Colin Hanks is speaking out about the way interviewers treated comedy legend John Candy.
During an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor and filmmaker called out the “unacceptable” way Candy was repeatedly asked about his weight during interviews.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Hanks, 47. “That, particularly, was so soul-crushing to me to see how uncomfortable John was because he knew they were going to ask about his weight.”
He added that seeing how casually people brought up Candy’s body on camera made it clear why the late comedian dreaded interviews. “That kind of stuff was just heartbreaking,” Hanks said. “It wouldn’t fly today.”
Hanks directs the new Prime Video documentary John Candy: I Like Me, produced by Ryan Reynolds, which captyres the actor’s life, career, and struggles through archival footage and interviews with friends and collaborators including Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Conan O’Brien, and Macaulay Culkin.
Candy — known for Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, and Spaceballs — died of a heart attack in 1994 at age 43. His children, Christopher and Jennifer Candy, and his wife, Rosemary Hobor, all participated in the documentary as co-producers.
At a recent screening in New York City, Christopher Candy said he was “shocked” by how interviewers treated his father. “He was so nervous about eating in front of people because of the paparazzi,” he shared. “He’d wait until he got home to eat in private. No one should feel that way.”