Even though next year’s reboot of Ghostbusters will see an all female team slinging on the proton packs in a story completely unrelated to the original, it hasn’t stopped a whole host of familiar face, namely Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts, to make their way to Paul Feig’s set to film some brief cameo. But one name is missing from that list: Rick Moranis, who turned his back on acting to raise his children after his wife, Anne, died of Breast Cancer in 1991 (his last movie was 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves). There has been huge outcry for him to appear and the whole gang to get back together (but no talk of William Atherton. Just saying), and he has been approached to appear. So what says the one time Louis Tully? Well, no it turns out.
In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter, spurred on by the fan speculation, the now 62 year old Moranis gave a pretty satisfactory answer for his decision, saying, “I wish them well. I hope it’s terrific. But it just makes no sense to me. Why would I do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago?”. Despite some rare dips back into voice work, Moranis has been out of the industry for nearly twenty years now so you can imagine his priorities are a bit different than his fellow cast mates. While it would have been awesome to have all the original cast return (again, minus William Atherton. Why’s there no love for Walter Peck?), you’ve got to respect his decision.
Even though Feig’s reboot didn’t appeal to him, he does seem interested in taking on roles again now that the kids are all grown up, "I took a break, which turned into a longer break. But I’m interested in anything that I would find interesting. I still get the occasional query about a film or television role and as soon as one comes along that piques my interest, I’ll probably do it.” Growing up on the likes of Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, Little Shop of Horrors, and The Flintstones, the prospect of Moranis returning to acting has me positively giddy, and if and when he does return, it’ll be great to have him back.
