Ryan Reynolds Honors John Candy by Digging up Lost Elton John Connection

Ryan Reynolds took to social media on Thursday to honor John Candy by digging up a lost connection the late actor had to Elton John. In a post on Twitter, Reynolds shared a story from the making of Candy’s iconic movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which he starred in alongside Steve Martin. According to the information Reynolds found, John had been hired to record a song for the film. The tune would have been the movie’s theme, but it never came together.

Apparently, Paramount Pictures made a request that the song become the property of the studio. However, John was already in a contract with his recording company, Polygram, which gave the company ownership of all his songs. Paramount and Polygram reportedly entered discussions on how to resolved the situation but they were unable to. Ultimately, Paramount licensed “Everytime You Go Away,” by Paul Young, and made that the theme to the film. Reynolds shared the story in response to Candy trending on Twitter and tagged John, asking him if its true and quipping, “And can I hear it?” At this time it does not appear that John has replied.

Candy was a comedy powerhouse from the late ’70s all the way up to his tragic and untimely death at the age of 43, in 1994. Some of his most well-known performances came from beloved films like National Lampoon’s Vacation, Uncle Buck, Home Alone, and, of course, Planes, Trains & Automobiles. His final two films were Wagons East — which co-starred comedian Richard Lewis— and Canadian Bacon, which also featured Alan Alda, Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollak, and Rip Torn. Both films were released in 1995.

Reynolds has long been vocal about his love of Candy’s films, even previously helping create and share a supercut of Candy’s work to memorialize the late star in 2019. “It’s the 25th anniversary of John Candy’s passing. We cooked up a small tribute to a comedic genius and Canadian hero. If you haven’t seen much of his work, take a look at his films. He was a treasure.” Reynolds tagged Candy’s children, Jennifer and Chris, in the post, both of whom replied thanking Reynolds for the video and his heartfelt words.