see kabini green from a tennis perspective Rose
00:22:17
decided to hire Henrietta to be a consultant on the film and based a character on her too the character's
00:22:23
name is an Marie and in the movie A major plot point is when candy man steals an Marie's
00:22:31
child as for the real person she had a young kid and it was just a place that she lived that honestly she liked living
00:22:38
because it was near downtown Chicago Rose said that she was actually the first person to bring up the details of
00:22:45
Ruthie May's murder it was she who told me the story about the medicine cabinets
00:22:51
and that somebody had been killed in another home that had a similar design with the floor with the medicine
00:22:57
cabinets and you could get in and out the PS and if someone had broken in and killed somebody she told me that story
00:23:05
and said that that was something that that Disturbed her it was the kind of violation that was visceral and
00:23:13
memorable I thought all this detail is so so rich and it just it grounds the film and you know if you want to make
00:23:22
something scary it has to be recognizable [Music] but when the art is that recognizable when the art represents
00:23:33
real trauma it has to be handled with care we might be having a different conversation even if at the end of the
00:23:41
film it said in memory of Ruth May right or read more about and we've got models
00:23:52
for this she pointed to Steve buira as one of those models when he's writing his article and he writes subsequent
00:24:00
articles he doesn't point back to his own journalism he says learn more about housing projects learn more about how
00:24:07
this happened meanwhile the director wanted to unnerve people and knew that he was
00:24:14
parachuting into the projects just like his movie's protagonist Helen so I was essentially doing what Helen does in the
00:24:21
film I was like walking around Gathering things for my own benefit but where did
00:24:26
he gather so many details about Ruthie May's murder he said Henrietta told him that someone came in
00:24:33
through a medicine cabinet and killed a woman but that's not how he learned Ruthie May's name what does he have to
00:24:40
say to folks who believe that his film exploited Ruth May's killing it's not the same murder as as that murder that
00:24:48
was an entirely unrelated event it's just the really the only thing that's taken is the detail of the the bathro
00:24:56
cabinets [Music] it was one of those weird pieces of kind of kismet I think I was in the hotel and
00:25:15
I literally opened the Chicago Reader and there was an article about IT director Bernard Rose had come to
00:25:21
Chicago to visit kabini green and ATT tenant had told him about this murder where a killer or Killers came in
00:25:28
through a medicine cabinet he happened to be visiting the city just when Steve beira's second article about Ruthie May
00:25:36
McCoy's life and murder was published July 1990 if you missed that issue of the reader there was you unless you had
00:25:45
gone to a library and looked it up on a microfilm you would never find it so in his movie that's what Helen the blonde
00:25:52
grad student does she goes to the library and looks it up on her microphone do you remember
00:25:59
the title of the article that you read that that caught your attention I mean it's very similar to the the depiction
00:26:06
in the movie something like what killed whatever the lady's real name was life in the projects with a question mark I
00:26:12
think that was it that lady was of course Ruthie May McCoy I reached out to her granddaughter
00:26:18
key but she declined to talk to us for this podcast based partly on her past experiences with media key had seen her
00:26:27
family story Miss represented in the news before she said while a film was being made that mentioned Ruthie May's
00:26:33
killing her mom Vita was dealing with the real life aftermath of Ruthie May's death and I mean obviously the actual
00:26:40
murder itself has nothing to do with Candyman somebody came in and shot her right yes yes but but there is the
00:26:46
character of Ruthie Jean that is the name in the film which is obviously very similar to Ruthie May was that a
00:26:53
conscious decision I mean it probably was yeah it's always very complicated when something think a true story I look
00:27:00
at these parallels with Ruthie May's story and you know you think about the family or ruy May's daughter and they
00:27:09
looking at the film and feeling like these elements are reminiscent of what happened to Ruthie May uh but they felt
00:27:17
like they weren't a part of the process what would you say to that critique I mean I think that's
00:27:23
valid Rose said that he never considered making one of Ruthie May's relatives a consultant on the film and points out
00:27:31
that his movie is about Candyman not Ruthie May it's not about that person not about the real person at all you
00:27:37
know and it is ultimately a fictitious fantasy they uses some authentic details in part but it's not about any
00:27:48
real person at all I'm going to push back a little bit and forgive me Bernard but when you go back and look we went
00:27:54
and checked out and Marie in the Forbidden her last name name isn't McCoy so McCoy comes only in the Candyman film
00:28:03
and that and that seems part of the lineage of Ruthy May who again the movie is Ruthie May Ruthie Jean and then you
00:28:09
got amarie the resident who's amarie McCoy so then you see these names kind of play into it and and I know you know
00:28:16
that's I assume you would have describe it as a dotted line not a straight line connection between the real murder but
00:28:21
if I'm the family I'm looking and I'm seeing these connections and I feel as though I should at least be a part of
00:28:29
the process I mean I can see how you could feel like that but if it was a film about what happened to her you know
00:28:37
the real person but this clearly is not to be honest he's right in some respect I mean this movie isn't solely
00:28:46
about Ruthie May she's a plot point to get to the story of Candyman but I'm not sure that he understands why turning her
00:28:54
into a plot Point can be considered by some as dehumanized in instead he tries to argue that that's how movies like his
00:29:03
get made you take things from the world around you and put them into new forms that's really what fiction is it's not
00:29:12
any clever than that Rose didn't have any memory of ever reaching out to Steve PIRA either he said it's possible The
00:29:20
Producers contacted him but he was never made aware I have no direct memory or knowledge of that because as I said we I
00:29:27
had already hired henrya as the consultant so it's entirely possible that someone suggested him Rose didn't
00:29:34
