(Left-right:) Steve Martin and John Candy in “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”.Photo:Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
In his new documentary,Steve Martinremembers a very special costar.
“John Candy was very sensitive and very complex and we really loved each other,” recalls Martin in part two of the documentary project from Oscar winner Morgan Neville (of20 Feet from Stardom).
“He had a beautiful scene,” he says of the Canadian star while flipping through the screenplay, which he holds up to the camera.
“I’m not gonna read the speech, but it’s that long,” explains Martin. As his character, shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith, Candy “gives the entire explanation of his life. And I was opposite him. I was weeping as he was performing it.”
The emotional speech from Candy, while a lengthy monologue on the page, ended up as only Del saying little more than, “I don’t have a home.”
“It was all cut,” reveals theThree Amigosstar. “I don’t know why it was cut except for tempo, and maybe you’re at the end and you don’t want to hear a long speech. It was cut down to a line or two.”
Martin gets visibly emotional remembering filming opposite Candy, trying to hold back tears before putting the movie’s script back on a shelf.
“There’s a line I loved,” he says to camera. Candy’s character “says, ‘I sort of attach myself to people from time to time, like with you, especially around the holidays. I can take it in March, July, October. But it gets hard.’
“And then he said, ‘This time, I couldn’t let it go.’”
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STEVE! (Martin)is made up of a part one titled “Then” and a part two titled “Now,” the former showing archival footage of early stand-up comedy days, the latter including interviews with Martin,Tina Fey, Eric Idle,Jerry Seinfeld, Frank Oz,Diane Keatonand longtime comedy partnerMartin Short.
After recalling his time starring with Candy, Martin ponders his shelf of screenplays. “You pour your heart into these movies,” he says. “You’re thinking about it, you’re working hard, you’re doing it. Then two years later, it’s just another title on the video shelf, you know?”
In the documentary’s part two, Martin charts the ups and downs of his post-standup movie career leading up to his recent resurgence with the success ofOnly Murders in the Building, on which he stars with Short andSelena Gomez.
source: people.com
