'You never stop thinking about John Candy': How a pair of projects keep his legacy alive

If there’s a country that champion encapsulates the tragically abbreviated vocation of John Candy, it’s not needfully from his clip connected the sketch-comedy bid “SCTV” oregon from movies similar “Stripes” oregon “Uncle Buck.” It’s a infinitesimal successful the 1987 comedy-drama “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” erstwhile his reluctant roommate Neal Page (played by Steve Martin) has spent respective minutes berating him for his relentless storytelling.

With a lump successful his throat, Candy’s wounded quality Del Griffith replies that he’s arrogant of who helium is. “I similar me,” helium says. “My woman likes me. My customers similar me. Because I’m the existent nonfiction — what you spot is what you get.”

That infinitesimal proves pivotal to 2 caller projects that retrace Candy’s beingness and enactment immoderate 31 years aft the histrion died from a bosom onslaught astatine the property of 43. The histrion would person turned 75 this month.

A biography, “John Candy: A Life successful Comedy,” written by Paul Myers (released by House of Anansi Press connected Tuesday), and a documentary, “John Candy: I Like Me,” directed by Colin Hanks (released Friday connected Prime Video), some trust connected Candy’s friends, household members and colleagues to assistance archer the communicative of his ascent, his occurrence and the void near by his death.

In their ain ways, some the publication and the movie amusement however Candy — portion not without his demons — was beloved by audiences for his cardinal and authentic likability, and wherefore helium is inactive mourned contiguous for the imaginable helium ne'er got to wholly fulfill.

A household photograph of John Candy and his son, Chris, seen successful “John Candy: I Like Me.” (Prime Video)

John Candy, left, and Steve Martin successful “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” (Paramount Pictures)

Explaining wherefore it was inactive important to memorialize Candy each these years later, Ryan Reynolds, the “Deadpool” prima and a shaper of the documentary, said, “When it’s thing radical desperately miss, but they don’t cognize they miss it, it’s a beauteous and uncommon thing. John Candy is simply a idiosyncratic that they missed desperately.”

Since his death, Candy’s contiguous survivors — his widow, Rosemary; daughter, Jennifer Candy-Sullivan; and son, Chris Candy — person weighed the pluses and minuses of sharing his beingness with audiences and the interaction it mightiness person connected them (the 3 are co-executive producers connected the film). “It’s a balancing act,” said Chris Candy. “You privation to unrecorded your beingness and you besides privation to grant theirs.”

In caller years, Candy’s children said they were encouraged by documentaries similar Morgan Neville’s “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” astir the children’s TV broadcaster Fred Rogers, arsenic good arsenic Hanks’ movie “All Things Must Pass,” astir the Tower Records retail chain.

Hanks, whose father, Tom, acted with Candy successful films similar “Splash” and “Volunteers,” said helium struggled astatine archetypal to find a compelling mode to archer the communicative of Candy, who had a seemingly charmed and uncontroversial acting career, archetypal successful his autochthonal Toronto and past successful Hollywood.

But Hanks said helium was drawn into Candy’s communicative by a peculiar detail: the information that Candy’s ain father, Sidney, had died from bosom illness astatine the property of 35, close earlier John turned 5. “It doesn’t instrumentality overmuch to deliberation astir however traumatic that could beryllium for anyone astatine immoderate age,” Hanks said.

Chris Candy, from left, Jennifer Candy-Sullivan and Colin Hanks, who directed the Prime Video documentary “John Candy: I Like Me.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Myers, a instrumentalist and writer who has written books astir the set Barenaked Ladies and drama troupe the Kids successful the Hall, said helium was drawn to Candy arsenic a chap Canadian and an embodiment of the nationalist comedic spirit.

“If you’re Canadian similar I am, you ne'er halt reasoning astir John Candy,” Myers said. Growing up successful the Toronto area, Myers said helium and his siblings — including his member Mike, the aboriginal “Shrek” and “Austin Powers” prima — were avid fans of sketch drama shows similar “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and “Saturday Night Live.”

But “SCTV,” which launched stars similar Candy, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, meant adjacent much to them. “We watched it from Day 1 and we cheered a small spot harder for them due to the fact that it was similar they were shooting the amusement blocks distant from our house,” Myers said.

Reynolds, who was calved and raised successful Vancouver, said that Candy’s indispensable Canadian tone was important to his occurrence arsenic a comic actor.

“In comedy, Canadians typically don’t punch down,” Reynolds said. “It’s much of a self-effacing humor. Their favourite people is themselves. And John did that. On screen, I felt his willingness and joyousness successful self-effacing wit that ne'er truly veered into self-loathing humor.”

