Amazon’s Prime Video is in negotiations to acquire a John Candy documentary from Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds, TheWrap has confirmed.
Hanks, son of Tom Hanks and star of “Life in Pieces,” “Orange County” and “A Friend of the Family,” will direct the project while Reynolds, star of “Deadpool,” “Free Guy” and “The Adam Project,” will produce alongside George Dewey via his Maximum Effort production company.
The documentary feature will explore John Candy’s life and career, including starring roles in “The Great Outdoors,” “Spaceballs,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck” and “Cool Runnings.” The actor was on the verge of establishing himself as a comic actor who could also handle dramatic roles in weightier fare like “Only the Lonely” and Oliver Stone’s “JFK” when he died in 1994 of a heart attack at the age of 43.
The film will reportedly go beyond his onscreen persona and dig into an inner life that the actor kept offscreen. It’s made with the support of Candy’s widow and their two children, and Hanks plans to utilize never-before-seen home movies, archives and interviews with the family.
Hanks’ parents, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, starred with Candy in the 1985 comedy “Volunteers” while the former starred alongside the rising comic actor in Disney’s smash hit “Splash” the year prior.
Colin Hanks will produce the film with his Company Name partner Sean Stuart and Zipper Bros. Films’ Glen Zipper. Reynolds has been a hands-on producer for many of his big star vehicles and served as an executive producer on FX’s docuseries “Welcome to Wrexham.”
Variety first reported the news.