In an article about John Hughes from the cancelled website Addictive Thoughts a massive argument is mentioned that allegedly took place between John Hughes and John Candy. It is said that the cause of this argument was a role snub. "Hughes, he alleged to close friends in the early 1990s, had promised to write a new film for him - and then either never delivered on his promise or offered the role to someone else (without alerting Candy first or even offering a friendly apology.)"
Furthermore, the author of the article writes: "A few years ago, I was told by an acquaintance of Candy’s son that the snubbed role was actually a return of the Gus Polinski character for Home Alone 2, and not a feature length film, but I have never read anything more about this so I am unsure of its legitimacy."
It would've been great to see the Gus Polinski character return in Home Alone 2. And, it would've been great if there had been another Hughes/Candy film. I guess for us fans, we would've loved to see both roles come to fruition. How sad both Johns never made up.
Source: the cancelled website http://addictivethoughts.com/.
Edited on July 16, 2010.
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Hello René
ReplyDelete(and I'm surprised to realize that you're the René from the Laurel and Hardy Forum that I discovered recently and am considering joining...)
Funny how I ended up here: after inadvertently losing all my bookmarks and browser history today, I was searchin all over Google and the News Desk on iMDb for that Addictive Thoughts article, which was simply the most insightful one written about John Hughes. When I finally remembered the site's name, it took me here.
If I remember correctly, the article also mentioned that role snub issue that ended the friendship between the two Johns, Hughes regretted and was in the process of writing another leading role for Candy when he died, and that was quite probably the main reason for Hughes abandoning the mainstream movie business. Quite a sad story, indeed. Uncle Buck is my favorite movie of both Johns.
I even tried to retrieve the article from the Internet Archive, to no avail.
Hi Matheus,
ReplyDeleteDue to circumstances I didn't read your message until now. I apologize for that.
I'm glad to meet you here. Do join the Laurel & Hardy Forum, it's a great place to be!
As far as the role snub is concerned, and I'm basing my knowledge on Martin Knelman's biography of John Candy, Hughes wasn't writing another lead role for Candy. According to this biography John was set to play the lead role in the movie 'Dutch'. The movie was made but not with John. Furthermore, there was supposed to be a cameo for John in 'Home Alone 2', but the negotiators for the two sides didn't come to terms. The same thing happened with 'Dennis the Menace'. In another movie John and Sylvester Stallone were to play neigbours in another movie, but according to Candy, Hughes pulled out. The movie with Stallone is mentioned in an article in one of the magazines that I have in my collection. I have to find it though.