Child actors certainly live lives that are very different from those of “normal” kids, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t get up to the same sorts of trouble that you would expect from most kids their age. Such was the case for a couple of the kids who starred in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Apparently, one of the child actors from the flick, during one particular situation, tried to drink while underage Luckily, their on-screen dad, Rick Moranis, was there to dissuade her and another co-star from making bad choices.
Amy O’Neil played Amy, the daughter of Rick Moranis’ Wayne Szalinsky in 1989’s Disney hit, Honey I Shrunk the Kids. The now 52-year-old O’Neil recently told People about a time when the cast of the new film was in Japan promoting the movie, and she and one of her co-stars thought they’d try and get into a little trouble. She explained…
After a long day of doing press panels and radio interviews we got back to the hotel. [Fellow teen costar] Jared [Rushton] and I went to the cocktail lounge to see if they’d serve us a cocktail.
For the record, the drinking age in Japan is 20, so both O’Neil and Rushton were underage. However, having never been to Japan, they were curious how strictly that law was enforced. The kids who starred in the film may not have had a lot of strict supervision, allowing them to try and break some rules. However, Rick Moranis arrived, and it sounds like he handled the situation in a manner that any good parent would. O’Neil continued…
In walked Rick Moranis, and he gave me a dad look that inspired me and Jared to go hit the hotel coffee shop instead.
Amy O’Neil’s actual dad wasn’t there, but it sounds like her co-star certainly used his level of fictional authority to try and keep his faux kids from doing something they would likely regret. It’s not hard to imagine why it worked. I'm not sure there are many of us who would ever want to disappoint Rick Moranis, after all. He seems like an incredibly nice guy and somebody we would want to like us.
As an adult, I'd love to share a drink with him and, of course, it'd be great to just talk about Moranis' best movies. As a kid, I'd want him to like me. Amy O’Neil indicates that being seen doing what she was doing was enough to get her to stop, and it sounds like she's appreciative of that today, as she said…
We got busted by my screen dad! He was looking out for us. He’s a real class act on and off the set.
Rick Moranis is such a class act that it’s a shame that we don’t get to see him anymore. Moranis disappeared from Hollywood, mostly retiring from screen work. And he's serious about that, too. He’s turned down offers for recent Ghostbusters movies, and a reboot of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which was set to star Josh Gad. It might have marked Moranis' return, but said production has apparently fallen into development hell.
Nevertheless, many of us can still hold onto our cinematic memories of the beloved actor. And a story like the one Amy O'Neil shared is a keeper as well, and it simply speaks to the character of one of funniest actors that's ever graced the silver screen. Those who'd like to see his work in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and it's sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid using a Disney+ subscription now.
