We Have Carl Reiner to Thank for John Candy’s ‘Spaceballs’ Casting

While many members of the Spaceballs cast will be returning to search for more money in the upcoming sequel, one of the original’s key comedic ingredients will be sorely missed. John Candy, who tragically passed away in 1994, famously played Barf, the sci-fi spoof’s wookie-like Mawg (half-man, half-dog).

The new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, devotes a not insignificant amount of time to discussing 1987’s Spaceballs, and includes a brand new interview with Mel Brooks. 

“He was a total actor because he was a total person,” Brooks said of Candy in the doc. The 99-year-old filmmaker also praised Candy’s kindness and warmth, describing a time when he found the actor randomly sitting in his director’s chair. When Brooks pointed out that Candy was occupying his chair, the SCTV star said that he knew that, but joked that he was interested in directing a movie one day and wanted to see what it felt like.

It turns out that Brooks’ decision to cast Candy in Spaceballs stemmed from a conversation between Brooks and his longtime friend and collaborator Carl Reiner. Two years before Spaceballs hit theaters, Reiner directed Candy in the comedy Summer Rental, about a family man’s troublesome beach vacation.

As Brooks explained in the documentary, Reiner was so taken with Candy that he eagerly looked forward to going to work each day, purely to “schmooze” with the actor on set. As a result of the positive experience, Reiner told Brooks that he should try and work with Candy as soon as possible. And, as it would happen, Brooks was looking for a Mawg at the time.

Brooks wasn’t the only one who enjoyed hanging out with Candy on the set of Spaceballs. “I don’t think I’ve worked with anybody more generous than John Candy,” Bill Pullman, who played the Han Solo knock-off Lone Star, once stated in an interview. “Just one of those extraordinary guys. And I was so lucky to have him as my Mawg. He was always looking out for me and if Mel was pushing a little heavy, John would try to get in there and he usually supported me on certain things.”

Similarly, the actress behind Princess Vespa, recently recalled that Candy was constantly making the cast crack-up during the shoot, even when the cameras were rolling. 

Hopefully Spaceballs won’t take its cues from the Star Wars franchise by giving us a soulless CGI Barf for the sequel.