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Whatever Happened To Rick Moranis?
Whatever happened to Rick Moranis?
He was genius as a cast member of SCTV, a precursor to SNL with John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and more. (Check it out on DVD if you've never seen it, very funny stuff and an inspiration to most of the comics you love). He was arguably the comic highlight of Ghostbusters, a movie that is entirely made up of comic highlights. He revealed a surprisingly effective singing voice and was just perfect as Seymour in Little Shop Of Horrors, my all time favorite film musical, roughly a million times better than the inexplicably Oscar winning Chicago, starring the Holy Trinity of Boring Actors: Zeta-Jones, Zellwegger, and Gerbil Fucker Gere. (Side note: the Jesus of Boring Actors is Sam Neill, but that's a topic for another post). Parenthood, My Blue Heaven and Spaceballs, them was some funny shit. He was a hero to children everywhere with his work in Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, the underrated sequel Honey, I Blew Up The Kid, the news to me sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves and the only available on the internet sequel Honey, I Molested The Kids.
And now...gone.
A look on imdb reveals that he is only 50 years old, he has two children, and that in the early 90's he lost his wife to cancer. It should show you how much I love this man that I reacted to that last bit of news as though it had happened to a close friend. Now, aside from some voiceover work in recent years, including no one's favorite Disney film Brother Bear, he has been doing nothing. I am glad to see he is alive, but do you think he is just not getting offers? Is there no room for nerdy Canadians in today's cinema?
I looked further, eventually stumbling upon a really great fairly recent interview with him, which I have attached here:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=650&page_number=1&preview=
It appears that basically he walked away because he wasn't getting to be as creative as he wanted to on movie sets, and also he is a single parent and couldn't handle fathering his kids from miles away on sets. Isn't that great? But he mentions the kids are heading to college and he might head back in to the film world at some point. This is where I come in.
I'm going to appoint myself the man's agent here. I think in today's looks obsessed culture, getting him a leading man role is unlikely. Let's see what else we can do. There have been talks lately of a fourth Austin Powers sequel. Let's get him a role in that. Mike Myers is a fellow Canuck, and idolizes SCTV. I don't need Moranis to be the lead villain, but make him a henchman, a sidekick, something. Those movies always have really funny parts for bit players. Maybe have him try a dramatic role. Dan Aykroyd kicks around now doing bit parts in shitty comedy movies, and dramatic roles in good movies. Moranis could have a career like that. I don't think anyone's going to buy him in a Lost In Translation or anything, but I think he could really shine in small serious roles.
Or let's get him on TV to ease him in. He's got an improv background and misses being creative, let's see what he can do in a guest spot on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Maybe even put him in as a pervert on that Law And Order with Chris Meloni. Sex Crimes And The City, I call it. Put him in a porno called Rick More-Anus. Just get his face back out there. I think people miss him more than they know.
On another topic, is there a stupider holiday than Columbus Day? You don't get off work or school, there are no gifts, and it was the basis for the only shitty Sopranos episode. What did he do for us anyway? Thanks for nothing, Columbus. Magellan could kick your ass.
wow Pat! i asked myself that same question a couple of months ago! I love
rick and i was wondering what happened to him. question answered!
COME ON Pat! What did Columbus do for us anyway? Well, read my haiku for
him and find out...
Are you fuckin' kidding me? He's putting out a country album. He never
gave up on us; we gave up on him. Check it out:
Precursor? If memory serves (and it very well may not--edit to add: IMDb
agrees with memory), SCTV debuted in the year following that which saw the
debut of <i>SNL.
He should take over for "Joe" on Blues Clues, then I'd watch it... even
more often.
Yes, Let's all laugh off Columbus day like it never happened. Keep in mind
that there were 100 million Native Americans killed on this Continent.
Make little ships out of Colored Paper and what-not, and be happpy. Just
think about those numbers. Granted it was over a longer time, but Jesus
Christ, 100 million compared to 6 million. This was an incredible
genocide. Let's dance around the polyester flags and embrace the man who
said, "I want to thank God, for sending all of these wonderful slaves to
us." God Bless America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....
I heard he's really big in France.
I consider it a precursor to "SNL" simply becaue most of the original "Not
Ready For Primetime Players" came from Second City, and SC had been around
for quite some time prior to "SNL." As far as the "SCTV" program everyone
knows is concerned, yes "SNL" probably beat it to the punch. Here's a
little from the SCTV website:
Right, I knew SC had been around for three trillion (or more?) years before
SNL, but it was the SCTV thing that threw me off. JUST THE FACTS!
Thanks for letting us know about rickmoranis.com
Just to follow up on my earlier post: I realize that Rick can sell his CD
worldwide, thanks to the Internet. However, the Internet would not exist
without the US Military, or Al Gore. Plus most of his fans probably live in
the USA...ok maybe Canada. Well anyway...God Bless the USA!
i still say fred armisen is a young(er) rick moranis. spitting image.
slightly odder sense of humor...they could do a movie together. it would be
funny. get on that.
My wife and I spent way too much money this weekend and home essentials. We
decided to check out Urban Outfitters and what did I see?
classic cards
The gerbil jokes are tired, untrue, not funny and homophobic.