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Ryan Reynolds Sees Parallels with John Candy
Although they never met in person, Ryan Reynolds has always had a “love” for John Candy. “When I look at John, I see so many things that he had in common with me,” Reynolds, 48, who is the executive producer of the documentary John Candy: I Like Me, told People about the stand-up who gave up the ghost at 43 due to a heart attack while on location in Mexico. “Not to mention that they were both Canadians and that he was the owner of a sports team—he still had that feeling that he was going to run out of time. Sadly, with John it was really like that.”
Celebrating John Candy’s Lasting Legacy
After 31 years of John Candy’s death, there comes a new documentary on Prime Video, John Candy: I Like Me, that celebrates him through anecdotes from the people who knew him best, including the family and Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and Martin Short, the three actors. Ryan Reynolds, the film producer, and Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Macaulay Culkin, and Conan O’Brien, the people whom he invited to help, jointly shout one main feature out of the film: “He was an absolutely decent person if nobody was watching. Nowadays, that’s a scarce resource that we tend to overlook.”
Early Inspiration That Shaped His Work
The actor Ryan Reynolds confessed that he put “days” of his childhood into copying John Candy—one of the times he did it, he was learning lines from a film he was watching at home. The effect of that zeal is still alive: “Deadpool & Wolverine, we wrote it in the footprint of Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” he says, marking Candy as one of the first lights of his creative path.
Remembering Where He Was When Candy Died
Reynolds can still see in his mind’s eye when he was in Vancouver and found out about John Candy’s death. “Although I was quite young, I still couldn’t believe he had to die so soon, I was very shocked,” he says to People. “I experienced an instant of selfish regret… ‘There won’t be any more John Candy films for me to watch. I get no longer to see him be John Candy. One more thing that should be illegal.'”
His admiration has grown over time. “That love I had for him, but I didn’t realize it then and now gives me much more,” says Reynolds. “Comedian—or people, or love—I always associate them with places just as much as with persons. He is a place where I can instantaneously feel revitalized or get away for a bit.”
The Heart of John Candy, Through Ryan Reynolds’ Eyes
Ryan Reynolds describes John Candy’s brilliance as the result of the actor bringing his vulnerability to the fore but not to a point of self‑despisal. “He was self‑effacing, not self‑loathing,” Reynolds mentions, associating Candy’s zen‑like comedic respite “a very Canadian trait.” Through talks with his family and friends, he learned that Candy was “vulnerable and sensitive” and that he was “someone who ‘felt’ everything.”
On the other hand, the documentary also opened up a new emotional chamber with the hero for Reynolds. “I never take it for granted that this little documentary gave me a pathway of communication with him,” he points out. “And really intimate discussions about something we can all agree on: John Candy was a beautiful man we all desperately miss in different ways.”
