Colin Hanks Says All ‘White Men in Their 40s’ Should Be ‘Doing Therapy’

Collin Hanks is a proponent of therapy.

During a discussion at a screening of the Prime Video documentary John Candy: I Like Me on Thursday, Oct. 9, the actor, 43, said all “white men in their 40s” should be “doing therapy.”

He made the comment while speaking about how the late comedian John Candy navigated the death of his father at the young age of 5. Hanks directed the documentary, which Ryan Reynolds produced.

The Nuremberg star recalled getting off a phone call about the project with Reynolds, 48, and spending the “better part of a month just sort of digging and doing research” into Candy’s life in search of “the theme” that would underpin the documentary.

During that time, Hanks reconnected with Candy’s kids, Christopher Candy and Jennifer Candy-Sullivan (who serve as co-producers, along with John’s wife, Rosemary Margaret Hobor) — and learned something profound about the Uncle Buck star.

“Once I found out that John’s father had died when he was 5, I said, ‘Okay, that’s something that never leaves you. That’s something that he wrestled with for his entire life. How? What’s that?’ ” he recalled at the screening at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Hanks continued: “And then when I connected with Chris, he had mentioned that [John] had just started to do that therapeutic work that a lot of people do in their 40s, specifically white men in their 40s — they should all be doing therapy. And so once I found out that he had started to do that work and was really starting, that got me going, that really got me thinking, ‘Okay, what are the coping mechanisms that he learned as a kid that kept him alive, that made him who he was?’ ”

Hanks said John’s journey of navigating that painful life experience is “part of what we’re celebrating” in the documentary.

“That outgoing, genuine, gregarious, caring individual — that’s all coping,” he explained. “That’s how he was raised.”

Hanks went on to note that as John’s fame grew, that coping strategy “starts to work against him” as “more people want something from him and more people are asking for him.”

“And that was when I said, ‘That’s a story that I think is really interesting. I haven’t seen that before.’ Because most of the time with these stories, the third-act issue is a bad drug addiction or something really horrible,” Hanks told the audience.

Describing the Planes, Trains and Automobiles star — who died of a heart attack at the age of 43 in 1994 — as “an everyman,” Hanks shared that he recognized that “everyone felt like they could relate to him” and his story.

During the screening, Hanks also opened up about why he wanted to do the documentary about the beloved Canadian comedian.

“Obviously, I knew John. I had exchanges with John,” he said of their personal connection. “And I definitely wanted to celebrate his career and I wanted to celebrate the person that he was.”

John Candy: I Like Me premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 4 and released globally on Prime Video on Friday, Oct. 10. The documentary features appearances by a number of John’s friends and costars, including Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Martin Short and Mel Brooks.

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The documentary features “never-before-seen home videos, intimate access to [John’s] family, and candid recollections from collaborators to paint a bigger picture of one of the brightest stars of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,” per a synopsis.

The synopsis adds, “It’s the story of a son, husband, father, friend and professional driven to bring joy to audiences and loved ones while battling personal ghosts and Hollywood pressures.”

John Candy: I Like Me is available to stream now on Prime Video.