The movie world lost an icon with John Candy‘s untimely demise of 1994. Even sadder is the knowledge that the mild-mannered actor had some big projects planned for later release, and they weren’t all crazy comedies. Candy had a surplus of scope, as evidenced by his blending of heartwarming comedy and heartfelt dramatic compassion in the work of Chris Columbus and John Hughes.
The actor was about to move on to more dramatic works, as evidenced by his performance in Oliver Stone’s JFK. But instead, fans were left with Candy’s Wagons East! as his last project, and had Candy lived through the production, there’s no question that the Western spoof’s failure would have led him onward to bigger and better projects. But at least fans have his finished output, with classics like Planes, trains and cars, stripesAnd Home alone as well as small classics such as Only the lonely And Cool runs.
A confederation of idiots and the incomparable Atuk
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Colin Hanks recently sat down with Conan O’Brien on his podcast Conan O’Brien needs a friend to discuss Candy, his legacy, and Hanks’ collaboration with Ryan Reynolds on an upcoming Candy documentary. Hanks will serve as director and producer, while Reynolds’ Maximum Effort banner will also serve as the latter. On the podcast, Hanks even makes it a point to mention Candy’s dramatic acting chops. But the late actor was just getting started, as he planned to star in a film adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A confederation of idiots.
Candy would have played the lead role of Ignatius Jacques Reilly, a heavyset and unemployed man in his thirties who was demoted to live with his mother. When she gets into a serious car accident, he has to get a job to pay her medical bills. But that job is easier said than done, and Reilly moves from one low-paying job to another, confusing all of his co-workers. Candy would also star in another adaptation: Mordecai Richler’s The incomparable Atukwhich follows a Canadian Inuit’s move to Toronto, where his previous simple life is replaced by an embrace of society’s various cruelties.
“Fat” Arbuckle & Pocahontas
Those two unreleased films have something in common: both are considered cursed. This is because not only the late Candy was attached to both roles, but also the late John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley. The same can be said of the proposed biopic about silent movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. But those three cursed reels weren’t the only ones from Candy that never came to fruition. Specifically, a project was also planned with none other than Disney.
Candy’s funniest roles often featured his physicality, but he could also do a lot with just his voice. The creators of Disneys Pocahontas understood this very well and wrote a character especially for Candy. Unfortunately, once Candy passed, Redfeather the turkey was pushed to the side, never allowing fans to meet the character. But Candy fans are probably fine with that, since a recast would have been considered a bit disrespectful. At least viewers have his vocal part in Heavy metalbut those are best avoided when the kids are in the room.
Last Holiday & Bartholomew vs. Neff
Many of Candy’s best films involved another certain ’80s icon: John Hughes. First Candy had a small role in National Lampoon’s vacation, which Hughes wrote. The actor was then co-leader of the director’s wonderful Planes, trains and cars alongside Steve Martin before doing the same alongside Dan Aykroyd The wide nature, which Hughes wrote and produced. Perhaps most notable is their Uncle Bok, which gave Candy the perfect spotlight and even served as an introduction to fellow Hughes alumnus Macaulay Culkin. After taking on a memorable small role in the following year Home alonethey collaborated one last time on the Hughes-produced Only the lonely.
And the duo would work together again, this time on a movie titled Bartholomew to Neff. But they weren’t the only big names attached to the project, as Candy would play one of two feuding neighbors alongside none other than Rocky star Sylvester Stallone. But given Stallone’s lack of success in comedy, e.g Stop! Or my mother will shootit’s hard to imagine Bartholomew to Neff ranked among Candy’s best movies, but the concept of Candy teaming up with Hughes again couldn’t be more desirable. The same can be said of Candy’s planned remake of the 1950 classic Last holiday, starring Alec Guinness. But at least a version of it ended up on the big screen, and with the very sympathetic Queen Latifah in the lead role, much less so.