- 5 minutes ago
'John Candy: I Like Me' director Colin Hanks and producers Jennifer Candy-Sullivan and Shane Reid sat down with THR's Senior Editor Mikey O'Connell to chat all about the Prime Video series in a Directors in Focus conversation.
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00:01tell me how this sort of happened like you had to have been fascinated with the subject to sit
00:07with it for so long and I imagine throughout your life there have been opportunities um and
00:12ovations to do something about your father and his legacy that did not materialize yeah I think
00:19when our dad passed you know there was the stereotypical like documentary that A&E like
00:24everyone had done and it was very okay this is what what happens when someone passes and you do
00:29a documentary and they were very like you know cut and dry per se and I think over the years
00:35the style
00:35of documentaries had changed and our family had kind of grown up and kind of you know sat with
00:43things and understood our dad a little bit more us being in therapy um and came to the point of
00:49like
00:50going okay when the right opportunity arises this might be the time and then I think when Ryan
00:58Reynolds had reached out to our family saying they wanted to do like a little snippet of like
01:03a tribute video for our dad on Twitter at the time and we were like sure that's great and from
01:08there
01:09it went viral and then it was one of those things that it turned into this like hey don't you
01:13think
01:14that it should maybe be longer and we were like oh that would be great and from there we kind
01:18of you
01:19know sat with it a little bit more like all documentaries it takes time and you could just
01:22kind of you stop and go stop and go and and then we were like okay and so then it
01:27got to the point
01:28where we were you know looking for directors and then we came to call yeah funny enough uh my uh
01:36producing partners had approached me and it was probably I have no idea but it was months before
01:42Ryan had reached out and they had sort of floated the idea and I don't know maybe they got me
01:47on the
01:47wrong Tuesday but I just kind of went I don't know like I'm not not quite sure what that is
01:52uh because
01:53there you know a lot of times you you will find a subject or someone and you'll think it's a
01:58good
01:59documentary but there's not enough information there's not a a human angle and then you sit there
02:04and go like is this going to be a visual Wikipedia entry like I want to try and find something
02:09a little
02:10bit more um uh a human about it and and to Ryan's credit you know Ryan's an incredibly smart individual
02:18and um uh in a initial conversation he he sort of said I don't know what the film is I
02:24just think
02:25I I don't want to live in a world where a John Candy documentary does not exist and I said
02:30I agree with
02:32that statement um and if you give me some time and and let me do you know a little bit
02:36of digging and
02:37see if I can find something that maybe you know that I think is good enough and if you agree
02:42then
02:42we can uh you know agree to hold hands and jump off the bridge together so at that point then
02:47I
02:48reached out to to Jen and Chris who I knew a little bit and and had uh deeper conversations with
02:53them
02:53and then uh you know once I found out sort of very specific things about you know him losing his
02:59father on his fifth birthday and stuff like that I started to dig in a little bit more deeper into
03:04sort of John's personal story and his history and and at that point then I sort of felt like I
03:10had
03:10enough to you know to to begin in finding that is that something is that something you find in the
03:16edit or was that sort of very much a a mandate throughout the process of of interviewing and
03:24and finding clips and researching well no I mean you you you I knew very early on that it needed
03:31to
03:31the the film needed to accomplish uh a a couple of things but but primarily it needed to both be
03:39an
03:39insight into who John was and what made him so special as a human being first and foremost you
03:46know his his day job is is is secondary who was John what kind of person was he how did
03:53he carry
03:54himself how did he interact in the world you know what what about his personality is worth exploring
04:00and then really then the other component to that is it needed to feel like a John Candy film
04:06it needed to feel like you had just seen your favorite John Candy movie and in order to do that
04:15we
04:16need we knew that there were certain areas that we needed to uh sort of emotionally land on you know
04:23and I wanted to show the insight into you know to who he was and what he went through and
04:27you know his
04:28personal struggles which we all felt I you know I felt like it was incredibly important to highlight
04:33like hey you know that that guy that you saw on that screen who you felt represented you here's how
04:39much he was like you he suffered from anxiety something that at the time no one discussed and now we
04:46all
04:46openly discuss it I thought that was worth exploring but at the same time we also knew it needed to
04:51be
04:51funny it needed to have heart and so there were you know it got to the point in the edit
04:57where I needed
04:58to make sure that you know I could look look to Shane and say like what are we missing here
05:02what are the
05:02beats that we're not getting where are we emotionally in the story as well as you know where are we
05:09you
05:09know chronologically what were those beats that you wanted Shane remember them exactly what was the
05:16conversation uh the first conversation I had with Colin was was really around the way that John made
