John Candy Movies We’ll Never Get to See

The film-going world misplaced an icon with John Candy‘s premature 1994 passing. Sadder but is the information that the sweet-natured actor had some main tasks scheduled to come back out down the road, and so they weren’t all goofy comedies. Candy had a surplus of vary, as seen through his mixing of heartwarming comedy and heartfelt dramatic compassion within the works of Chris Columbus and John Hughes.

The actor was on the verge of transferring into extra dramatic works, as seen through his look in Oliver Stone’s JFK. But, as an alternative, followers have been left with Candy’s Wagons East! as his closing undertaking, and had Candy lived by way of manufacturing it is undoubted that the Western spoof’s failure would have additional guided him in direction of greater and higher tasks. But at the very least followers have his accomplished output, which options classics equivalent to Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Stripes, and Home Alone in addition to minor classics equivalent to Only the Lonely and Cool Runnings.

A Confederacy of Dunces & The Incomparable Atuk

Colin Hanks not too long ago sat with Conan O’Brien on his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend to debate Candy, his legacy, and Hanks’ collaboration with Ryan Reynolds on a forthcoming Candy documentary. Hanks will function director and producer whereas Reynolds’ Maximum Effort banner may even fill the latter position. On the podcast, Hanks even makes a degree of citing Candy’s dramatic appearing chops. But the late actor was simply getting began, as he meant upon starring in a movie adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

Candy would have performed the lead position of Ignatius Jacques Reilly, a heavyset and jobless man in his thirties relegated to dwelling together with his mom. When she will get right into a critical automotive accident, he is compelled to get a job as a way to pay her medical payments. But that activity is less complicated mentioned than completed, and Reilly strikes from one low-paying job to the subsequent, ruffling the feathers of all his coworkers alongside the best way. Candy was additionally set to star in one other adaptation: Mordecai Richler’s The Incomparable Atuk, which follows a Canadian Inuit’s transfer to Toronto, the place his earlier easy life is changed by an embrace of society’s numerous cruelties.

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“Fatty” Arbuckle & Pocahontas

Those two unreleased movies have one thing in widespread: Both are deemed cursed. This is as a result of not solely was the late Candy connected to each roles, however the late John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley have been as effectively. The similar may very well be mentioned of the proposed biopic on silent movie star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. But these three cursed roles weren’t the one of Candy’s by no means to come back to fruition. Specifically, there was additionally a deliberate undertaking with none aside from Disney.

Candy’s funniest roles usually integrated his physicality, however he may additionally do a considerable quantity together with his voice alone. The creators of Disney’s Pocahontas understood this full effectively and wrote a personality particularly for Candy. Unfortunately, as soon as Candy handed, Redfeather the turkey was pushed to the wayside, leading to followers by no means being allowed to fulfill the character. But Candy followers are most likely okay with that, contemplating a recast would have been seen as a bit disrespectful. At least viewers have his vocal position in Heavy Metal, however that one may be greatest left prevented if the children are within the room.

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Last Holiday & Bartholomew vs. Neff

Many of Candy’s greatest movies concerned one other sure ’80s icon: John Hughes. First, Candy had a small position in National Lampoon’s Vacation, which Hughes wrote. The actor then co-led the director’s great Planes, Trains and Automobiles alongside Steve Martin earlier than doing the identical alongside Dan Aykroyd in The Great Outdoors, which Hughes wrote and produced. Perhaps most notable is their Uncle Buck, which gave Candy the right highlight and even served as an introduction for fellow Hughes alumnus Macaulay Culkin. After taking up a memorable bit position within the following yr’s Home Alone, they teamed up one closing time on the Hughes-produced Only the Lonely.

And the duo was set to work collectively once more, this time on a movie titled Bartholomew vs. Neff. But they weren’t the one huge names connected to the undertaking, as Candy was to play certainly one of two feuding neighbors alongside none aside from Rocky star Sylvester Stallone. But, given Stallone’s lack of success in comedy, e.g. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, it is exhausting to think about Bartholomew vs. Neff rating amongst Candy’s greatest films, however the idea of Candy re-teaming with Hughes could not be extra fascinating. The similar may very well be mentioned of Candy’s deliberate remake of the 1950 basic Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness. But at the very least a model of that ended up on the large display, and with the very likable Queen Latifah within the lead position a lot much less.