Ryan Reynolds personally contacted a journalist who mocked the late comedy star John Candy.
The 48-year-old Canadian actor is a producer on the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
While working on the film, Reynolds said that he and director Colin Hanks had made a conscious decision to cut an archival scene that included an inflammatory comment about Candy’s weight.
“There was a lot of things we left out of the documentary, journalists just saying stuff. One of them I called. I didn't put it in the movie, but I called this journalist just to see,” the Deadpool star told the audience in Toronto.
The actor stressed that he wasn’t trying to teach the journalist a lesson but wanted to get his thoughts on the comments all these years later.
“[I told him] I took it out of the movie, but I'd put it in the movie if you wanted to talk about it, because maybe you have something to say about it, about your journey whenever it comes to something like that,” Reynolds said. “We had such a thoughtful conversation about it.”
Although the film cut that particular scene, it does include many moments where journalists comment on Candy’s weight, and his often witty response.
Becoming emotional, Reynolds said that he wanted to do his fellow Canadian proud as he was conscious that this could be “the last John Candy movie” ever.
The film features appearances from many of Candy’s friends and former colleagues, including Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Aykroyd and Mel Brooks.
Macaulay Culkin, who worked with Candy on Uncle Buck (1989) and Home Alone (1990), thanks Candy in the documentary for being one of the first people to notice his father was a “monster”.
“I think he always had that really great instinct,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“Listen, even before the wave crested and the Home Alone stuff was happening, it was not hard to see how difficult my father was. It was no secret. He was already a monster.”
“He was already not a good guy. I think John was looking a little side-eyed, like, ‘Is everything alright over there? You doing good? Good day? Everything's alright? Everything good at home? Alright.’”
Candy died in 1994, aged 43, following a heart attack.
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