Josh Gad says he begged Rick Moranis to come out of retirement for 'Shrunk'

Hollywood star Josh Gad is excited to create magic with "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" star Rick Moranis in a new film for the iconic franchise that he termed as a "true sequel" to the original.

Hollywood star Josh Gad is excited to create magic with "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" star Rick Moranis in a new film for the iconic franchise that he termed as a "true sequel" to the original. It was announced in February that Gad will star in the new take, titled "Shrunk", to be directed by Joe Johnston, who had kickstarted the franchise with 1989 comic sci-fi movie.

Moranis will reprise his fan-favourite character of Wayne Szalinski, an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his next-door neighbour's children to a quarter of an inch with his electromagnetic shrinking machine. In response to a question from PTI during a virtual interview, Gad shared the story of how he pitched the new movie to Disney and convinced Moranis to come out of his semi-retirement for it.

"'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' was such an influential film to me growing up. About two years ago I went to Disney and I said, 'There's a title that I would love to do here and would love to be involved from the ground up.' So I teamed up with my collaborator, David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of Mandeville, who worked with me during 'Beauty and the Beast'. "I said let's do this but basically my mandate was that we can only do it if we can get Rick out of retirement. So I basically spent the better part of a year begging and pleading with Rick along with my partners to come and create magic again. The day he said yes was one of the great days of my life creatively," Gad said. Moranis, 67, was one of the most sought-after comic stars in the 1980s and 1990s owing to his work in movies such as 1984's "Ghostbusters" and its 1989 sequel, "Spaceballs", "Parenthood" and "The Flintstones" remake.

Since 1997, when he took a break from acting in the wake of his wife's death from cancer, Moranis has been working sporadically. "Shrunk" will mark his first proper acting role in more than 15 years. Gad, 39, teased that the film has an "incredible script" from writer Todd Rosenberg. "It's an incredible script. It's a true sequel to the original film and one that sees me as a grown Nick Szalinski, Wayne's son, having to confront the whole new obstacle that calls upon our family's legacy of unexpectedly shrinking things that we wish we hadn't," Gad said.

The film was among the many Hollywood productions that were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the actor is confident that they will restart work on "Shrunk" very soon and he cannot wait for audiences to watch it in theatres.

"It's a frustrating thing because obviously, production is shut down. But I'm very hopeful that our film, which was already deep in preproduction, gets back to it very soon. And with the amazing Joe Johnson returning to the director's chair, I would say get ready. It's gonna be one hell of a ride," Gad added. Gad currently features in "Artemis Fowl", which streams in India on Disney+Hotstar from Friday.

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