While Tom Hanks is definitely one of our acting living legends, he was still pretty early in what would become and Oscar-winning career when he was paired with someone who was already becoming a comedic legend in his own right: John Candy. The two portrayed brothers in 1984’s critically acclaimed romantic comedy, Splash, which launched Hanks’ A-list career. He and director Ron Howard opened up about the time Candy got to set late and drunk…but still nailed a big scene in one take.
What Did Ron Howard And Tom Hanks Say About John Candy Being Late And Drunk But Nailing His Scene With One Take?
During his sadly short career, John Candy gave us many hilarious ‘80s movie quotes and scenes that stick with us, including a scene from Splash that it turns out he was rather ill prepared for, but still managed to film perfectly in just one take. It was the famous racquetball scene, which required Candy to serve the ball and immediately get hit in the head by it. When talking about the film with Josh Gad, Ron Howard and Tom Hanks were asked about that moment, with Howard noting:
John–totally professional guy, but he’s late. One day we have this racquetball court, and he’s late! John finally pulls up, and he kind of rolls out of the car and he says, ‘Ron, Ron. I just, I’m so sorry.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s OK you’re late, we’ll get going.’ He says, ‘No, No, No. Look, I’m drunk.’ He said, ‘Here’s what happened.’
Honestly, anytime someone has to apologize for being drunk and says “here’s what happened,” you just know it’s going to be a good story, and Candy didn’t disappoint. Howard continued laying out the story the funny man relayed, saying:
‘I’m telling you the truth. I’m at the bar and Jack Nicholson’s at the bar. Jack Nicholson knew my name, Ron! He wanted to come over and he starts buying me drinks. And then I said, “I gotta go shoot.” And he said, “You’re gonna be all right, kid, don’t worry about it.” And he kept buying me drinks! I never went to bed, Ron. I never went to bed.’
Now, being late for work and showing up drunk isn’t great, but I don’t think anyone could fault Candy for being enticed to stick around the bar when Jack Nicholson showed an interest in chatting with him. Who among us wouldn’t stay out way too late and possibly imbibe too much if a noted famous person decided to show us a good time?
As Howard stated, though, the comedian was a true professional, and after telling the director what happened they went on with their filming as planned, with Candy (who admitted something surprising on the set of Cool Runnings before his death) managing to pull it off on the first take. Hanks added:
The difficult moment was going to be the ball hitting John in the head. Then he came up to do it and, swear to god, the very first time John hit the ball, it came right back and smacked him in the head. We all just collapsed in laughter.
This is why Splash is one of the best John Candy movies, despite him not being one of the stars on the poster, and why so many wish he’d been able to bring us dozens of additional movies.
