Josh Gad Talks About Making a SPACEBALLS 2 "Worthy" of Welcoming Rick Moranis Back to Acting

Josh Gad has been waiting nearly 40 years for the sequel to Spaceballs, and seeing as one never came, he went ahead and co-wrote the script for the film himself, and it’s actually coming to fruition.

The actor, who is also set to play a role in the film, talked about making the movie, and without confirming or denying his return, Gad talked about making a movie “worthy” of seeing Rick Moranis return to acting.

Moranis was a staple of my childhood, starring in movies like Little Shop of Horrors, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and Ghostbusters. He left Hollywood when his wife passed away so that he could be with his kids full time, and has stayed out of the spotlight all these years.

Now, it’s been reported that he is making his return to the big screen in this sequel to reprise his role of Dark Helmet from the 1987 comedy classic, and Gad was asked about it in a recent interview with ScreenRant, where he explained:

“Well, I am not going to comment on whether or not Rick Moranis is returning, but hypothetically, if he were to return, I would say it’s because Rick would have felt like this was a project worthy of his return.”

He went on to say:

“So watch this space. But what I can say is it is surreal. It’s surreal because I grew up with Spaceballs and when the movie was prophesized in the first film, when Yogurt says, ‘God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money,’ I, like everyone else, was just anticipating that that would happen sooner than 40 years later.

“But I am so grateful it took that long because it’s the greatest gift on Earth to be able to not only be on the precipice of shooting this movie, but to be able to do it while Mel is still with us. So I’m thrilled. I’m beyond excited, and that’s about all I can say for now.”

The Tony nominee was previously attached to a new film in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise, for which Moranis was set to reprise his role as Wayne Szalinski, but the update was stalled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inspired by George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy, Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs followed the titular planet’s President Skroob (Brooks) as he orders the villainous Dark Helmet (Moranis) to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) in exchange for her oxygen-rich planet Druidia’s air supply.

Renegade space pilot Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) comes to the rescue with his half-man, half-dog partner Barf (John Candy). Brooks also co-wrote and directed the film.

via: Deadline