Colin Hanks Says You’re Wrong To Call His Dad the Nicest Guy in Hollywood

Given my various lines of work, I’ve met my fair share of celebrities. Most of the time, they’re kinda normal. They’re just trying to get through their day or night and will talk to you as they’d talk to any stranger, depending on the setting. They can also be jerks, like anyone else, and that’s usually less shocking than you’d think. You kind of get used to it. When they go out of their way to be nice?! Hoo boy! It rules.

They’re celebrities, after all. Having somebody like Julianne Moore tip you $20 after buying a box of Junior Mints, then flash you that big, wonderful smile, is intoxicating. If Ed Skrein goes out of his way at a party to listen to you yap on about professional wrestling, it’s gonna feel good. A shirtless Jason Momoa once yelled, “Welcome to the house of f***ing pain” at my wife and me and then burst into a hearty laugh (it was nice, I swear).

None of those people had to be overly nice to me in those moments, but they were, and I’ll always remember it. That said, I remember it when people who haven’t starred in movies are nice to me as well. Niceness rules! It’s the sauce, the juice, a big part of what makes life worth living. So, getting to see someone display it when they have such a large platform feels special. A celeb getting labeled as the Nicest Guy In Hollywood? Even better!

I’m talking, of course, about Tom Hanks. Ninety-nine percent of the stories you hear about the man are so lovely. Actors and actresses love working with him. Directors fawn over him. There was that time he fired actor Connor Ratliff for having “dead eyes,” but Ratliff was able to parlay that into a successful podcast on which Hanks himself appeared. It also featured an appearance from his son, Colin.

You’d assume that Colin knows his dad pretty well. He’s only spoken highly of him in interviews and the like. Naturally, he must think his dad Tom is the nicest guy in Hollywood. Wrong! Hanks has a different pick, who happens to be the subject of a documentary he just directed. “He made me feel important. He made me feel heard,” Hanks recently said to NPR about a man he met when he was seven. “He made me feel seen in ways that, you know, young kids don’t really do. And I cherish that.”

“People always refer to my dad as the nicest guy in Hollywood,” he continued. “And I just want to scream, ‘Well, you clearly have never heard of John Candy!’” Unfortunately, Candy is no longer with us, but the impact he left still looms large. Hanks’ documentary John Candy: I Like Me is available to stream starting today. As Dustin pointed out, the title alone will make you cry. Surely, the doc itself will do the job as well.

I won’t argue with Hanks on this one. Candy was so kind to him that it left a lasting impact, which morphed into a documentary meant to celebrate the man’s life. That’s pretty incredible. That’s the power of being nice.