Mel Brooks is 100 years old, and he wasn’t going to let the production schedule of a new movie get in the way of finishing his part. According to co-star Daphne Zuniga, Brooks made one request before filming began on “Spaceballs: The New One”: shoot his scenes first.
“We filmed ