Drew Barrymore wanted to reunite with Adam Sandler for Planes, Trains and Automobiles remake

Barrymore wanted to play John Candy’s role in a remake of the 1987 comedy classic.

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are due for another cinematic pairing, and the former has an idea we’re already dying to see. Three words: Planes, Trains … (okay, four) and Automobiles.

In the latest Drewber segment (see above) on The Drew Barrymore Show, the host and occasional movie star takes a ride with good friend and screen partner Sandler. Memories are shared, jokes are exchanged, and ideas for remakes of classic buddy comedies are offhandedly tossed out.

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler.MICHAEL BUCKNER/GETTY
After Sandler gushes to Barrymore that he watches her show “all the time,” she reminds him that he had a hand in bringing the program to air.

“You helped me get the pilot,” says the acclaimed rain-dancer. “You and Cameron [Diaz] … Her and I did discuss remaking Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and then I was like, ‘Well you know Adam and I talk about that,'” adding, “Well, I also want to play John Candy.”

Written and directed by teen flick whisperer John Hughes, Planes, Trains and Automobiles starred Steve Martin as uptight marketing exec Neal and Candy as gregarious and clingy shower curtain ring salesman Del. Together, and much to Neal’s chagrin, they embark on a hilarious three-day odyssey to get Neal home for Thanksgiving.

“You could do a good Candy,” the Hustle star says. “You know who could do Candy the best? [Chris] Farley. He would walk around the office and say lines from Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

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Barrymore would do a good Candy. This is the woman who gave us Josie Grossie after all. And Sandler could tap into his lauded dramatic career to play the straight man. If they did team up for another movie, it’d be their fourth time starring together after The Wedding Singer (1998), 50 First Dates (2004), and Blended (2014).

Speaking of Sandler’s career, later in the interview, Barrymore asks him which of his movies best represents him as an artist; the movie he’d want to put in a time capsule.

“I worked with this young lady one time. I met her at the Newsroom café,” the Sand Man answers. “She came in, she had stylish hair. A little pinkish. She came in, we jammed on a movie idea. We got together; shot it. We had the best time ever, and I would want to see that one, and we call it, The Wedding Singer. I wasn’t allowed to sing ‘Grow Old with You’ to Drew before we sang it. I said, ‘I wrote that song,’ ‘I don’t want to hear it.’

“That’s my reaction on film for the first time,” Barrymore says. “I did that with Forgetful Lucy too. Forgetful Lucy and then the dolphins did the perfect heart dive. The dolphins were like, ‘Ooo we like this let’s give it a good ending guys.'”