‘Ant-Man’ Director Wanted a Rick Moranis Cameo

Ant-Man and the Wasp director Peyton Reed wanted Honey, I Shrunk the Kids star Rick Moranis to make a cameo appearance in 2015's Ant-Man, Reed told Screen Junkies.

"We actually at one point attempted to get a Rick Moranis cameo in the first Ant-Man. Still during the period, I think, where he wasn't doing so much acting," Reed said. "I think he's now gonna be on the SCTV [Martin] Scorsese-directed thing, which I'm super psyched about, but always still an unchecked box for me."

Reed is hopeful to land Moranis for Ant-Man 3, joking he could appear as the father of Paul Rudd's Scott Lang.

The since-retired Moranis famously headlined 1989 Disney sci-fi comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, where he appeared as inventor scientist Wayne Szalinski, a frazzled father and creator of a shrinking ray gun that inadvertently shrinks the Szalinski children and their neighbors.

Moranis returned for two sequels, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and 1997's straight-to-video Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves — currently Moranis' final live-action film appearance. In 2007 he reprised his role as SCTV sketch character Bob McKenzie — one-half of the Canadian McKenzie brothers, the other being Doug (Dave Thomas) — in a 60-minute Canadian television special and retrospective.

Moranis has since lent his voice to a direct-to-DVD CG-animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sequel as well as the big screen Disney-animated Brother Bear and its direct-to-DVD sequel Brother Bear 2. Most recently, he made a voice-only cameo as his iconic Spaceballs character, Dark Helmet, in a May 2018 episode of ABC sitcom The Goldbergs.

The beloved Ghostbusters and Little Shop of Horrors actor largely quit acting in 1997 to focus on his family following the death of wife Ann Belsky. In 2015, Moranis made headlines when it was learned he declined a cameo appearance in Sony's Ghostbusters reboot.

Mulling over a return to acting now that his children are grown, Moranis said he "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," Moranis said. "[But Ghostbusters] didn't appeal to me."

Moranis next takes part in An Afternoon with SCTV, a reunion comedy special directed by acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese to debut on Netflix in 2019.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is now playing.