05:23us feel and how to go about exploring that um editorially uh there was another documentary that
05:31I had done earlier as the first film I cut and um it was about Nick Cave and it it
05:37we sort of
05:37approached it in two ways and one was like a very it's about Nick going into the studio after he
05:42experienced this you know horrible trauma in his life and he it kind of follows like the days in
05:49the studio just narratively this is what's happening this is where they are today sucks today has
05:54inspiration we're ordering pizza we're wrapping the night up um and then one other cut was just totally
06:02exploratory poetic like we just take song lyrics and you just sort of freeform paint on on you know your
06:08canvas and then you'd kind of blend those together because you were chasing a feeling and that was
06:15the way I initially pitched the way I would want to approach this film with Colin which was like
06:21you have these interviews going and there is a chronological resume as we've talked about but
06:26there's also a feeling and I you cannot explore that feeling unless you just are open to the edit
06:32experience telling you what um emotion you're you're chasing you know so you just start to like
06:39paint pictures and you just you just let go for a while and you just you have it be about
06:44something
06:44else that feels like sort of eternal ethereal that's how you stumble upon like opening the film
06:50the way we did in the funeral service and then allowing you know John's world to be painted by
06:55the images of the films that we grew up knowing him by so you're starting to like
07:00familiarize yourself with this sort of you know cosmic planet that you've existed in and then
07:05all of a sudden you're feeling something and then you're in it before and it's not just like
07:08here's where it starts and then he's a child and then he grows up it's like you've already
07:12established some kind of like deeper you know connection the framing of it with the the funeral
07:20both at the beginning and the end um I mean it works regardless but re-watching it in anticipation
07:27of this the fact that we have Catherine O'Hara like delivering that eulogy now it's it's it's insane
07:35and the that the the ending of the movie is so much more I don't know um it carries a
07:41lot more weight
07:42now um what was um what was the experience of talking to her um and and some of your other
07:50favorite people that you spoke to in in the interview process well I was fortunate in that I
07:54I worked with Catherine on a few occasions and so we had a little bit of a shorthand in fact
07:59I think
07:59she was the one that said you know this is our third movie together which I thought was very very
08:03sweet um no you know I I was incredibly fortunate in that um there were a handful of of people
08:11that I
08:11had met before um and and there were some that I I was meeting with for for the first time
08:17but they
08:17were all excited to be there Martin Martin Short said very early on in a phone call I had with
08:23him
08:23he says you know your biggest problem is no one is going to want to say no everyone's going to
08:28want
08:28to talk about John and he was right I mean but there wasn't anyone who said no uh I think
08:34there was only
08:34maybe one or two people that couldn't do it just because of scheduling um but you know in in getting
08:40to
08:41talk with basically you know the uh extended amount rush more of comedy idols I mean it's it's it's
08:51practically absurd but at the same time you know there's this moment where you know you're interviewing
08:58all of them and you and you realize I am asking them about their friend who they met when they
09:05were 20
09:06years old before they knew what they were going to do before they really had any idea who that you
09:12know they were or you know who they were themselves and it's incredibly humanizing to be able to to see
09:18them you know in that light and remember that they you know they all got to start somewhere you know
09:23and um and all of them had such a deep deep deep love of of who John was and I
09:31think you know
09:32obviously you know with Catherine's passing it's it's very recent but I think with John they had
09:37all had time to process that and and had time to process how much John meant to them and I
09:44think um
09:45you know a lot of them hadn't really been able to maybe properly voice that publicly uh like they do
09:52with us and I think it was also important and an important interview that in the very beginning that
09:58we knew that my brother and I wanted was our mom to be part of the documentary and that was
10:03also one
10:04of the great like facts that we were able to get Colin to be on board because Colin my mom
10:11we knew
10:12that my mom would be comfortable talking with Colin even though she had only met him just a handful of
10:16times growing up and all that but there was just um a familiarity and just Colin does such an amazing
10:22job
10:22at making everyone at ease um with his interviews uh like he said he's some he's worked with before
10:28and others he hadn't but still it doesn't matter who it is like you just feel comfortable and he
10:33wanted to be like a conversation and so our mom um that was so great that she was able to
10:39just be able
10:40to talk and have a conversation even though she'll probably say that she was rambling and she wasn't
10:44making did I make sense what did I say I might have blacked out but she did she did a
10:48great job and
10:49with Rose I mean with Rose I knew specifically that it was going to be important but I held off
10:54I
