{"id":209480,"date":"2021-03-24T08:13:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T05:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/"},"modified":"2021-03-24T08:13:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T05:13:08","slug":"24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"#24 Things We Learned from Mel Brooks&#8217; &#8216;Spaceballs&#8217; Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2496abc357e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2496abc357e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/#Spaceballs_1987\" >Spaceballs (1987)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/#Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\" >Best in Context-Free Commentary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/24-things-we-learned-from-mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/#Final_Thoughts\" >Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#24 Things We Learned from Mel Brooks&#8217; &#8216;Spaceballs&#8217; Commentary<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.9--><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Welcome to\u00a0<\/i><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Commentary Commentary,<\/i><\/b><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter revisits a sci-fi spoof from a master satirist with Spaceballs<\/i>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Mel Brooks<\/strong> is such a ubiquitous name in comedy that it\u2019s easy to forget he\u2019s only directed eleven feature films. I\u2019d argue that at least three of them are classics, but while I wouldn\u2019t include <strong><em>Spaceballs<\/em><\/strong> (1987) in that grouping there\u2019s no denying its presence in pop culture. The film is new to 4K UltraHD from Kino Lorber, so we decided to celebrate by giving a listen to the film\u2019s commentary track. Is the funnyman good at the commentary <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>? Let\u2019s find out together.<\/p>\n<p>Keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary track for\u2026<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Spaceballs_1987\"><\/span>Spaceballs (1987)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Commentator: Mel Brooks<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"><strong>1.<\/strong> The original <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> was 247 pages, but \u201cwe hit paydirt around 140 pages.\u201d The first cut was roughly two hours and twenty minutes long before being trimmed to the current ninety-six.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> He refers to the film as a period picture as \u201cit harkens back to an earlier fairy tale kind of 14th century setting, and yet it\u2019s taking place in the future in space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong> Dark Helmet (<strong>Rick Moranis<\/strong>) is drinking from a Styrofoam cup as crew members would forget them around the set anyway so Brooks just made it part of the universe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong> Co-writer <strong>Ronny Graham<\/strong> plays the priest planning to perform Princess Vespa\u2019s (<strong>Daphne Zuniga<\/strong>) wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.<\/strong> Brooks doesn\u2019t like to eat lunch with the actors as \u201cthey are animals, as you know,\u201d but he made an exception here as the cast was lovely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.<\/strong> He had to cast <strong>Michael Winslow<\/strong> here as \u201che does all his own sound effects, and I saved over a hundred dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.<\/strong> Brooks praises his entire cast, but he\u2019s especially fond of Moranis as the actor was invested in the film and would go above and beyond in every scene. He also shows love to the late <strong>John Candy<\/strong> whose Barf brings him continual joy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.<\/strong> He\u2019s both proud and ashamed of the \u201cDruish princess\u201d joke.<\/p>\n<p><strong>9.<\/strong> The desert sequence was filmed in Yuma, AZ. \u201cThe accommodations weren\u2019t great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> \u201cThis concept was one of the truly inventive concepts,\u201d he says regarding the beat where Dark Helmet and his cronies watch a home video cassette of <em>Spaceballs<\/em> in order to find the protagonists. \u201cI\u2019m really very proud of this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.<\/strong> Brooks first saw Zuniga in Rob Reiner\u2019s <em>The Sure Thing<\/em> (1985), and when casting began for the role here he im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely went to her first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12.<\/strong> He goes off topic on occasion, and after waxing poetic about the heyday of MGM before it changed hands multiple times he mentions that the studio\u2019s commissary would always have matzo in honor of Louis B. Mayer. \u201cThe matzo would get in your teeth, but it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>13.<\/strong> The shot at 43:30 of Dark \u201cPith\u201d Helmet in the land speeder was accomplished by placing a mirror along the bottom to reflect the sand and create the illusion that it\u2019s levitating.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14.<\/strong> Brooks got \u201ca terrible rash\u201d on his face and neck from the makeup used to turn him into Yogurt, and his knees also took a beating. \u201cI love the character so it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>15.