Why John Candy Absolutely Hated Shooting This Iconic Scene from ‘Stripes’
John Candy: A Life in Comedy is a new biography celebrating the Canadian comedy legend and everyone’s favorite funnyman, John Candy. The book digs deep into the man behind the smile, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from his iconic films and exploring the private struggles he faced when the cameras stopped rolling.
Written by Paul Myers, the biography chronicles the life of John Candy, who died of a heart attack at age 43 on March 4, 1994. Candy became one of the most beloved funnymen of the 1980s and the early ’90s, starring in timeless hits like Splash, Uncle Buck, and the Thanksgiving classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Often playing the happy-go-lucky everyman with a heart of gold, Candy brought warmth and humanity to his comedy, which made him a timeless favorite both on and off screen.
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The book includes interviews with famous friends and former coworkers, including Tom Hanks, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Dave Thomas, and Martin Short. Described often as a kind man who was as endearing offscreen as he was onscreen, the book also looks at the struggles he had to face.
In the book, friend and fellow SCTV alum Dave Thomas recounts a story in which Candy had to film a scene for the film Stripes, in which he played the character Dewey “Ox” Oxberger, who had to mud wrestle two women. According to the actor, Candy “felt horrible” and was extremely uncomfortable about the scene, in which he felt body-shamed. Candy already had tremendous issues with playing up his weight as comedy and was extremely uncomfortable with the scene, largely because of his size. This topic frequently came up in interviews at the time and was the focus of many of his characters.
“He was conflicted. He was insecure, and he had doubts about himself,” Thomas said.
According to the late director Ivan Reitman, it took “some time to convince” Candy to do the scene. He also mentions that he learned only afterwards that Candy had been upset.
The incident is also explored in the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, from director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds. In the doc, Thomas explains, “I was the emcee in the wrestling match, which he did not want to do. It was like, John, take off your shirt and roll around in the mud with a bunch of strippers. John wore a long-sleeve t-shirt top because he wouldn’t go completely bare-chested.”
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Stripes star Bill Murray also shared his recollections of the scene, “The women got into it. They were all fit. They started pulling his ears and stuff. People would take a little advantage because they’d think you could do what you want to hurt him,” Murray said. “He didn’t like that, he didn’t enjoy that. I understood that.”
In an interview about the scene, daughter Jennifer Candy explained, “Everyone can be self-conscious of themselves, especially when you’re put on a big screen and asked, ‘How am I looking?’ You don’t think you’re that person, but everyone feels that way. It’s a different side of our dad that resonates with a lot of people.”
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