“John Candy’s Son Says He Received ‘Cosmic Greeting’ That Changed His Mind About New Documentary”

John Can­dy’s lega­cy con­tin­ues to shine near­ly three decades after his pass­ing, and now his chil­dren are help­ing pre­serve his sto­ry through the new John Can­dy doc­u­men­tary, I Like Me. The project, exec­u­tive-pro­duced by Candy’s son Chris and daugh­ter Jen­nifer, had its world pre­miere at the Toron­to Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val on Sep­tem­ber 4 and will soon stream on Prime Video

In an essay reflect­ing on the jour­ney, Chris Can­dy shared how uncer­tain he felt dur­ing the ear­ly stages of the film. As he revis­it­ed fam­i­ly his­to­ry and gath­ered mem­o­ries, he ques­tioned whether the project tru­ly cap­tured the heart of his father. Then, while trav­el­ing with a friend in Ontario, Chris wit­nessed what he described as a “cos­mic greet­ing” from John him­self, a moment that reas­sured him he was on the right path. Accord­ing to Peo­ple, it was a pow­er­ful sign that the John Can­dy doc­u­men­tary had found its pur­pose.

Chris Candy’s Emo­tion­al Jour­ney

Chris recalled that he and his friend had just wrapped an inter­view with fam­i­ly friends in Octo­ber 2023 when the moment occurred. Dri­ving along High­way 11, he spot­ted a sta­tion wag­on being hauled on a flatbed truck. It wasn’t just any car—it was a near-per­fect repli­ca of the Wag­on Queen Fam­i­ly Truck­ster from Nation­al Lampoon’s Vaca­tion, a film con­nect­ed to his father’s friend John Hugh­es. Even the license plate car­ried a ref­er­ence to Chevy Chase’s Clark Gris­wold.

For Chris, who was only eight when his father died in 1994, the sight­ing car­ried deep mean­ing. “I knew in that moment that it was a cos­mic greet­ing from my dad—a nod, a sim­ple thank you to his fam­i­ly for help­ing him fin­ish his sto­ry,” he wrote. The expe­ri­ence gave him a sense of con­nec­tion and guid­ance he had longed for since child­hood, cement­ing his faith in mov­ing for­ward with the John Can­dy doc­u­men­tary

Preserving A Legendary Life

The film, direct­ed by Col­in Han­ks, weaves togeth­er mem­o­ries from Candy’s fam­i­ly, friends, and col­leagues. Jen­nifer Can­dy and her moth­er, Rose, also play a part in shap­ing the sto­ry, ensur­ing that John’s voice echoes through­out. Fel­low come­di­ans Cather­ine O’Hara and Mar­tin Short, along with oth­ers who knew him best, share their rec­ol­lec­tions of the warmth and humor that made him so beloved.

Col­in Han­ks, who first met Can­dy as a child while his father, Tom, filmed Splash, recalled at the pre­miere how unique John made him feel. “He made you feel heard, and that’s a spe­cial thing for a lit­tle kid,” Han­ks said. For audi­ences, the John Can­dy doc­u­men­tary serves as both a trib­ute and a redis­cov­ery, offer­ing glimpses of the man who starred in clas­sics like Uncle Buck and Cool Run­nings, while also show­ing the father, hus­band, and friend behind the laugh­ter.