YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II SEES THE BIG PICTURE

With a breakout part in the hit series Watchmen and a starring role in the upcoming sequel to Candyman, the former town planner and architect suddenly finds himself in rare new territory as a Hollywood leading man

- Gabriella Paiella

‘I ’M HAVING A BALL,’ Yahya Abdul-Mateen II says, not for the first time today. It’s early March, the handshake’s still a standard greeting instead of a bygone custom, and the two of us are sitting in a classroom at the New York Academy of Art, studying a Still Life 101 setup: a pitcher, an apple, a few clementines here and there. I’m dutifully following our teacher’s instructions with the skill level of a neurotic grade-three learner. Abdul-Mateen, 33, is blithely slathering burnt umber oil paint onto his canvas, full speed ahead. He might as well be wearing a beret.

Abdul-Mateen isn’t technically a painter, but he’ll be playing one in the upcoming Candyman. It’s a sequel to the iconic Black horror movie about the hook-handed ghost of a lynched man who you summon when you say his name five times in front of a mirror. Rumour has it he stars as Candyman himself, which has inspired Twitter memes about deliberately calling forth the vengeful spirit if he looks like Abdul-Mateen – that is to say, a solid 1.9 metres tall and incredibly handsome. It’s his most promising role yet, one that cements him in a covetable and comfortable place: leading-man territory. Later this year, he’ll also be portraying Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale in the Aaron Sorkin courtroom drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 and, after that, he’ll have a role in The Matrix 4 opposite Keanu Reeves. ‘I have these moments when my sense of reality slows down, and I pull back, and I can see the bigger picture,’ he tells me. ‘I say, “Wow, I’m really doing this thing.”’