Tyler Strickland approached ‘John Candy: I Like Me’ with one idea in mind—but the film had other plans. As the material came together, so did a very different musical vision.
“When we started getting into it and got some of the footage back, some of the interviews, and everybody was talking about just how wonderful of a person he was, we realized that it needed to be a bit more heartfelt,” Strickland says of how the score changed from the initial vision.
In the interview, Tyler Strickland discusses his creative process scoring ‘John Candy: I Like Me,’ including how early ideas rooted in 80s synth textures were ultimately replaced by a more organic, string-driven orchestral approach inspired by the film’s emotional interviews and archival material. He highlights the development of a French horn motif representing John Candy, the challenge of scoring an extended 10-minute emotional montage late in the film, and his preference for developing thematic material before picture lock to avoid being constrained by temp tracks. Strickland also reflects on his broader documentary work, recording at East West, and the collaborative nature of documentary scoring.
Directed by Colin Hanks and produced by a team that includes Ryan Reynolds, ‘John Candy: I Like Me’ charts Candy’s rise from his early days on ‘SCTV ‘in Canada to becoming a household name through blockbuster comedies like ‘Stripes;’ ‘Splash;’ ‘Spaceballs;’ and ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.’ Alongside career highlights, the film offers rare glimpses behind the curtain, weaving in never-before-seen home movies and candid reflections from those closest to him. Friends, colleagues, and family all contribute, painting a vivid portrait of a man whose warmth and humor resonated far beyond the screen.
‘John Candy: I Like Me’ is currently streaming on Prime Video.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Tyler Strickland: So nice to meet you, too. Doing well, thanks for having me. How are you?
AF: I’m not looking forward to my strict diet over the next eight days.
Tyler Strickland: Oh, no.
AF: Passover.
Tyler Strickland: Ah, okay. Yeah. That’s rough.
AF: Yeah. How did you first become attached to working on ‘John Candy: I Like Me’?
Tyler Strickland: I’ve worked with the producers on this film a number of times. We’ve made movies about Michael Jackson and Sylvester Stallone. Colin Hanks—the director on this—I had not worked with before, but he was a very good friend and longtime collaborator with one of the producers that I work with often. I grew up with John Candy and I said, “Hey, Sean, does Colin have a composer that he likes to work with?” And he said, no. He put us in touch and we hit it off right away. The rest was history.
AF: Did you get any notes in particular from either Colin Hanks or Ryan Reynolds as to what they wanted for the score?
Tyler Strickland: When we started working on the film, we thought maybe that it should have been a bit of an 80s-inspired direction with the music. We talked about doing this a little bit, maybe with some synths and some things that would conjure up some of the movies that he was in back in the late 80s, early 90s.
But when we started getting into it and got some of the footage back, some of the interviews, and everybody was talking about just how wonderful of a person he was, we realized that it needed to be a bit more heartfelt. We gravitated towards strings and very orchestral, live, organic, human, all of those things and threw the synthy, fun, 80s, goofy score to the wayside.
AF: Is there a cue that evolved the most during the process?
Tyler Strickland: I would say the opening cue as well as the ending cue in the film were probably two that we spent the most time on. The film opens with this big montage of John and all of these characters from his iconic films. We wanted to nail that, but it’s also a good place to set the tone for the score, introduce some themes on specific instruments and that took a little while to nail down. I think we ended up landing on a French horn for John that felt like a really great instrument for him. It’s actually the first thing you hear in the film as far as the score is concerned, about a few minutes in. We repurposed it later at the end of the film in that last cue. But those two moments, we probably spent the most time on.
AF: What about one that provided the most challenges?
Tyler Strickland: Yeah, there is one just before the end of the film. We go into this long 10-minute montage of John overcoming anxiety and this pressure to continue on this successful train that’s going 150 miles an hour. It was really overwhelming for him. There was a lot of pressure from people around him and that he was putting on himself. It was about a 10-minute long scene that needed one cue so that was probably the most challenging cue to write and to go back and forth on because the edit was changing a lot in the 11th hour. It needed to be a 10-minute piece of music that followed the story so that took a lot of work for sure.
AF: For a project like this, did you start coming up with music before seeing footage or is your preference to wait until after watching footage?
Tyler Strickland: I do prefer writing some themes before we get the cut. I think it can be too heavily inspired by the temp music if I wait until that comes in. I think that writing music, motifs, and themes before you get picture is a really great way to give the filmmakers, the director, and the producers and the editor some material that they can associate with different characters in the films and maybe different parts of the storyline.
I love that collaborative time where I can give them some music and they can use it in the story and use that as a way to communicate back to me: hey, I think that this would work great in this scene as well. And then, of course, I’ll cater it to picture and change it a bunch, but I love that part of the process.
I think if you wait until picture lock to start scoring or coming up with thematic ideas for the score, sometimes it works and sometimes we have to do that, but I do think it’s limiting as far as what your overall contribution to the film is going to be from a storytelling perspective.
AF: How do you feel about temp music?
Tyler Strickland: Well, that’s kind of what I mean. If we wait until too long, all I’m doing is just replacing temp music, which is no fun for anybody. Everybody loves the temp. If you wait too long, they’re so used to hearing it.
It’s very nerve-wracking to the producers to suddenly replace the temp music with a completely different direction three weeks before they send it to the network for review. It can be a great tool for navigating the tone and communicating, but I think the sooner you can get rid of it, the better.
AF: I’ve noticed that you’ve scored an overwhelming amount of docs. What is it about docs that appeal to you as a composer?
Tyler Strickland: I love the opportunity to work with real stories and real people. Something about it does feel like I’m contributing a little bit more to society in a way that’s nice. It can be limiting because sometimes the score does need to take a back seat and not overpower the sincerity of the subjects in the film in a little bit of a different way than you would handle a narrative film, where it can be a lot more intentionally misleading and things like that. But I do love docs and they’ve been really great to me.
AF: Yeah. On a personal note, thank you for your contribution to ‘Changing the Game.’
Tyler Strickland: Oh, very cool. Thank you so much. I love that film. Yeah, that meant a lot to me to be able to be a part of that project. I’m so glad that Hulu picked it up, put it out, and it was really well received.
AF: Is there a studio that you like to record at because of the way it sounds?
Tyler Strickland: Yeah, I do a lot of recording at East West, which is in Hollywood. Most of this John Candy score was recorded there in Studio 1, which is the big room. I think they did a bunch of Frank Sinatra stuff there back in the day. It has a really nice sound. We also like to record at Evergreen, which is a good studio in Burbank, kind of North Hollywood.
I did build a studio at my house and I have basically everything I need here short of an orchestra. I do love the sound of this and I’m a bit of a nerd with microphones and all the gear.
It’s very nice to live in Los Angeles and to be able to work in these studios. I think it’s important that whenever we get the chance to bring a project to one of them, it’s good for all of us to keep those things in business.
AF: Do you have a favorite John Candy movie?
Tyler Strickland: I’m going to say ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.’ I know it’s a bit of a go-to for a lot of people. It’s just such a perfect film. But other than that, I do strongly remember the cameo of his in ‘Home Alone’ as a child, watching these films. The stretch of scenes in the film—they were all improv, as we find out in this documentary, but just left such a lasting impression for me. I will say one more, and I know you said favorite, but I’ve got a couple. ‘Uncle Buck’ is also high up on the list. It’s really tough.
AF: According to your website, your currently collaborating with Frank Marshall on your next film. How’s that coming along?
Tyler Strickland: I am. Yeah. We are getting down to the wire on finishing the official Fleetwood Mac documentary, which is very fun. I’ve been on it for a little while now. Apple will be putting it out at some point. I do not know when, and that’s kind of all I can say. But it’s been great, and it’s a really beautiful film. I think a lot of people are going to love it.
AF: I’m looking forward to that one. I had the opportunity to meet Frank at SXSW in 2019.
Tyler Strickland: Oh, great.
AF: On that note, I’ve known Laurent Bouzereau for quite a while now. Thom Zimny, I also met at the same SXSW junket as Frank. And then Glen, I’ve also known for quite a while now.
Tyler Strickland: Wow. Yes. Small world. Good company. I’m doing a new project with Thom now. I can’t talk about it, but he’s always got his hands in something that’s really special. I’m really happy for Laurent, too. I haven’t had a chance to see him in a little while, but his work lately has been amazing.
AF: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.
Tyler Strickland: Yeah, absolutely. Same here. Thanks for having me.