The Hughes Muse
John Hughes is primarily known for his teen movies with Molly Ringwald, but wasn’t his true muse John Candy? After all, the guy showed up in at least eight films that Hughes produced, wrote, directed or all three, including Vacation, Home Alone, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors, Career Opportunities and She’s Having a Baby. That sounds like a relationship worth exploring.
“I know there were films he didn’t want to do,” his daughter Jen told The Hollywood Reporter. “But with John Hughes, it was always, ‘What’s the next one? You gotta hurry up and write something,’ because they were perfect for each other.”
And let’s not overlook Only the Lonely, a sweet Hughes-produced comedy written and directed by protege Chris Columbus. It’s a movie largely forgotten but one that was a Candy favorite because he got to play a regular guy, not one whose weight was a constant punchline. Hey Ryan, line up an interview with co-star Ally Sheedy so she can offer up more about Candy’s leading-man qualities: “John has a way of making you feel like the most beautiful actress he’s ever worked with.”
Related: John Hughes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Frustrated Footballer
At some point in the early going, it would be great for Reynolds to note that Candy was a pretty decent athlete. In fact, his first “what I want to be when I grow up” was a football player before a high school knee injury brought that dream to an end.
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