-Our next guest is a talented actress
you know from shows such as "Mad Men" and "WandaVision,"
and the film "If Beale Street Could Talk."
She stars in the highly-anticipated "Candyman,"
which is in theaters everywhere this Friday.
Let's take a look.
-Candyman isn't real. -I saw him!
-Candyman isn't real, Anthony!
You know -- you know is real?
Me, Anthony. Me!
This. This is real.
-You don't understand.
-You... -Okay, babe.
I will show you that -- okay.
Candyman. -No!
-Candyman! [ Glass shatters ]
[ Screams ]
-Don't say his name.
-Don't follow me.
-Please welcome to the show, Teyonah Parris.
How are you, Teyonah?
-Hi, how are you?
-I'm good. It's so funny.
I know that the original "Candyman" came out in 1992,
and yet even in the clip,
when you start saying "Candyman" in the mirror,
I'm terrified.
-You're terrified.
I only said it on set when I had to.
I'm not messing around with that any other times.
Nah. Nah, I'm not testing fate.
-No, it's one of those movies, you just know about it, right?
It's like, a thing,
even for people who hadn't seen the movie,
I feel like it was just in the culture.
-Oh, my gosh. It was most definitely.
I had not seen the movie,
but it was a thing that just sort of permeated the culture,
the community, and it became a game of sorts, I guess.
I mean really, you're summoning spirits here,
but you know, I guess we could say it was a game
But you know, me and my brothers,
we would go in the bathroom and start to say it
but then chicken out, like, "Nah, nah, nah, nah."
And then you just start fighting,
trying to get out of the bathroom
before somebody actually says all five.
But yeah, it just sort of became a part of the culture
and the community.
-Obviously this film had a great pedigree when it came to you.
Nia DaCosta directing.
Jordan Peele, the great Jordan Peele
worked on the script.
And yet maybe you did have some hesitation,
because you knew exactly how much people
cared about the original?
-I mean, absolutely.
I care about the original,
and I was like, "Look, y'all, we can't mess this up."
I want to be a part of working with Jordan
and working with Nia.
I had seen Nia's "Little Woods"
and I loved that she used,
like how she spoke about real-life issues
like healthcare and poverty, and so I knew,
and even with Jordan, I knew it would be elevated
and it would have something to say,
so that definitely made me want to work with them.
But at the same time, I was like,
"Look, y'all, we can't mess this up."
And I think that we did a great service
to continuing the legacy,
and I'm so, so proud of being a part of it
and excited for you guys to see it.
-I think one of the really exciting things now
is that we can actually see it, in some places, certainly,
with audiences, in theaters.
This is the kind of movie that you want to see with people.
-I know.
It's been such a long wait,
so I'm excited that the fans have stuck it out
and waited for us.
And even myself, I just went back to the movie theaters.
"Black Widow" brought me back to the theaters.
I was like, "I got to see this in the theaters,"
so I went at a matinee, no one there, with my mask,
like, "I'm gonna watch."
And I loved it. I've missed the movies so much.
I'm excited that people get to experience this horror film
as a collective experience.
Like, it's a horror film.
Sometimes you're not scared but the person next to you
is freaking out, so you become scared, you know?
You have to experience that together.
-Yes.
And there is the comedy of scares,
which is one of the things I've always loved
about horror movies, is everybody gasping
and then everybody laughing
because they realized that they've been had.
It's really joyous.
-I'm excited. I'm excited.
I'm like, it's finally here
and we're going to give it to the people.
-And I know you're in London right now.
You're filming Marvel's Captain Marvel sequel.
And this is so cool.
We heard you're going to violate your NDA
and tell us three things about it.
-I will tell you that I am London.
I am having an amazing time filming the Marvels.
And it's going to be pretty epic.
It's really exciting. I can't wait.
-I imagine it must have been so exciting to be a part of,
for my money, one of the best show of the last year,
"WandaVision."
Here you are.
How has your experience --
I mean, I guess you can talk about
things that have already happened.
Was "WandaVision" as much fun to make
as it was for all of us to watch?
-Oh, my gosh. It was such a treat.
And just the people I got to work with --
I mean, Paul, Lizzie, our creative team.
Everybody was just such a genuine human being.
And then, you know, we got stopped.
We didn't finish before the pandemic happened,
and so when we came back,
just really excited to see each other
and leaning on each other in this very odd time.
So, yeah, it was really special.
And then to watch it after having gone through a pandemic,
even more special.
It took on a whole other meaning and a deeper level
than even when we started out.
-Well, it certainly showed up
at a time when all of us were desperate
for something to watch,
and to have it be that quality was great.
Congratulations on the movie. -Thank you.
-Continued good luck in filming over there,
and it's really nice to meet you.
-Thank you so much. Thank you.
-"Candyman" is in theaters this Friday.