Over the years, Disney has made an entire genre out of the inspirational sports movie, but of all the movies about athletes overcoming adversity, there isn’t one quite like Cool Runnings, the movie about the historic Jamaican bobsled team. The biggest name in the cast was comedian John Candy, and 30 years after the film’s release, the cast and crew remembered what it was like working with the star on set, and it’s all equally beautiful and heartbreaking.
The Independent spoke with several of the stars of Cool Runnings in celebration of the film’s anniversary, and co-star Malik Yoba, who played Yul Brenner in the film, remembered a conversation he had with John Candy about the fact that the comedian had never taken a significant break in his career, because he was afraid if he did, Hollywood would forget about him. Yoba explained…
He was 42 at that point and had never taken a vacation in his professional career. He said it was because he was afraid he’d never work again. That always stuck with me. At that time, he was probably the biggest he had ever been in his life and I recall he had a trainer on set with him and he was really struggling to lose weight. He was very insecure about his place in the Hollywood ecosystem. Most people would never imagine that would be the case for the great John Candy – but it was.
John Candy was one of the absolutely great comedy stars of the ’80s and early ‘90s, starring in numerous films that are considered classics today, even if he turned down Ghostbusters. And yet, it seems he himself was less sure about his position in Hollywood than many of his fans probably were. It’s difficult to imagine that any comedy of the era wouldn’t consider casting John Candy if it had the chance.
But Cool Runnings director Jon Turtletaub supports the idea that Candy was strongly concerned with how other people felt about him. It seems that he would go out of his way to do whatever he was asked to do because he was worried about how he might be perceived if he said no. Turtletaub said…
I know he had fears about his career and how he was perceived by people. His whole life, John hated not being liked. He was afraid of it on a personal and professional level. John had trouble [even turning down autograph requests] because he felt like a bad person if he didn’t. That eats away at a person.
John Candy had a legendary career, but perhaps this desire to be liked was part of the reason he was able to do so much in a time that was unfortunately all too short. John Candy would pass away just five months after Cool Runnings was released in theaters, making it one of his final films.
One certainly hopes he would appreciate how fondly he is remembered. Whether or not Hollywood would have forgotten him if he’d ever taken a break, his fans certainly never would have.