The role earmarked for John Candy that was eventually played by Queen Latifah
When John Candy passed away in March 1994, he didn’t just leave behind a gaping chasm in Hollywood comedy, but an upcoming slate of projects that was packed to bursting point.
Beloved sports flick Cool Runnings marked the final release of his career before his death, with the boundlessly energetic comedian suffering a heart attack during production of Wagons East in Mexico, which marked one of two posthumous releases alongside Canadian Bacon, the latter of which endures his final credit.
Candy was also set for a role in Disney’s animated Pocahontas as an anthropomorphised turkey called Redfeather, but co-writer Susannah Grant removed the character from the screenplay following his passing, opting a more realistic approach that negated the use of voice recordings entirely.
The wildly popular star was additionally eying a dramatic turn in the adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces, showcased his interest in playing the title character in a film based on Mordecai Richler’s The Incomprable Atuk, and was keen to bring Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle to life in a biopic focusing on one of his major inspirations.
Beyond that, a remake of Alec Guinness’ 1950 comedy Last Holiday was on the cards, with Carl Reiner attached to direct a modern-day reinvention that would see Candy stepping into the British acting legend’s shoes as George Bird, a salesman unexpectedly diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Cashing in his life savings, Bird embarks upon a life of luxury having made his peace with the encroaching threat of death, posing as a well-to-do businessman at an elite seaside resort. Once Last Holiday‘s leading man had passed away in real life, though, the project was shelved for over a decade.
Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman had put their plans to remake Last Holiday aside for what could have been forever, until they were contacted by Queen Latifah’s representatives. The Academy Award nominee had stumbled upon the script, with her agent suggesting to the scribes they rewrite the narrative to accommodate a female lead.
That’s exactly what happened, with Price and Seaman maintaining their positions as the sole credited writers when Latifah’s Last Holiday hit cinemas in January 2006, where it promptly bombed after failing to recoup its $45 million budget. It was hardly the desired outcome, but at least the duo responsible for penning the project ended up seeing it realised on-screen, albeit under entirely different circumstances.
Latifah hardly jumps out as an obvious like-for-like replacement for a talent as singular as Candy, but a dozen years after it was first announced, the Last Holiday remake finally happened. Price and Seaman deserve credit for not just refusing to abandon the film but avoiding being too precious over having it overhauled to star a woman in the lead, although they’d have preferred it to have been made with their original star for obvious reasons.