10:54did we yeah she was her interview was one of the last ones that we did and it was because
10:59I really
11:00wanted to make sure that I knew already knew what I had so that I could find the best places
11:06for her
11:06to be and so it wasn't just sort of like the kind of interview where you're just sort of like
11:12scorching
11:12the earth trying to just get absolutely anything you possibly can and everything you can I knew very
11:19specifically what I wanted her to sort of speak to and speak on and that helps because also I had
11:24to remember she'd never done a sit-down interview like that before that was her first interview so
11:28there's uh I believe there's a protocol for that as the director to like walk them through that and
11:35to make them feel safe make them feel comfortable and she's amazing yeah this is a question for all of
11:41you but Jennifer I I'm particularly interested in you um your take on this but like what what surprised
11:47you in this process that you've learned about your father oh man there's a lot that surprised me I
11:53think just how two things like one my brother talks about how like he grew up loving Conan O'Brien
12:01I love
12:01Conan O'Brien too but then when you sit down to an interview and you see your idol talking about
12:06their idol who is you know Conan loving our dad and the visit to Harvard and all of that and
12:12you just
12:13it's your mind just kind of it takes you kind of I don't know it takes you out of reality
12:18for a moment
12:19you're like where am I this is amazing um and then also when we were going through all of um
12:24the old
12:25interviews of our dad I think it was interesting because as as the kids you don't see the interviews
12:31that he does like you see some of the late night stuff and but it doesn't really process so it
12:35was
12:35really challenging for me to watch how some of the interviews were really harsh and and we always knew
12:40that people were like the size for him and his weight and him you know it's just um was a
12:46big
12:46thing it's like oh he ate too much he drank too much it's like okay great but then when you
12:50see
12:52these interviews where they are constantly bringing it up it's like he's talking about a movie that he's
12:56there to pitch that he's then then they then they go and they on talk about his weight and you're
13:00just
13:00like well that makes him and you're truly making someone uncomfortable but they didn't the thing
13:06that I thought was interesting is is that they were because our dad was so lovable and they were
13:11like okay we're best friends with everyone so they were trying to be like hey but this is okay we're
13:15joking and we're making a bit out of it but we're making a bit out of his own expense and
13:20it was
13:21challenging and you're and he was kind of like okay and so I think early on his career he kind
13:26of
13:26pushed it down but then eventually there were some interviews later on he was just like
13:32is there a reason you had to bring that up or why does it bother you uh you know my
13:36weight and
13:36they're like no it doesn't bother you he's like nope doesn't bother me so let's move on so it was
13:41interesting to see how he stood up for himself eventually but it took him a while to be like
13:46wait I can do that I can stand up for myself and be like this is not appropriate you know
13:52conversation to have in an interview that shocked me because I was also going to ask you what pissed
13:56you off in all of this and though I I believe it was one woman and she's just like well
14:02you've
14:02released a couple turkeys in a row right and I was like do people don't speak that way anymore on
14:10but the caveat is you know everyone loves you and you're like oh my god lovely back-ended compliments
14:17yes um what about you what surprised you in all this um I think what surprised me um was I
14:26mean
14:27definitely the the the the the difference uh in time for sure I mean the obviously the way that uh
14:35people interviewed John I was really sort of thrown thrown by because that kind of behavior definitely
14:42wouldn't you know wouldn't be accepted now but I think what surprised me most is just um just truly
14:50what a complete performer John was you know in my mind I just would always think about him being funny
14:56and cracking jokes and and that laugh you know he's got such an iconic laugh and so you know when
15:02I
15:02would think about John's movies I would always just think about how hilarious he was and how funny he was
15:07but you know as we made the movie and and as I watched more and more of his work I
15:12I don't think
15:13I really truly understood just what a performer he actually was um you know Ryan loves Ryan loves
15:23planes trains and automobiles I mean if you want to see the movie without seeing the movie he'll recite it
15:29to you word for word verbatim but you know he he talks a lot about the I like me scene
15:36in in in
15:37planes trains and uh and he you know he pinpoints this this performance you know where he says I
15:44like pause I like me and it's this incredible little moment of like self-doubt that John like shows
15:54where he's saying something about the character is saying something about himself that he wants to be
16:01true but he's not 100% sure if he can and it shows that John was a performer in every
16:08sense of the word
16:09because he understood those little nuances those little pauses and it's like that in in all of John's
16:16movies you know whether it's the John Hughes movies or if it's who's Harry Crump he's still able to find
16:22those little those little instances where he's able to inject you know true true true acting prowess you
16:30know and that was a big surprise for me knowing that his work with John Hughes was such a big
