All About
Mel BrooksENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Before your film
career, you worked on series like Get Smart and
Your Show of Shows in the '50s and '60s. What was
it like for you to write for television again?
MEL BROOKS: I just love creating the stuff. How
it's transmitted, you know, whether it's on a Broadway
stage, or whether it's a little black-and-white movie,
or a big wide color musical movie, or whether it's an
iPod, or a website, or you're talking about television —
I think that's secondary for me. Who knows what the next
delivery system is for the craziness that comes out of
my mind?
What makes this the right moment to revisit
Spaceballs?
I don't know if there's ever a good moment for anything.
When something rears its crazy head, that's the moment.
You're voicing the wizened alien Yogurt and the
diabolically moronic President Skroob, whom you played
in the original movie. Do the characters still feel
fresh to you?
Oh yeah. Because the characters all reflect various
types of idiots running the government and running
society. For me it's always fresh. All you gotta do is
just kind of bring it up to date with a new attack or
incursion.
What pop-culture phenomena do you think are ripest
for mockery these days?
Well, there's always the oil industry. I mean, we know
we could have an electric car. We know that. There's
always those interests. And that's handled by Dark
Helmet and his crowd — that's what they do. They ran out
of air in the first [movie], they just want to steal
air. It's really a metaphor for oil and energy.
Is the new show going to go mostly after those
kind of targets, then?
Yeah, I think it's more society than having fun with
Madonna and stuff. I don't think we'll make fun of
show-business icons, because I don't think they resonate
enough in the common man's life. It can't compare to
invading Iraq, you know?
Will anything be off-limits?
I don't think anything is off. Anything that's
politically correct is our target. We'll aim for
anything sacred. The government, religion, whatever we
can have fun with.
You brought The Producers to Broadway a few
years ago, and you've announced plans for a stage
musical of Young Frankenstein, and now this new
Spaceballs series. Any other revivals in the
works?
Listen, I'm rinsing everything. I'm getting the last bit
of suds out of everything I've ever done. So don't
worry, you're gonna see plenty.
I'm still waiting for the sequel that you promised
at the end of History of the World Part 1.
I get 20 letters a week, at least, from disgruntled fans
saying, ''Hey, I wanna see Jews in Space! What
happened?'' I might actually have to do History of
the World Part 2. Just to satisfy all the baby
boomers that've grown up. And there's a lot of history
that's happened since the Inquisition, so there's a lot
to cover and have fun with. I'm seriously thinking that
may be a future endeavor.
Your son Max Brooks' new zombie novel World War
Z has been getting a lot of
positive attention. Ever think about collaborating
with him?
We may, way in the future. But he struggled and strived
for his independence. I cast a big shadow, and he had to
flee from it. And he's done a remarkably great job. His
first book, [2003's] The Zombie Survival Guide,
sold 300,000 copies. That's on his own. At the beginning
they used to say, ''Mel Brooks' son.'' There's no
mention of me anymore.