Macaulay Culkin, who co-starred opposite John Candy in John Hughes‘ 1989 comedy film Uncle Buck, shared fond memories of the actor-comic in the Toronto International Film Festival-premiering documentary John Candy: I Like Me.
In the project — which features interviews from the likes of Culkin and Candy’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles co-star Steve Martin, and is helmed by Colin Hanks, who executive produced alongside Ryan Reynolds — the Home Alone star noted that Candy watched out for him and was among the first to notice his father’s “difficult” and monstrous behavior.
“I think he always had that really great instinct. I think he saw,” Culkin remembered, per 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. All of a sudden, the fame and the money came, and he became an infamous monster. He was already not a good guy. I think John was looking a little side-eyed, like, ‘Is everything all right over there? You doing good? Good day? Everything’s all right? Everything good at home? All right.’”
Culkin added he felt a “paternal” energy from Candy, and his “looking out for” him was “a testament to the kind of man he was.”
“It doesn’t happen that often,” Culkin continued. “It actually happened less as time went on. I wish I got more of that in my life. It’s important that I remember that. I remember John caring when not a lot of people did.”
Culkin and his brother, A Real Pain‘s Kieran Culkin, have previously spoken about their strained relationship with their father growing up, from whom they are estranged. Macaulay Culkin has also said their father was “physically and mentally” abusive.
In an interview with Deadline’s Toronto Studio, Candy’s daughter Jennifer Candy-Sullivan said of her father’s treatment of Culkin: “When we hear about Macaulay Culkin, that doesn’t surprise me because that’s who our dad was. He wasn’t going to just kind of ignore a kid because he was a kid actor and he was moving on to something else. It’s like he genuinely wanted to know.”
Director Hanks added: “The fact that John took that time to check in with Mac and make sure that he was doing OK, I related to that, having experienced it myself. John was like that with everybody. He was like that with the people that he worked with. He was like that with the people that he met on the street. John made you feel important. He made you feel heard, and that was really a unique quality.”
John Candy: I Like Me will launch worldwide on Prime Video Oct. 10.
The post Macaulay Culkin Recalls John Candy “Looking Out For” Him On ‘Uncle Buck’ Set Amid Father’s “Difficult” Behavior appeared first on Deadline.
