It’s certainly not uncommon for big stars to act all hoity-toity and difficult. They’ve often been known to refuse sequels and other projects within the franchise, simply because they don’t feel like it. Other times, because they aren’t getting enough money. But what happens when a small-time actor, who really isn’t all that important, holds out for no reason? Are we to congratulate them for being assertive, or mock them for pretending like they matter?
Rick Moranis probably doesn’t care what you think, but let’s speculate anyway.
You see, of all the main Ghostbusters cast, Rick Moranis is the only one who is refusing to lend his voice talents to the video game. He’s been retired from all Hollywood pursuits since 1997, when his wife died of liver cancer and he found that being an actor and being a single parent didn’t mix. A noble thing, to be sure. But the fact remains: he is the single holdout amongst a cast of celebrities who are more famous than he is.
He’s not alone. Here’s a fun fact, which you might have missed if you didn’t see Sly Stallone on Kimmel, plugging Rocky Balboa. Apparently, they wanted to use footage of all the previous Rocky fights in the new film, and obtained permission from all of his previous opponents – but one. Carl Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in the first three films. An important character, Weathers must have assumed that he had a little more pull than he did. He demanded a part in the new film, seeming to ignore the fact that his character died in Rocky IV. The producers refused, and ended up hiring a look-alike. Ouch, Carl. Ouch.
Mr. Bean doesn’t talk much, but Brit-com fans might recognize Rowan Atkinson’s voice coming out of Zazu’s beak in The Lion King. And they might also notice that he’s pretty much never appeared as Zazu in anything else. Not the sequel, nor the mid-quel, nor any of the video games. I have no idea what the story is behind this – perhaps a reader with better Google-fu than I can contribute something.
Finally, we have one of the greatest examples of massive failure in this arena. Crispin Glover, who played Marty McFly’s dad in Back to the Future, was asked to return for the sequel (naturally). When he demanded more money than Michael J. Fox plus a producer’s credit, the filmmakers decided to use footage from the previous film, plus a stand-in for shots where he couldn’t be easily identified. But when the film came out, Glover sued them – as it turns out, he hadn’t ever given permission for his footage to appear in any other film. Since then, negotiations of this nature have always been made in SAG-approved contracts.
A quick note to all those C-list actors out there – you’ve gotta walk before you can fly.
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