10 Iconic Movie Villains (Almost Played By Someone Else)

The hook-handed, bee-covered urban legend killer has become a signature role for actor Tony Todd, so much so that horror fans are excited to see him return to the part once again for Jordan Peele's upcoming reboot. Todd was not, however, the first choice Candyman.

Switching Clive Barker's Liverpudlian story of class and social deprivation for a Chicago setting, writer-director Bernard Rose always knew that he was going to go for a race-swapped Candyman to highlight the adaptation's themes of race in America, along the way creating the most iconic African-American horror villain yet.

And for such a potential icon, the producers wanted the biggest African-American star around. In the early 1990s that was Eddie Murphy. Murphy was a comedy legend still at his peak, but had no history with horror, making him an unusual choice for the part.

At 5 foot 9, Murphy was also hardly the physically imposing figure that Rose was looking for in a Candyman (Todd, in comparison, was a broad-shouldered 6 foot 5).

Ultimately, the Beverly Hills Cop star's salary demands did for any hope of snaring him for Candyman's title character. The movie's entire $8 million would only have covered part of Murphy's early 90s salary.

Murphy did take on a horror role of sorts a few years later in Vampire In Brooklyn, a box office bomb which only confirms what an odd fit he is for a horror icon.