If you’re making a documentary about John Candy, there are a few voices you simply have to have. And for executive producer Ryan Reynolds, Bill Murray was at the top of that list.
Speaking after a screening of the Prime Video documentary John Candy: I Like Me at a FYC event for TV Academy voters on Wednesday, Reynolds detailed the bizarre, borderline absurd journey it took to get Candy’s Stripes co-star and good buddy.
“Who the hell is supposed to get Bill Murray? He’s like the hardest person on earth to track down,” Reynolds said. “I refused to not get him. We had to have him.”
After chasing leads, Reynolds finally got a phone number — only to hit an answering machine that sounded like a Greek shipping company. “I was like, ‘No way — this is Bill Murray, I bet,’” he said, leaving a message anyway.
Eventually, Murray called back — briefly. “The first thing he says is, ‘Who’s the godfather of the spit take?’” Reynolds recalled. “I said Danny Thomas… then I tried Desi Arnaz… and he just hung up on me.”
Reynolds kept calling. “I called him back for like 12 more days,” he said. “And then I got him again… and then he hung up again.”
So he changed tactics. While recording a video message late one night, his kids wandered into the frame. “I said, ‘Tell Bill to do the damn interview,’” Reynolds said. “My son looks right into the camera and goes, ‘Do the damn interview, Bill.’”
That did it. “Two minutes later, I get a text back: ‘Where do you need me?’”
A lifelong obsession turned passion project
Directed by Colin Hanks, John Candy: I Like Me draws on never-before-seen archival footage and interviews to trace the life and legacy of one of comedy’s most beloved figures — something Reynolds said he had been building toward for years.
“Most of my adult life … I’ve had such a burning love for John Candy for as long as I could watch, imbibe and internalize entertainment,” he said. “As a kid, I grew up in Canada … I would be doing impressions of him. I would be trying to be him.”
That connection ran deeper than fandom. “I think what was really happening, I was seeing a lot of John in my brother in real life… he’s a guy that’s never had it particularly easy, but he’s always had a kind of magic touch of being able to transform pain into something kind of relatably beautiful or funny or charming.”
For Reynolds, that quality defined Candy. “He’s a good person when nobody’s watching,” he said. “It almost supersedes the career and the persona and all that kind of stuff. I just love him so much.”
Why the Candy family finally said yes
Candy’s children, Chris Candy and Jennifer Candy-Sullivan, said the project came together because it finally felt like the right team — and the right moment.
“Their love and compassion and respect for our dad was just so obvious,” Chris said. “So it felt like a perfect fit… and then that immediately led us to Colin, who was just the perfect fit as a director for this.”
Chris added that one major hurdle was getting their mother involved. “My mom had never interviewed before… she was there for the entire ride, so we needed to be able to get her. So that was the win.”
Revisiting the past, however, wasn’t easy. “It was cathartic and it was challenging at the same time,” Jennifer said. “You’re bringing up a part of your past that you’re like, ‘Oh, I really didn’t want to have to bring that up again.’”
That hit especially hard when they revisited old footage. “All of a sudden being transported back into that moment of time … and just being emotional about it,” she said. “But then also loving it … being so fortunate that we have all of this footage.”
Colin Hanks on earning trust behind the camera
Hanks approached the film’s interviews with a focus on comfort and honesty. “I just know that they’re still human beings,” he said of the family and famous friends who took part in the film. “Ultimately, that is the only thing that matters. … I am talking with people that miss their friend, that are wanting to celebrate their friend.”
That perspective shaped the tone of the film. “Tell us … let us in as much as you want and we’ll handle the rest,” he said.
Editing a life: balancing humor, loss, and legacy
Editor Shane Reid said the challenge was not just telling Candy’s story, but understanding it.
“All the interview subjects … are incredibly rich storytellers,” he said. “You have these incredibly painted pictures that are your base for everything.”
From there, the goal came into question. “What is the recipe that makes John so special?” Reid said. “While we’re discovering his life, we also need to start to analyze what’s happening in the work and how his life is intersecting with that.”
Striking the right balance was key. “What’s the right level of humor? What’s the right level of tenderness and trauma?” he said. “You just let the film talk to you … and you just try and do history justice.”
John Candy: I Like Me is streaming on Prime Video.
