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Rick Moranis' Reported Comeback Project Is a Heartbreaker

By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 4, 2020 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 4, 2020 |


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This is a rumor, which derives from The Disney Insider, which claims to have “exclusive knowledge” that Rick Moranis is in early talks to come out of retirement to star in a reboot of Honey I Shrunk the Kids (the reboot of the movie is not a rumor; it’s happening. Moranis’ participation is speculative at this point). For those who don’t know, Rick Moranis retired from acting in the ’90s after the death of his wife so that he could raise his two kids.

Rick Moranis, who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, had had a happy wonderful childhood, and he wanted to recreate that for his own kids in Manhattan. He felt that the adage, “90 percent of success is just being there” to be true. “When my kids came home, there was music, and there were lights on, and there were great smells coming out of the kitchen,” he said. “And it was just a joyful place to be, and that’s what I wanted.”

Back in 2013 in an interview with Jesse Thorn, Rick Moranis said this about quitting the business, which made me admire him even more:

The decision in my case to become a stay-at-home-Dad, which people do all the time, I guess wouldn’t have meant as much to people if I had had a very simple kind of make-a-living existence and decided I needed to spend more time at home. Nobody would pay attention to it, but because I came from celebrity and fame and what was the peak of a career, that was intriguing to people. To me, it wasn’t that. I didn’t have anything to do with that. It was work, and it was just time to make an adjustment.”

When asked if he missed the creative aspect of his job, Moranis told Thorn, “I didn’t walk away from that. I applied all of my creativity to my home life, to my kids, to my family. I was the same person. I didn’t change. I just shifted my focus.”

Now, he may be coming back, and given what we know about him, the reported logline for the reboot, which would star Josh Gad as the grown-up version of the son of Moranis’ character, Wayne, is heartbreaking:

Aware that the family ties have loosened over time but seemingly afraid to confront anyone directly. He has been tinkering alone in his attic for decades, dealing with the grief of losing his wife. When we first meet him, he has accidentally shrunk himself and is flying around on a shrunken drone — seemingly lost in a continuous of tinkering and experimenting that often puts himself and his family in jeopardy. He later reveals he shut himself away to try and invent a solution to help shrink Diane’s cancer but found it hard to cope when he ran out of time. His guilt and shame is palpable. Through the crisis of the kids getting shrunk, the truth emerges and the bonds begin to redevelop between him and his kids.

What a heartbreaking premise, specifically for Moranis, although the parallels end with losing a wife to cancer, because Moranis clearly did not shut himself away from his kids. He devoted his life to that very project, and while I don’t know if Moranis is seriously considering this role, I like to think that, if he is, it is to highlight the importance of maintaining those relationships with your kids even after the loss of a spouse.


Source: Disney Insider



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