<\/strong> The film cost $25 million which he says was his highest budgeted picture. IMDB lists <em>Dracula: Dead and Loving It<\/em> (1995) as costing $30 million, but Brooks claims it was closer to $22m.<\/p>\n<p><strong>16.<\/strong> Brooks says he wouldn\u2019t have played roles like Yogurt \u201cif Gene Wilder hadn\u2019t abandoned me to do his own <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a>.\u201d He adds that \u201cit was a pity\u201d and that he hopes to work with Wilder again some day. (This commentary was recorded well before Wilder died in 2016.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>17.<\/strong> Moranis improvised the scene where Dark Helmet plays with the <em>Spaceballs<\/em> action figures. \u201cIt gets a little dirty here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>18.<\/strong> Brooks asked if Zuniga wanted someone else to sing the bit where Vespa is in the cell singing \u201cNobody Knows the Trouble I\u2019ve Seen,\u201d but she insisted she could do it \u2014 and she was right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>19.<\/strong> He directed his first feature, <em>The Producers<\/em> (1967), because he didn\u2019t want anyone else to mangle it, and <em>The Twelve Chairs<\/em> (1970) was \u201can important, funny little movie\u201d that he also didn\u2019t mind directing. Brooks thinks he misstepped, though, starting with directing <em>Blazing Saddles<\/em> (1974). \u201cI was deserting my private muse and getting into big stuff, and that may have been my mistake.\u201d He laments the move into big studio movies and \u201cthe business of having to fill so many seats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>20.<\/strong> The Metamorphosis\/Kafka joke at 1:04:32 is one he\u2019s ashamed of. \u201cThe intellectuals hate me, and the people who\u2019ve never heard of Kafka don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>21.<\/strong> Brooks\u2019 love of writing far exceeds his fondness for directing. \u201cWriting is, there is nothing and then there is something, so it\u2019s almost godlike, it\u2019s really creating. Once there is a script there\u2019s something there to be cast, there\u2019s something there to be designed, there\u2019s something there to hire a cameraman to film, but it can\u2019t equal the power of making something from nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>22.<\/strong> George Lucas watched the film\u2019s rough cut with Brooks and laughed along throughout. He and ILM helped out on the movie in post, and Lucas was never offended or put off by the satire.<\/p>\n<p><strong>23.<\/strong> Pongo was the name of Brooks\u2019 first dog, inspired by <em>One Hundred and One Dalmatians<\/em> (1964). The movie reviewer on the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> show is named in his honor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>24.<\/strong> John Hurt plays Jesus in Brooks\u2019 <em>History of the World: Part I<\/em> (1981), and the two became friends. Brooks decided to ask him for a favor \u2014 recreate the chestburster scene from <em>Alien<\/em> (1979) for <em>Spaceballs<\/em> \u2014 and the actor happily obliged.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\"><\/span>Best in Context-Free Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote\">\u201c<em>Spaceballs<\/em> is the brainchild of one Jew and two gentiles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPoor jokes work for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt cost over a hundred dollars to build that and put it in the shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m enjoying this. I\u2019m sorry, I should be commenting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBad jokes are good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t quite understand what\u2019s happening here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I say nothing it means I have nothing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Blazing Saddles<\/em> was a hit, and that was the making and the breaking of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to plot a movie successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts\"><\/span>Final Thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"><em>Spaceballs<\/em> remains a mixed bag of laughs and misfires, but there\u2019s no denying that Brooks and friends never stop going for it. He laughs a lot during the commentary, and it seems clear that this is his first time watching in years meaning he also spends time in silence or pointing out what\u2019s on screen. There are some fun bits here, but maybe a solo commentary isn\u2019t ideal for Brooks \u2014 a moderator helping guide the commentary and asking questions would have been ideal. It\u2019s at its best during the brief moments where he gets serious and insightful about his career, more of which would have made for a great track, but it\u2019s still worth a listen for fans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=mel-brooks-spaceballs-commentary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#24 Things We Learned from Mel Brooks&#8217; &#8216;Spaceballs&#8217; Commentary&#8221; Welcome to\u00a0Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter revisits a sci-fi spoof from a master satirist with Spaceballs. Mel Brooks is such a ubiquitous name in comedy that it\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spaceballs.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[22447,53537,71361],"class_list":["post-209480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-commentary-commentary","tag-mel-brooks","tag-spaceballs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}