Tom Hanks shares how John Candy’s wild, sleepless night with Jack Nicholson led to memorable Spla...

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Hanks says in the new &34;John Candy: I Like Me&34; documentary that his late costar filmed the iconic sequence while &34;fueled by an evening with Jack Nichols

Hanks says in the new "John Candy: I Like Me" documentary that his late costar filmed the iconic sequence while "fueled by an evening with Jack Nicholson."

Tom Hanks shares how John Candy's wild, sleepless night with Jack Nicholson led to memorable Splash scene

Hanks says in the new "John Candy: I Like Me" documentary that his late costar filmed the iconic sequence while "fueled by an evening with Jack Nicholson."

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John Candy in 'Splash', Jack Nicholson at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Feb. 16, 1983. Credit:

Buena Vista; Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

- Tom Hanks reflects on his late costar's wild night with Jack Nicholson before a key *Splash* scene.

- "Everybody is laughing," Hanks recalls of filming the racquetball sequence with a hungover Candy.

- Hanks adds, "John is utilizing his exhaustion to a degree that works" for the character.

John Candy famously took a racquetball to the skull in a key comedic scene from the 1984 film *Splash* — and fellow actor Tom Hanks recalls that his late costar's head might've been pounding already after Candy spent the night before drinking with Hollywood icon Jack Nicholson.

In a new interview that appears in the upcoming documentary *John Candy: I Like Me* — which world-premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival — Hanks reflects on filming director Ron Howard's comedy classic alongside Candy.

The Oscar-winning *Philadelphia* star tells his son,* I Like Me *director Colin Hanks, that before the movie's infamous racquetball scene, he enjoyed improvising with Candy because it felt "additive and inclusive" to his skills as an actor. Then, he says, Candy began incorporating a real-life experience (and exhaustion) into his character for a scene that saw the pair playing the sport inside a sports club.**

Tom Hanks and John Candy in 1984's 'Splash'.

"He was out drinking somewhere, and lo and behold, Jack Nicholson came in. Maybe they met for the first time right there, but they drank," Hanks says in the documentary, chuckling as he remembers making the movie that also starred Daryl Hannah as a mermaid who falls for his character.

The film then cuts to a shot of Candy's son, Christopher Candy, quipping that, "If Jack Nicholson called me into a bar and kept me up all night drinking? I would do it!"

Back to Hanks, the actor explains that "John is coming in not only exhausted probably with maybe only an hour and a half sleep, but is also coming in fueled by an evening with Jack Nicholson, and we had to do a very physical thing, you know?"

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He continues, "Everybody is laughing on one thing, and John is utilizing his exhaustion to a degree that works for my [onscreen] brother."

** has reached out to a representative for Nicholson for additional comment.

*I Like Me *also splices in interview footage that was initially released around* Splash*'s debut, that sees a journalist asking Candy about the portion where a ball hits him square in the head, and inquires about how many times he had to attempt the maneuver for it to finally work the right way.

Tom Hanks and John Candy in 'Splash'.

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"You're not going to believe this, but, three!" Candy exclaims.

The *Uncle Buck *and* Planes, Trains & Automobiles *star died of a heart attack at age 43 in 1994.

The new doc about his life features extensive conversations with Candy's family members (including his wife and daughter, in addition to Christopher), as well as many of his industry collaborators, including *Uncle Buck *star Macaulay Culkin, *Stripes*' Bill Murray, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin, and *Spaceballs* director Mel Brooks.

*John Candy: I Like Me* debuts Oct. 10 on Amazon Prime Video.

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