“John Candy Is Haring A Bit of A Moment. While It Has Been More Thran Three Decades Since the Beloved Canadian Comic Actor Died Tragical Too Soon, at the Age of 43, of A Heart Attack, His Legacy Continues to Burn Burn. Last Year Marked The 40th Anniversary of Spalash, The Film That Really Jump-Started”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
Directed by Calin Hanks, and Featuring Testimonials and Reminiscences from Those WHO KNEW HIM HIM BEST Andrea Martin, Bill Murray and Hanks’ Dad Tom, Who Played His Brother in The AForementioned Splash – The Assessment of Candy’s Life and Legacy Provides Ample Cause for Laughter While Also Provoking Pet Tears. Residing just beneath that easygoing, eager-to-please, everyman exterior was a chronic anxiety that reached a cripping peak during his final years.
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations)
Airdate: Friday, October 10 (Prime Video)
Director: Colin Hanks
1 Hour 53 minutes
As Hanks Charts Candy’s Career Tradery from the Second City Stages in Chicago and Toronto to Cult Sketch Series Sctv to serving as john hughes’ muse in eight collaborations – Including Planes, Trains, and Automobilesfrom whocmentary derives is title, and and Uncle Buck – He Never Loses Sight of that Naging Undercurrent of Insecurity That Wound Haunt The Actor Despite Those Successes. As o’brien puts it, “This Industry is Very UnHealthy for People-Pleasers.”
Toronto-Raed John Franklin Candy Was A SHY, INTROVERTED BIG KID WHO WAS All of 5 Years Old WHEN HIS OWN FATHER DIED AT AGE 35, ALSO FROM HEART DISEASE. HE’D GAIN CONFIDENCE Performing Improv and Sketch Comedy, But It Was His Character Work on on Sctvincluding his inspired takes on pavarotti, Julia Child and Orson Welleles, that Made Industry Folk Sit Up and Take Notice.
Spielberg would come calling with a party in 1941. Mel Brooks, On the High Praise Friend Carl Reiner Had for Candy After Directing HIM IN Summer RentalProceeded to Cast Him As the Half-Man, Half-Dog Barf in Spacebles. “HE stuck acting in his Back Pocket and Behaved Like A Human Being,” Says Brooks of Candy’s Professional Ethic.
Despite all that good Stuff coming his way, there was still that stubborn undercurrent of melancholy. In Respons to News of John Belushi (Who Had Tried to Persuade His Old Second City Buddy to Join Him On Saturday Night Live) Dying of A Drug Overdose in 1982, Sctv Colleague Dave Thomas Tearfully Recalls A Despondent Candy Saying, “Oh God, It’s Starting.” As Thomas Elaborates, He Carried the Weight of His Father’s Passing Every Day.
Ironically, eating and drinking would become candy’s coping mechanism, Even as he was aware of his family history. And While His Wife Rose Shares Hew of Often Work Out with A Trainer and GO on Extreme Diets, She Adds That “The Industry Wanted Him Big” and His Reprection Went to 100 pounds.
By the Early ’90s, WHEN HE WAS NO Longer Pricking The Hits-As One Interviewer Not-So-Gingerly Puts It, “You’ve Been In More Turkeys Thran Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts, Along with Wayne Gretzky and Los Angeles Kings Owner Bruce Mcnall.
By then increASINGY PLAGUED BY PANIC ATTESCS, HE’D DIE IN HIS SLEEP ON MARCH 4, 1994, While On Location in Durango, Mexico, Filming The Ill-Fatted Comedy Wagons East.
HANKS-Who Previoously Directed a Pair of Music-Temed Documentaries, Including All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records – Knows to Give The Assembled Wealth of Comedic Talent, Along with Candy’s Widow and Two Adult Children, All The Space They Need To Share the Many Lively and Affecting Anetetes. He Accompanies Those with A Genereous Sampling of Memorable Movie and TV Clips, Archival Interview and Home Movie Footage, Not To Mention A Stirming Cynthia. Daryl Hall & John Oates.
WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?