How Ryan Reynolds argued with the unpredictable Bill Murray in John Candy’s documentary

If you ever want to get in touch The great Bill MurrayThere is a 1-800 number that will put you in almost direct contact with the comedy star. A friend entrusted me with the number years ago when I was writing a piece that would have been enhanced by the legendary actor’s input. I called Bill Murray twice. He never returned my calls. Maybe my pitching skills were off. Maybe I should have reminded him of the time we met at the Artists Café in 2005.

Regardless, Murray is notoriously slippery, even if you get him into the room. A famous producer once told me that they showed him the film Press Your Luck — which was eventually made as The Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser — over lunch at a New York City restaurant. In the middle of the meeting, Murray excused himself to use the bathroom. When he was gone for 10 minutes, the producer went to check on him in the men’s room. The room was empty, and the window was wide open.

It doesn’t matter who you are. If Murray is unsure about working with you, he will put you in a difficult position. Ryan Reynolds discovered this when he was trying to secure a “Saturday Night Live” interview The Colin Hanks-directed documentary is titled “John Candy: I ​​Like Me.” You would think that a movie star of Reynolds’ size could make an agent-to-agent call and land that interview with ease. Murray doesn’t work that way. And/Film’s Ethan Anderton, while attending a Q&A in Chicago for the documentary, learned this firsthand.

When asked during the Q&A about tracking down Murray, Reynolds stated that the star could be reached primarily via fax. Then he found an acquaintance who had Murray’s phone number. Per Reynolds:

“I said to that person: ‘Look, I don’t want to get you involved, so I want you to give me the number through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend.’” And he did it. Finally someone called me and gave me his phone number, which was a voice mail from a Greek shipping company. I believed it. Boy, that was real.”

I did not receive the letter from the Greek shipping company (maybe Reference to “Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”) when I called Murray. I had just received a beep, at which point I hastily left my message. However, I didn’t leave anywhere within 40 to 50 messages. Reynolds did so, and finally received a phone call from Murray while walking into a party. Reynolds got the call and it didn’t go well.

Murray pointedly asked Reynolds who the “Godfather of Spitting” was. Folks, there is only one answer here. It’s Toledo, Ohio State’s Danny Thomas. Unfortunately, Reynolds overthought the question. “I’m very lucky,” he said. “When I was younger, I had a friend who, from Vaudeville on, gave me the University of Comedy History all the way up to Jack Benny and all that kind of stuff, and I was very grateful for that. So I said, ‘That’ll be Desi Arnaz, Bill.'” Murray was not satisfied with Reynolds’ answer, and hung up.

Reynolds finally resorted to gathering his children to record a video where they helped him plead with Murray to do the interview. This broke through Murray’s defenses, and he ended up doing the interview that ties the documentary together.

So, if you need to interview Bill Murray, and you’re lucky enough to get his phone number, chase the old dog. But maybe don’t tell him you’re Ryan Reynolds.