Why John Candy Passed on GHOSTBUSTERS Role

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There are a lot of “what if” moments in Hollywood in which certain characters could have been played by completely different actors. For example, Tom Selleck almost played Indiana Jones and Will Smith almost played Neo in The Matrix. In an interview with EW, Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman revealed that John Candy was up for the part of Louis Tully, who ended up being played by Rick Moranis. Candy didn't take the part because apparently he just didn’t get it. 

“He didn't like the treatment that I had sent. He didn't get it. He said, ‘Well, maybe if I played him as a German guy who had a bunch of German shepherd dogs.’ I said, ‘Well, maybe you can do it with an accent, but I don't think all that's really necessary.’"

What in the hell was Candy thinking? That sounds like an absurd idea. After Candy passed on the role, Moranis jumped at the opportunity. According to the director, after Moranis read the treatment he immediately replied to Reitman and said, "Wow, please thank Candy for me. This is the greatest thing I ever read."

The rest is history and Moranis was perfect in the role! Candy instead went on to co-star in the 1984 Tom Hanks movie Splash, which he was hilarious in.

This is a classic slapstick scene by the late-great John Candy. This scene was done before CGI was commonplace. John actually hit the ball, and it returned to hit him, smack-dab in the forehead. I always wondered how many takes it took before they got the shot, because, you'll notice, it's all done in one take, not some cheap two-shot (using two different camera angles).