Ryan Reynolds has been paying homage to John Candy long before his new film about the late comedian.

The Vancouver native stopped by Live with Kelly and Mark on Wednesday to chat about John Candy: I Like Me, a documentary he produced that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. Reynolds told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos this morning that the film was a “life-long dream” to make.

“I couldn’t believe six years ago when I discovered there hadn’t yet been any kind of definitive documentary on John,” he explained. “He’s somebody I’ve always looked up to.”

Reynolds shared that Candy, who died of a heart attack at age 43 in 1994, is “imbued” in all of his work to this day.

“All three Deadpool movies have John Candy Easter eggs,” he noted. “I’m always carrying The Canadian Mounted book from Planes, Trains and Automobiles somewhere in the movie each time. And Paramount, which is my home studio, makes me license it for $5,000 a pop, which is kind of them. Thank you, Paramount.”

All jokes aside, Reynolds continued to sing his praises for Candy.

“He’s just one of those comedic actors who was as good, if not better, off-camera than he was on,” he said. “He was everything you would ever hope or dream.”

Ripa chimed in, “He was a good person.”

Reynolds echoed, “He really was a good person when nobody was watching.”

Consuelos added, “Which is the most important.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings. John Candy: I Like Me begins streaming on Prime Video on Friday, Oct. 10.