The one role Rick Moranis cherishes the most: “One of the greatest moments of my life”
The remarkable story of Rick Moranis’ retirement from acting is well-known. In 1991, his wife, make-up designer Ann Belsky, died of cancer. With two small children to raise on his own, Moranis stepped away from life in the spotlight to concentrate on being a dad. He took some minor roles over the next few years, notably a voice in Disney’s Brother Bear, but for the most part, he has stayed out of the Hollywood glare.
Before he retired to focus on family life, Moranis had starred in some truly mammoth pictures. He appeared in both of the original Ghostbusters films as Louis Tully, the bumbling neighbour of Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett. Other big roles came in the form of Barney Rubble in The Flintstones, Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and Dark Helmet in Mel Brooks’ sci-fi spoof Spaceballs. He is actually set to reprise that last role in the upcoming sequel, which will mark his first feature film role since 2006.
He might have had a relatively brief time at the top, but Moranis still has plenty of great memories to look back on. Very few people can claim to have been possessed by the almighty Zuul and live to tell the tale.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a rare interview in 2015, the icon shared a bevvy of tales from his 1980s pomp. He said that he didn’t have a favourite role that he’d been in, but explained that there was one he held in particularly high esteem.
Rick Moranis reveals his favourite role from his Hollywood career
Speaking about his time as Seymour Krelbourn in the 1986 version of Little Shop of Horrors, Moranis said, “I’m the luckiest guy to get that. It was timing, and I fit the right type. It was an amazing experience. One of the greatest moments of my life was shooting that thing.”
Directed by Frank Oz of ‘Muppets’ and ‘Star Wars’ fame, Little Shop of Horrors is a musical about a mysterious alien plant that ends up on Earth. Seymour is a humble employee of the shop where the plant ends up, and he uses the fame it earns him to woo his love interest, the beautiful but timid Audrey (Ellen Greene). Oh, and if there’s somebody he doesn’t like – take Audrey’s abusive dentist boyfriend (Steve Martin) – Audrey II (the plant) is more than happy to dispose of his problem by gobbling them up.
Though this interpretation of the story was based on a stage show, the thing that started it all was a film released in 1960. The original The Little Shop of Horrors, which featured zero songs, was directed by B-movie legend Roger Corman. Jonathan Haze played Moranis’ character, leading a cast that also included Jackie Joseph and Mel Welles. The movie is mostly a cult favourite these days, though it does have one notable feature. A young Jack Nicholson plays a character called Wilbur Force, marking one of his earliest theatrical appearances.
Moranis was the perfect choice to play Seymour. His appearance was weedy and unassuming enough, but he had enough of an edge to convincingly portray the character during his darker moments. As always, he does a great job, and the end result is a fun adaptation of a really brilliant show.
