Ryan Reynolds Took Months To Track Down Bill Murray And Dan Aykroyd For John Candy’s Documentary, And The Stories Are Wild

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The new documentary, *John Candy: I Like Me*, streaming on Prime Video, is a heartfelt tribute to the beloved comedian, clearly made with passion by director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds. The film demonstrates just how much affection Candy’s colleagues had for him. However, according to Reynolds, gathering interviews for the documentary wasn’t a simple process.

Ryan Reynolds was recently on *Late Night with Seth Meyers* discussing the new documentary about John Candy. He explained that while Tom Hanks conducted most of the interviews with Candy’s friends and colleagues – including Steve Martin and Martin Short – Reynolds personally interviewed Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Although Reynolds did fewer interviews overall, he said those two were particularly challenging.

Ryan Reynolds First Conversation With Bill Murray Was Insane

Reynolds previously shared how challenging it was to reach Bill Murray and get him interested in the movie. He had to find Murray’s number and left numerous messages before finally getting a call back. Reynolds jokes that he swore when Murray finally called, but that’s not even the most surprising part of the conversation. He went on to explain what happened during that call…

The first time I spoke with him, we immediately got into a disagreement. I picked up the phone, and he unexpectedly asked, ‘Ryan, who do you think invented the spit take?’ We argued back and forth about whether it was Desi Arnaz or Danny Thomas. Finally, when I gave my answer, he simply said, ‘Wrong. Danny Thomas,’ and hung up.

Even though things started off awkwardly, and Bill Murray gave a poor response about spit takes, he still agreed to do an interview. A similar situation occurred with Dan Aykroyd, Murray’s co-star in *Ghostbusters*, but Aykroyd had a few particular requests.

Ryan Reynolds’ Agreement To Interview Dan Aykroyd May Have Been Crazier

Apparently, reaching Bill Murray wasn’t the only challenge. Burt Reynolds shared with Seth Meyers that it took months just to get in touch with Dan Aykroyd. Once they finally spoke, Aykroyd had already figured out the filming schedule, Reynolds said…

It was incredibly difficult to reach Dan. It actually took me two months to find him. When I finally got in touch, he told me – sounding a lot like Dan Aykroyd – that if I came to see him, had dinner, and stayed the night, we could do the interview, but then I’d have to leave. I told him that worked for me.

John Candy meant so much to me and so many others. It was just wonderful to hear stories from people who knew him – even tracking them down wasn’t easy, but every conversation reminded me what a truly special guy he was. It was all worth it to remember him.

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2025-10-17 15:40