The reclusive Rick Moranis gave a rare interview to Heeb magazine this week to promote his new comedic music album My Mother’s Brisket. The full interview is worth reading for fans of Moranis’s work, but most interestingly, he revealed some info about proposed sequels to Spaceballs and Ghostbusters during the chat.
In the movie Spaceballs, Mel Brooks’s character Yogurt makes a reference to a sequel entitled Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money, but no movie sequel was ever made. “Mel wanted to do a sequel after it became a cult video hit,” Moranis reveals. “It wasn’t a box office hit. It was a cult video hit, and MGM wanted to do a sequel. And my idea for it was Spaceballs III: The Search for Spaceballs II. And I was unable to make a deal with Mel. I couldn’t make a deal.” He added, “It was two or three years later … it would have been something I would have wanted to do. But that ship has sailed.” Moranis didn’t go into the particulars of why he couldn’t make a deal, but Brooks eventually made a short-lived animated series sequel without him in 2008.
And here’s Rick Moranis discussing Ghostbusters III:
“Then, there’s the perennial talk of another Ghostbusters, but that’s all talk and speculation … I got a call three or four years ago from an associate of [Dan] Aykroyd’s. Some sort of producer. And he said, ‘Listen, I gotta ask you something, because the Internet says you’re retired’—which is one of my favorites, by the way’ … ‘I gotta ask, would you do it?’ I said, ‘I don’t say no to anything until everything is presented to me.’ What is it? Is it happening? Is there a script? What’s the part? Who else is in it? Where is it? How long is it gonna take? You know, I need a little bit more information. ‘But it’s something you would do?’ he asks. Do I have to answer that? … That’s called ‘producing.’ I got this, and I got this. Gimme some money.”