Ryan Reynolds astatine the Los Angeles screening of “I Like Me” earlier this month. The histrion was a shaper connected the film.

(Todd Williamson / January Images)

Candy parlayed his repertoire of “SCTV” characters — satirical media personalities similar Johnny LaRue and real-life celebrities similar Orson Welles — into supporting parts successful deed films similar “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Brewster’s Millions” and “Spaceballs.”

His penchants for drinking and smoking were well-known and hardly retired of the mean for that era; they seldom impeded Candy’s enactment and, successful astatine slightest 1 notable instance, look to person enhanced it: Both the documentary and the biography recount however Candy indulged successful a late-night bender with Jack Nicholson earlier rising the adjacent greeting to sprout a country successful “Splash” wherever his quality fumbles, flails and smokes his mode done a circular of racquetball.

“That’s his enactment ethic, close there,” said Candy-Sullivan. “He showed up and helium did the scene.”

Candy graduated to pb roles successful comedies similar “Summer Rental,” “The Great Outdoors” and “Who’s Harry Crumb?,” and helium recovered a kindred tone successful the writer and manager John Hughes, who helped supply Candy with immoderate of his astir enduring roles successful movies similar “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck” and “Home Alone.”

But offscreen, Candy was contending with anxiousness and helium was delicate to people’s judgments astir his size — remarks which often came straight from TV interviewers who thought thing of asking him point-blank whether Candy was readying to suffer weight.

When helium and his sister watched archival footage of these interviews successful the documentary, Chris Candy said, “It was, for some of us, uncomfortable. I wasn’t acquainted with what helium was putting up with and however helium would mentally jujitsu successful and retired of those conversations. He got much and much curt astir it arsenic clip goes on, and you tin spot it successful the interviews.”

But these psychic wounds didn’t marque Candy a cruel oregon nasty person; helium simply absorbed the wounded and redoubled his efforts to beryllium a genial performer.

“If you’re looking for acheronian successful the communicative of John Candy, a batch of it’s conscionable internalized pain,” Myers said. “His ain coping mechanics was extremist niceness to everybody — making quality connections truthful that helium would person assemblage and consciousness similar he’s making things better.”

In the aboriginal 1990s, Candy seemed to beryllium moving nonstop. He appeared successful 5 antithetic diagnostic films successful 1991 alone, a twelvemonth that included duds similar “Nothing But Trouble” arsenic good arsenic a tiny but perchance transformative relation successful Oliver Stone’s play “JFK,” wherever helium played the flamboyant lawyer Dean Andrews Jr. He was preparing his ain directorial debut, a TV movie called “Hostage For a Day” successful which helium starred with George Wendt. Candy besides became a co-owner and one-man pep squad for the Toronto Argonauts, the Canadian Football League team.

Eventually, the galore demands and stresses successful his beingness came to a head. Amid a grueling sprout for the occidental drama “Wagons East” successful Durango, Mexico, Candy died connected March 4, 1994. He had a backstage ceremonial successful the Los Angeles area, followed by a nationalist memorial successful Toronto that prompted a nationalist outpouring of grief successful Canada.

“He represented the champion of us,” Myers said. “He was a humanity-centric person. He brought vulnerability and humility to his characters, which is not thing you usually spot successful wide comedy.”

Candy’s films proceed to play connected tv and streaming — some “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Home Alone” person go year-end vacation staples. But for the radical progressive successful chronicling Candy’s life, determination is simply a creeping consciousness that the actor’s bequest volition not thin to itself, and that the generations who did not turn up with Candy mightiness request reminders of what made him worthy remembering.

Hanks recalled a communicative from the making of “I Like Me” wherever helium and immoderate colleagues were eating astatine a edifice wherever the hostess asked them what they were moving on.

“We said we’re making a documentary,” Hanks said. “ ‘Oh, really?’ she goes. ‘Who’s it about?’ It’s astir John Candy. She goes, ‘Oh, who’s that?’ No thought who it was. I said, well, person you seen ‘Home Alone’? Remember the polka feline that picks up the ma and takes her successful the van? ‘Oh, I loved him. He’s great.’”

Part of his involvement successful making a movie astir Candy, Hanks said, is “wanting to showcase the antheral that radical emotion and punctual them wherefore they loved them.”

But determination is besides the elemental pleasance successful introducing Candy’s enactment to radical who haven’t seen it before. “If you’re lucky,” Hanks said, “you get to hopefully person them go, ‘God, I privation to spot those movies. I privation to spell ticker ‘SCTV.’”