“This is the only way”: how one question convinced Rick Moranis to return to acting
Such are the trappings of Hollywood fame and success that once most people have had a taste of it, they would never turn their back on it voluntarily. In fact, history shows few examples of any actors who have become a household name before disappearing from the limelight on their own terms, but Rick Moranis is certainly one example.
Moranis was undeniably one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1980s, the Canadian following the likes of John Candy and Dan Aykroyd in transitioning from the Second City TV sketch show north of the border to the United States, where he had a breakout role alongside Aykroyd in 1984’s spooky hit Ghostbusters.
He did enough scene-stealing as the geeky accountant turned food for demon dogs Louis Tully to be cast as a lead, or a main character, in a string of comic hits that summed up the time, including Brewster’s Millions, three Honey I Shrunk the Kids movies, Steve Martin’s Parenthood and munch-plant musical Little Shop of Horrors.
But without doubt, one of his most recognisable roles was as the mini-Darth Vader figure ‘Lord Dark Helmet’ in Mel Brooks’ 1987 classic Spaceballs, a film that didn’t do huge business on release but has since gone down as one of the cult classics of the decade, and a brilliant parody movie that has quotable lines for days.
But four years later Moranis’ world came crashing down when his wife got sick and passed away, and although he made 1994’s The Flintstones with John Goodman and a final, straight to video effort Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, he then stepped away from movie-making in order to focus on his family, for a hiatus that at first lasted a few years and then stretched to three decades.
Moranis said at the time: “I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the travelling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it.”
Although he made a guest appearance in 2016’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot, it’s only now, almost 30 years on, that he is returning to the big screen, and we have his Spaceballs director, Mel Brooks, to thank, as nigh-on 40 years after the original, a sequel will hit cinemas in 12 months’ time.
Brooks explained to People magazine how he got Moranis to come out of his long retirement, revealing: “I said, ‘Look, do you want to go to your grave without ever coming back to show business again in any way?’ Then I said, ‘This is the way. This is the only way. Spaceballs, Dark Helmet – that’s your re-entrance.’ I got him to do it.”
The veteran Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein director also explained that Moranis is still in good form and loved being involved in Spaceballs: The New One, saying, “He’s never been better. He’s even better than in the first edition. He’s so good. He’s a strange, wonderful, lovely guy and a very talented comic.”
Brooks meanwhile turns 100 in June this year but still seems to be excited to be involved with the return of a fan favourite, sending a video message to fans at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in which he announced the official title for the second Spaceballs film, which will reunite original cast members like Bill Pullman and Daphne Zuniga while adding names including Keke Palmer and Josh Gad.
