Director Colin Hanks says his feature documentary John Candy: I Like Me couldn’t have premiered anywhere else than the Toronto Film Festival.
“It’s beyond special. It’s kind of the only place we could do this. I mean, the man’s nickname was Johnny Toronto,” Hanks told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday ahead of a world premiere to open TIFF on Thursday night.
The Canadian festival launchpad also reflects the Canuck roots of a comedy legend known for being a gentle and humble everyman to Hollywood audiences before his unexpected death in 1994. “You want to be a good Canadian? Be like John Candy,” Hanks insisted.
Jennifer Candy, John Candy’s daughter, told THR the documentary underlines just how approachable her father was, despite his Hollywood fame, to fans and his own family. “He was very relatable and a down-to-earth guy, and someone whose ego wasn’t at the forefront of who he was. He loved his family, and wasn’t afraid to say that. And that grounded him in a business that could be a bit chaotic,” she said.
Her brother, Chris Candy, adds fans of their father cheered a working class hero that stayed true to himself in Hollywood. “Other Canadians see that and understand what he’s doing, and really love to see that on a world stage,” he insisted.
The documentary doesn’t shy away from discussing the anxiety and stress that impacted Candy’s life, and which stemmed from childhood experiences including losing his father at age 4 due to a heart attack. “The thing that struck me most about John was his everyman quality. You took one look at him and thought, I want to know everything about that guy. I relate to that guy,” Hanks said.
But the personal ghosts that Candy as a Hollywood character actor kept hidden from his fans masked mental health issues he never got to tackle before his untimely death. “The qualities that we knew John possessed, he possessed them in ways that we weren’t even aware of, because he too suffered from the very things we all suffer from: anxiety, stress, fear, worry, and all of those generated by his upbringing and childhood,” Hanks explained.
“Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to beat the clock, because of that anxiety and fear that time was running out,” Hanks adds of Candy fearing heart disease that was in his family would ultimately claim his own life. Candy died suddenly on March 4, 1994, in Durango, Mexico, at 43 of a massive heart attack while he was working on the film Wagons East.
Candy as a larger-than-life comedy star worked in around 44 films, including film classics from the 1980s and 1990s like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Spaceballs, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Home Alone, Cool Runnings and Stripes, among many others.
Hanks, the son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, at age 8 appeared alongside Candy and his father and Wilson in the 1985 comedy Volunteers. The actor-turned-director adds Candy had the potential to follow his own father and extend himself from comedic roles to weighty Hollywood dramas.
“As we were making the film, I was really blown away by just his skill as a performer,” Hanks remarked. Close friends and longtime collaborators with Candy in Hollywood appear in the documentary alongside archival footage and home videos.
The 50th edition of the Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 4 to 14.