16:35part
16:35of his career and and a big part of this movie um well did you know that going in that
16:43that was going
16:43to be a a real beat you wanted to hit and also like that is a unfortunately a missing voice
16:49um in
16:50here probably the most significant missing voice um in his career so how did you how did you work around
16:56that you just have to do it you know there's just there's just no other way around it I mean
17:02obviously the work that those the the Johns did together you know obviously that's what we what we
17:08refer to in in the editing room is peak candy um and so you knew you know we knew that
17:15we were going
17:15to have to address that and you know it's it's one of the the tricks with with documentary films is
17:21okay how are we going to be able to piece that together when you know that there are certain
17:27you know pieces of the puzzle that are missing Jennifer do you watch your father's work I do yeah I
17:33do
17:33yeah I always I always have I've always been I've always found it to be um therapeutic and cathartic
17:39and there's times where it's just because his movies were good so I was entertained so I just watched
17:44them can I put the three of you on the spot and ask you a favorite or a most re
17:51-watched
17:52re-watched mine's delirious as re-watched delirious yeah that's a good one I love that I remember being
18:00on set for that one um do you know what one that I have loved re-watching is summer rental
18:08I love that one it's just it's like I just it's a great they kind of start you know Memorial
18:14Day
18:14weekend it's always like there's always that's before the summer but that's one that I think
18:18gets forgotten sometimes but it's such it's such a good movie it's just a feel-good family movie
18:23I think I I it was always Uncle Buck for me um I think it's just I always loved how
18:29wrong it was
18:30it was so edgy plane strains too yeah my kids um I took them to see uh the Alamo Draft
18:36House played
18:37Uncle Buck before we I came on the film and I realized watching it with them um that I had
18:42never
18:43seen John on the big screen like I had just grown up watching movies right like on I don't I
18:47just don't
18:48maybe I did see it in the theater when I was young but um I think I saw his face
18:54light at the screen and
18:55um I think when Ryan talked to me about the film I went god I just saw Uncle Buck and
19:00it was
19:01amazing how much of a movie star John was like when that face fills that screen it was incredible
19:06and I for me emotionally that was just that gave me all the laughs it I was like really um
19:14I loved the
19:15the uh the teenager and the and the the sort of combat that the two of them had and how
19:20he brought
19:20her onto his side it just I don't know it just does it for me it brings all the charm
19:23out of him
19:25uh I mean how do I do that that's a Sophie's choice I really don't know how to do that
19:34but you know Jen brings up this point every now and again you know John was in so many movies
19:40so I mean I could tell you I the one I probably watched the most when I was a kid
19:44probably who's
19:45Harry Crumb the one that I go to the most now probably Home Alone but this is the fun game
19:51now
19:52is that a John Candy movie or is Follow That Bird a John Candy movie yep I think it's kind
19:59of like
20:00the new like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game where it's like name a movie and if John Candy's in
20:06it
20:06like can you argue like is Die Hard a Christmas movie it's I was gonna say is Die Hard a
20:11John Candy
20:12movie that's the big one find that connection exactly what's the candy connection there exactly
20:17yeah I I mean my opinion doesn't matter um that's not true what's your favorite or you'd be shocked
20:25oh no no just about about Home Alone that is such an interesting but it's the one that I've seen
20:30the
20:30most and it's the one where literally he comes on the screen and I'm like yes yeah it's the polka
20:36king
20:36of the midwest that character is so prominent in that movie but it's only like less than it's a new
20:41gear
20:41and and it's like it's so sweet like their their relationship but also I think you know diving
20:48into him and Catherine in the documentary made me really delight in watching them on camera a lot
20:53more I understood like oh there's so much history to these two I never knew that when I watched the
20:58film first you know also that's how I discovered Sheboygan I didn't know that at the time
21:07education um I mean we there's always some like darlings to kill and in the making of anything
21:14is in the edit did you was there a clip you couldn't get the rights to was there a little
21:23section that you had to remove I know what Shane's gonna say okay oh do you because I was yeah
21:28you're
21:28gonna see the shot of John getting out of the car in the Blues Brothers because he's in the
21:34in the suit yeah that pissed me off that was a great shot that oh there yeah there it's a
21:41small
21:41fair right it's not like a sequence per se but there there um I think it was Dan it was
21:47Dan
21:47describing him Dan just Dan described seeing John for the first time in a brown suit and like white
21:56shoes and we had literally discovered that Ian Blues Brothers he's wearing a brown suit and white
22:05shoes and he gets out of the car that he gets out of the car and it's just this little
22:09like blink and
22:10you miss kind of kind of uh shot and we just we sort of had max yeah that came down
22:16to the end
22:18well um thank you so much
22:26you
22:26you
22:26you
22:26you
22:26you
22:26you
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