Ryan Reynolds References This Thanksgiving Classic in Every Deadpool Movie

One of the most interesting things about movies — and indeed most entertainment — is how they are often influenced by other movies. It’s not uncommon to sit down to watch a film and notice nods and references or other aspects of inspiration from other films or even to hear filmmakers talk about the movies that inspired them. When it comes to Marvel films in particular, there is one movie that has had a major impact over a very specific corner of the universe, thanks to Ryan Reynolds. That film is the beloved Thanksgiving classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles — and Reynolds loves the movie so much he’s found ways to reference it in all three Deadpool films to date.

Released on November 25, 1987, Planes, Trains and Automobiles was written, produced, and directed by John Hughes and stars Steve Martin and John Candy. The film follows Neal (Martin), an uptight, straightlaced marketing executive and Del (Candy), an annoying but well-meaning salesman who end up as unlikely travel companions when their flight is diverted and both men end up embarking on a three-day adventure attempting to make it to Chicago in time for Neal’s family Thanksgiving. The film was a hit with fans and critics alike when it was released and was a box office success as well. In the decades since, the film has gone on to become a Thanksgiving tradition for many, who make watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles as much a part of their celebration as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or football.

But for Reynolds, the film is much more than just a good holiday watch. For the actor, there is rich meaning in the film, particularly Candy’s performance as Del.  Earlier this year, Reynolds sat down with Turner Classic Movies’ Ben Mankiewicz to talk about the film and in the conversation expressed his love for Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He particularly spoke about the vulnerability and humanity that Candy delivers in his performance of Del — in the film, as the story progresses, we see bits and pieces of the pain just under Del’s friendly-slash-annoying surface and, eventually, are made privy to the real loneliness and suffering he’s masking.

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“What John Candy does in Planes, Trains [and Automobiles] is that he gives us this glimpse into his vulnerability and his humanity that you don’t see in many other films of his, and how these maladaptive coping mechanisms that we use to sort of avoid life’s harsher truth or emotional pain that we’re going through, how those kind of act as a sort of balm and help us get from one place to another,” Reynolds said. “And his maladaptive coping mechanism in that movie is that he’s like this incredibly clingy, in Steve Martin’s eyes at least, character, an annoying ass clown who keeps showing up everywhere he goes and you kind of get to see why he does that and I find it incredibly moving and heartbreaking.”

It’s for this reason — as well as his love for the film more broadly — that Reynolds incorporates something from it into all of his work, particularly the Deadpool films. Reynolds explained that at minimum, all three films have a visual nod to Planes, Trains and Automobiles by way of the book Del reads in the film, something that Reynolds has to go out of his way and license from Paramount every single time.

“I try to put something from Planes, Trains and Automobiles in almost everything I do. If you see Deadpool 1, Deadpool 2, certainly Deadpool & Wolverine which is now coming out, there’s a nod to John Candy and/or Planes Trains [and Automobiles] in every single one of those movies,” he said. “Every time I license the book that Candy is holding that’s called ‘The Canadian Mounted’ where he’s reading it in the airport, every time I have to call Paramount and give them $5000 and I get to take the book and get to put it on camera and bury it somewhere in Deadpool but there’s also a lot of the writing is inspired by that odd couple pairing I think is really beautiful.”

The Planes, Trains and Automobiles Nods in the Deadpool Movies

As Reynolds noted, the big references to Planes, Trains and Automobiles in the Deadpool movies are visual. Each of the three films features Reynolds’s Wade Wilson/Deadpool reading a copy of “The Canadian Mounted”. It’s a subtle thing that makes it a true Easter egg for eagle-eyed fans, but there are other nods in the films as well, particularly in Deadpool & Wolverine. That film is most like Planes, Trains and Automobiles thematically — one can argue that they are both road trip comedies with an odd couple pairing — so it makes sense that it has some of the best references and most extensive references beyond the use of the book gag.

The most noticeable reference is still a visual one. In the film, when Deadpool and Wolverine are walking through the void, there on the hillside is a burned-out car as well as piece of trunk style luggage in front of it. The vehicle and trunk are from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a huge nod to the film and one that is easily recognizable to fans. More subtly, however, are moments in the film in terms of story. The argument between Deadpool and Wolverine in the minivan, for example, is reminiscent of the scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles where Neal starts screaming at Del in the hotel room. Deadpool and Wolverine take things to a bit more of a violent extreme during their fight in the Honda Odyssey, but the general tension and overall conceit of that confrontation is the same. There’s also the way Deadpool & Wolverine ends that is itself a big nod to Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Like Del, Logan/Wolverine has lost everything and his loneliness is a major burden for him so when Deadpool & Wolverine ends with Wade inviting Logan to meet his friends, it is a parallel to Neal bringing Del home for Thanksgiving after bonding with the other man and learning the sad truth about his life.

Who knows: maybe the thematic similarities between the two films as well as the emotional resonance of the relationship that is formed between Logan and Wade makes Deadpool & Wolverine a Thanksgiving movie now, one to watch right alongside Planes, Trains and Automobiles this year.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is available to stream on Paramount+ as well as for free on Pluto TV. As for Deadpool & Wolverine (and all of the Deadpool movies), you can stream those on Disney+.