Ant-Man and the Wasp is off to a great start at the box office and the debut of the sequel has many people looking back at the underrated original movie. Director Peyton Reed, who helmed both installments, recently revealed that he wanted to get a very special cameo in the original Ant-Man. Since the movie was about characters who shrink to the size of insects, he thought it would be great to get Honey, I Shrunk the Kids star Rick Moranis in the film in some way. Unfortunately, since Moranis had pretty much retired from acting at the time, it ended up being impossible. According to Reed...
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. I think he's now going to be on the SCTV Scorcese directed thing which I'm super psyched about. But always still an unchecked box for me.
The reveal of the potential Rick Moranis cameo came during a sit down with Screen Junikies where Reed reviewed the Honest Trailer of the first Ant-Man. The trailer calls the film "the best micro movie since Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," a joke which led to Reed revealing that he had seen the connection between the films as well, and it made him want to get Moranis to appear.
Rick Moranis has been basically retired for quite some time. His last physical appearance in a movie was in 1997's direct-to-video sequel Honey We Shrunk Ourselves. After that, Moranis continued to do voice work for projects like Disney's Brother Bear, where he voiced a moose alongside Dave Thomas that was a takeoff on their famous characters of Bob and Doug McKenzie from SCTV. However, since 2007, Moranis vanished from the screen.
Recently though, it seems that Moranis has decided to come out of retirement, at least a little. He appeared just a couple months ago in an episode of The Goldbergs as his Spaceballs character Dark Helmet. And as Peyton Reed referenced here, he will be part of an SCTV reunion special for Netflix being directed by Martin Scorcese. It makes one wonder if there might be potential for a Moranis cameo in a future Ant-Man movie. When the idea was suggested to Reed that the actor could appear in Ant-Man 3, it seemed the director already had an idea who he could play...
There you go. Scott Lang's Dad?
When franchises get rebooted, we often see cameos from the actors who played key roles the first time around. While there isn't an actual connection between Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Ant-Man, at least not from a plot standpoint, it would still be great to see the thematic connection referenced with a future cameo.
