The Shockingly Large Amount Paramount Made Ryan Reynolds Pay So Deadpool Could Make A John Candy Joke

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Ryan Reynolds isn’t afraid to spend money to get a joke just right, and the Deadpool movies prove it. Back in 2016, he convinced the studio to spend $10,000 so he could wear a t-shirt with Bea Arthur’s face on it – a fun nod to fans. But even more surprisingly, he recently revealed he personally paid $5,000 to include a John Candy reference in Deadpool and the two subsequent Marvel films.

I was so fascinated to hear Ryan Reynolds talking about this! Apparently, during a Q&A after a screening of the wonderful John Candy: I Like Me documentary (you can stream it on Amazon Prime!), he revealed the story behind that running joke with the book in the Deadpool movies. It’s a copy of The Canadian Mounted, the book John Candy’s character reads in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! Reynolds actually had to pay Paramount Pictures a significant amount of money to get the rights to use it in Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and now Deadpool & Wolverine. He shared the whole story with People magazine, and it’s just a great example of how much he loves and honors John Candy’s work.

I contacted Paramount to ask if we could feature the book ‘The Canadian Mounted’ – the one seen in ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles.’ I assumed they’d easily agree, but they wanted $5,000 for the rights! I wasn’t happy with that price, so I decided to pay it. I’d already invested my own money into the first ‘Deadpool’ movie, so I figured why not do it again? I went ahead and licensed the book.

The $5,000 wasn’t a lifetime cost. It only covered the use of the book for the first installment, meaning he had to pay another fee each time he wanted to include it in the following sequels.

This story has a lot going for it, but I especially love that Ryan Reynolds went above and beyond to honor John Candy and the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles within the Deadpool films. For example, in Deadpool & Wolverine, there’s a scene featuring a burnt 1983 Chrysler LeBaron convertible – the exact same car from the classic John Hughes movie. And early in the film, you can spot a mug with one of Candy’s most famous lines on it.

Faced with a $5,000 cost, Reynolds easily could have chosen a different approach, but he remained committed to the original idea and decided to pay for it.

Want to revisit the Deadpool movies and try to find all the references to John Candy? All three films are now streaming on Disney+, along with everything else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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2025-10-30 03:38