set out to make a racially charged movie that included Inspirations from real people and events it just ended up that
00:29:41
way the film has been criticized at different times over the years for saying you know it's this it's that it's
00:29:48
got the wrong perspective blah blah blah he's talking about the criticisms Coleman mentioned about how the movie
00:29:54
feeds into anti-black stereotypes I think that yes it is UNC comfortable in places and I think if it
00:30:00
wasn't it wouldn't have lasted if something ceases to create debate it [Music] dies I asked how he decided the line
00:30:11
between inspiration and exploitation his answer again reminded me a little bit of how he described the
00:30:19
character Helen's approach well I think that if you take anything whatever you do with it there's an element of
00:30:27
exploitation and you have to just accept that's what you're doing the only way to really be
00:30:32
non- exploitative is not to do anything because we're all to some degree you know driving past car accidents and
00:30:40
staring at them his argument is that this is the messy part of making art Rose thinks anyone who claims to feel
00:30:47
guilty for taking their inspiration from The Real World is probably lie do they feel guilty about it and they might
00:30:55
pretend they do I don't think they do it I think there is a little difference when you're
00:31:02
dealing with actual victims of actual crimes that that's really what you're talking about but even then I don't know
00:31:11
they'd never have sold a newspaper if it wasn't for Crime the True Crime genre gets a lot of
00:31:20
criticism for exploiting other people's tragedies for entertainment some of the same reasons we've been challenging Rose
00:31:27
an INT True Crime like this podcast we are sharing the details of Ruthie May's life in fact we're sharing more than
00:31:33
Bernard Rose ever did but the key difference to me is that our ultimate goal is to inform and to help people
00:31:42
understand how tragedies like these can happen to put them in their proper context so I try to ask myself whenever
00:31:49
I'm reporting how would this victim's family feel how would I feel in fact a lot of times I'm reporting on my own
00:31:55
Community I may even be connected to the victims in some way so I do my best to be accurate and
00:32:02
respectful that said I have to admit that a part of me feels like Candyman does a disservice by not properly
00:32:09
acknowledging these real tragedies Coleman wasn't surprised by what the director told me he's a
00:32:18
filmmaker he's like look I did I made an entertaining movie he's you know this is
00:32:23
what he does but I mentioned it's important to go back to Steve Steve buera she brought back up the story
00:32:31
about Steve meeting with an actor who told him the protagonist would have to be white for the film to get made and
00:32:38
they do exactly what Steve cautions them against doing at times Steve felt strange in
00:32:47
general about being a white man writing about people of color I totally understand the feeling that it's wrong
00:32:54
that people who are poor and in this case black at that time at least the stories were told by white people but he
00:33:02
also knew these stories were being overlooked by mainstream Outlets I always felt like it was better that I
00:33:08
was told by someone and that I would do my best to Faithfully represent what their
00:33:15
experience was like for Rose keeping Ruthie May's story alive is now part of the film's Legacy so there is a
00:33:23
memorializing effect and that's got to be positive but but you know look I can't imagine that how traumatic it is
00:33:29
for family members to have to deal with someone in their family that's murdered it's it's it's almost like what the
00:33:35
Candyman says what's worse is is it worse to be forgotten or to be remembered well the Candyman he he kills
00:33:43
so not to be forgotten that's his whole motivation he sheds innocent blood to keep people talking about him if people
00:33:54
remember what happened that can never be bad in my opinion I think when things are
00:34:00
forgotten or denied that seems the unhealthy thing to me keeping Ruthie May's memory alive also means that the
00:34:09
failed housing policies of Chicago's past can't be swept under the rug the heart of any problem was that the
00:34:16
Housing Authority had allowed these buildings to rot to Rose's point there is a chance I
00:34:26
wouldn't be talking about Ruthie murder if not for this film and while Candyman turned me on to the case her murder and
00:34:33
the trials of the two men arrested for her killing are what will cover next Edward Turner and John hondras pleaded
00:34:41
not guilty to the charges of murder and robbery their names had come up repeatedly as police talked to the
00:34:49
residents of the project building where Ruthie May was killed I can understand that from a detective's point of view
00:34:54
that you would hone in on the two people who are mentioned regularly but of course that doesn't mean that they did
00:35:02
it Steve mcira attended the trial the states attorneys had a little bit more evidence against
00:35:10
Turner so they made it technically a death penalty Case prosecution's Case relied heavily on a six-page statement
00:35:19
from a witness named Tim Brown their plan was to have him take the stand and repeat the chain of events the attorney
00:35:28
wrote down when they interviewed him but suddenly Tim Brown wasn't so sure what he saw that night he got on the stand
00:35:37
and flipped on the State's Attorneys that's next time when Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror
00:35:48
murder from 48 hours this is Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder I'm your host and
00:35:55
co-executive producer DOMA Pongo Judy igard is the executive producer of 48 Hours Jamie Benson is the
00:36:05
senior producer for Paramount audio and Mora walls is the senior story editor development by 48 Hours field producer
00:36:13
Morgan KY recording assistance from Marlon polycarp and Alan Pang special thanks to Paramount podcast vice
00:36:21
president Megan Marcus Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder is produced
00:36:27
by Sony Music Entertainment it was reported written and produced by Alex Schuman our executive producers are
00:36:33
Katherine St Louis and Jonathan hir our associate producer is summer tamad theme
00:36:39
and original music composed by Cedric Wilson he sound designed and mix the episodes we also use music from
00:36:46
APM fle Fon is our fact Checker and our production manager is Tama balance kassi don't want to miss the next
00:36:56
episode of handyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder tap follow on Apple podcast Spotify or
00:37:03
wherever you get your podcast and leave a rating if you like the show see you next Thursday

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Best concept / idea
  • 70
    Most controversial
  • 70
    Biggest cultural impact

Episode Highlights

  • Ruthie May's Story
    Steve Begira reflects on the challenges of telling Ruthie May's story in Hollywood.
    “Ultimately, Steve never helped anyone put Ruthie May's story on the big screen.”
    @ 02m 25s
    October 24, 2024
  • The Origins of Candyman
    Bernard Rose discusses how his film was influenced by real-life events and characters.
    “I wasn't trying to make a thesis; I was trying to make an entertaining horror film.”
    @ 04m 26s
    October 24, 2024
  • The Impact of Real Trauma
    Art that represents real trauma must be handled with care to avoid exploitation.
    “When the art represents real trauma, it has to be handled with care.”
    @ 23m 33s
    October 24, 2024
  • The Fine Line of Inspiration
    Bernard Rose discusses the thin line between inspiration and exploitation in filmmaking.
    “If you take anything, there's an element of exploitation.”
    @ 30m 25s
    October 24, 2024
  • Ruthie May's Legacy
    The film's legacy includes memorializing Ruthie May and acknowledging her tragic story.
    “Keeping Ruthie May's memory alive also means failed housing policies can't be swept under the rug.”
    @ 34m 09s
    October 24, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • I wasn't going to trust just anybody.
    Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)
  • There's something here because...
    Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)
  • If you want to make something scary, it has to be recognizable.
    Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)
  • What's worse is it worse to be forgotten or to be remembered?
    Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)
  • Keeping Ruthie May's memory alive means failed housing policies can't be swept under the rug.
    Based on a True Story | "Candyman" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4)

Key Moments

  • Fear and Prejudice14:45
  • Safer Feelings21:54
  • Dinner at Cabrini Green22:13
  • Consultant Hire22:17
  • Real Trauma23:31
  • Ruthie May's Story27:21
  • Exploitation Debate30:11
  • Trial Evidence35:16

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown