The new documentary film John Candy: I Like Me (available with a Prime Video subscription) is clearly a labor of love for director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds. It’s also clear from watching it how many people who worked with Candy through the years loved the man dearly. That being said, getting everybody interviewed for the new film was no easy feat, according to Ryan Reynolds.
Reynolds recently appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about the new John Candy documentary. And while he revealed that Hanks handled the bulk of the interviews with Candy’s various friends and co-stars, including Steve Martin, Martin Short, and others, he says he personally handled two of them: Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. While Reynolds may not have done as many interviews, the two he did took a lot of work.
Ryan Reynolds First Conversation With Bill Murray Was Insane
Reynolds had already talked about how difficult it was to get a hold of Bill Murray to even ask him to be part of the film. He had to work to get a phone number and left many messages before Murray finally called him back. The Deadpool star claims he swore at his wife Blake Lively when Murray finally called him back, but he may have buried the lede, as what he says happened on that call is ever crazier. Reynolds said…
My first conversation with him was we got in, basically, an argument. I answered the phone, and he just starts in with, ‘Hey Ryan, who would you say is the godfather of the spit take?’ We got in this argument whether it was Desi Arnaz or Danny Thomas. When I finally did [answer], he was like ‘Wrong. Danny Thomas’ Click.
Somehow, despite this initial interaction, and Reynolds bad answer regarding spit takes, Bill Murray did agree to be interviewed. The same thing happened with Murray’s Ghostbusters co-star Dan Aykroyd, though he had some very specific requirements.
Ryan Reynolds’ Agreement To Interview Dan Aykroyd May Have Been Crazier
It turns out Bill Murray wasn’t the only person who was difficult to get a hold of. Reynolds tells Seth Myers that tracking down Dan Aykroyd was just as difficult, as it took him a couple of months to even speak with him. When they finally connected, Aykroyd had already worked out the schedule. Reynolds explained…
Dan was like, impossible to get a hold of or find anywhere. And when I did finally, it took me two months. When I did finally track him down, he called me and he said, [impersonating Dan Aykroyd] ‘I’ll tell you what, kid, you, uh, you come up here, you have dinner with me, you spend the night. Next morning we’ll do the interview. You get the fuck out.’ I was like, ‘No problem, Dan. I’ll be there.’
John Candy was a special person to all his fans, but also to his friends, who clearly enjoyed talking about him. Even if some of them were hard to nail down, it was all worthwhile.
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