Opening night at TIFF’s 50th paid homage to one of Canada’s great, the late SCTV and Hollywood comedy star of the 1980s and 1990s, John Candy with the Colin Hanks directed, Ryan Reynolds produced documentary, John Candy: I Like Me.
“There’s no other place that we’d rather be than right here. We had numerous conversations with various people about where would the dream place be to premiere this movie, and the truth is the answer resides in the lyrics of John’s favorite song: ‘Oh, Canada, Our Home and Native Land.’” said Hanks to great cheers.
The producer of the Amazon MGM Studios, Reynolds, who is also a Vancouver native, took the mic in maple leaf T-shirt and brown suit and joked, “I’m going to tell my life story in real time!”
“John, he left us in 1994. He might be the greatest, most beautiful man that I never met and I really genuinely would have given anything to meet this man. I’ve been obsessed with him for a very long time, as many people know. My god damn suit is covered in John tonight.”
The Deadpool star continued, “They don’t make them like that anymore. John was about togetherness and bringing people together in beautiful ways, and even the cowards at Chrysler stopped making the Town and Country Chrysler LeBaron; the infamous Planes, Trains & Automobiles one — you know the one.”
Cynthia Erivo re-recorded the song “Every Time You Go Away” from John Candy: I Like Me. The Daryl Hall penned song was used in Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and performed by Blue Room. However, it was Paul Young’s cover which became a No. 1 U.S. and international hit in 1985. The singer has been outspoken about how that hit song was never used in the original John Hughes directed comedy.
“It’s one of the most beautiful versions, I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” said Reynolds about Erivo’s cut.
The movie’s title refers to Candy’s line from Planes, Trains & Automobiles where his annoying salesman character, Del Griffith, in a fight with Steve Martin’s insulting businessman, Neal Page, tells the guy “I like me.”
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