I’m not sure which Emmy race is more competitive this year: best supporting actor in a comedy (which includes Harrison Ford, Nick Offerman, and Stephen Root) or the best documentary category. Because My God, the docs were great this year - so good that one of the best, “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery” was completely left out and I can’t even be annoyed because the other nominees are so good. Three of them focus on three of my faves: John Candy, Martin Short, and Mel Brooks. While “My Mom Jayne” has Marishka Hargitay’s loving personal touch behind it. And National Geographic’s “Ocean with Richard Attenborough” is, as expected, fantastic.
But there is no show that moved me like “John Candy: I Like Me.” John Candy was my dad’s favorite actor - next to Hugh Jackman but he always called him “Stu Jackson” and he actually knew John’s name. It was a tradition in my house every year to watch “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” at Thanksgiving. Even as a kid, I was blown away by the “I like me” scene where Steve Martin’s character tears into him and the hurt but also fortitude in Candy’s response remains one of the most impactful scenes in cinema history and I love that it’s become the name of the doc, now streaming on Prime Video.
I recently had the privilege of speaking to the Candy family for the LA Times Envelope section - wife Rosemary Candy and children Chris Candy and Jennifer Sullivan-Candy. It’s no exaggeration to say this is one of my favorite pieces of all time and there was so much magic in the whole process.
So many gifts from the universe occurred to make this story happen and continued to happen. Literally during our conversation Josh Gad was onstage at Comic-Con paying tribute to John at the “Spaceballs 2” panel. I met a former police officer that morning who remembered shutting down the 405 freeway for Candy’s funeral procession. To some degree, these feel like signs, but I’ve also come to learn that so many people have stories like this where their lives were affected or intersected with John and his work. I’m not surprised as Candy was so warm, talented, engaging and handsome (he had that throwback to the golden era of movie star look). He also just happened to be a genuinely nice person.
But what I love even more about the film is that it doesn’t shy away from the darker side of his life and talks about issues that were pretty much taboo at the time. It’s a fascinating story and also a lovely valentine to such an artist.
A few weeks later, I also got to do Q&A with a warm and wonderful audience and the love in that room cannot be summed up in words. My favorite part was that they made a replica of the car from “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” for the event.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.