The secret to making a documentary worthy of comedy legend John Candy was to lean into the magic he created on screen in films that include Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Spaceballs and Splash.
The final product resulted in John Candy: I Like Me, directed by Colin Hanks, who also produced alongside Ryan Reynolds, and who counted on the support and participation of Candy’s children Jennifer Candy-Sullivan and Christopher Candy.
Tyler Strickland, the composer of the Prime Video documentary, joined Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television awards-season concert event to talk about his contributions.
Tyler Strickland at Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television
JC Olivera
“The biggest challenge for scoring this film was that we’re making a film about a movie star. He’s this larger-than-life character both on and off screen,” he said. “I think it was really important to write a score that felt triumphant for him in all of these roles and everything that he accomplished in his career, but is also scalable down to this more intimate moment as a father, as a husband, and as someone who was struggling on the daily with his grasp on mortality.”
Strickland was introduced to Hanks by producer Sean Stuart; the former was already a fan of Hanks’ work, including on All Things Must Pass.
RELATED: All Of Deadline’s Sound & Screen TV Panels
“When Colin and I started talking about this film, the idea was, ‘Let’s make this feel like a John Candy movie from the ’80s: fun, a little quirky.’ But when we started getting the interviews back from Catherine O’Hara, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, his best friends in life and Vikings of comedy … we were getting these super-heartfelt interviews back. We just knew that we had a different film on our hands, and it required a different palette with the score.”
Strickland added, “The French horn, which tonight — as I’m surrounded by a million musicians and I hope it came through — was in the score in the film, the way it plays is as an isolated instrument for John. Just felt like something that has a lot of valor to it. It’s an instrument I love a lot. It makes him feel kind of like a soldier going through this battle of life.”
John Candy: I Like Me features those who best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery and interviews. In addition to the late O’Hara, Aykroyd and Murray, the it features interviews with Mel Brooks, Tom Hanks, Macaulay Culkin, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Martin Short and Chris Columbus, among many others.
Check back Monday for the panel video.