Ron Howard Tells Story of John Candy Getting Drunk with Jack Nicholson Before Shooting SPLASH Racquetball Scene
The late John Candy was one hell of a funny comedian! Throughout the 80s and 90s, the guy played some great comedic characters in the films he starred in. Not only was he funny, but delivered sincere performances and he was ridiculously charming.
Some of my favorite films that he starred in include The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Splash, Cool Runnings, and more.
I just watched Josh Gad’s Reunited Apart episode that brought together the cast and crew of Splash including Tom Hanks, Darryl Hannah, and Eugene Levy, along with producer Brian Grazer, screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell and, of course, director Ron Howard. I included the video for you below to watch, but there was one story Howard told that was pretty funny.
Howard told a story of how John Candy was late showing up to the set at times, and one of the times he was late is when he was supposed to shoot the funny racquetball scene. Candy told him the reason he was late was because Jack Nicholson got him drunk and he hadn’t gotten any sleep:
“John, totally professional guy, but he's late. One day we have this racquetball court and he’s late. And John finally pulls up and rolls out of the car and he says, 'Ron, I'm so sorry.' I said, 'It's OK. You're late, but we'll get going.' He said, 'No, no, no. Look, I'm drunk. Here's what happened, I'm telling you the truth: I'm at the bar and Jack Nicholson is at the bar. Jack Nicholson knew my name, Ron! And he starts buying me drinks. I said, ‘But I've got to go shoot.’ And he said, ‘You're going to 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.’”
It’s a lot funnier seeing Howard actually tell the story. There’s a lot of great stories in the video and I suggest you watch it all, but if you just want to see that part, it starts at the 18:06 mark. Enjoy the video below!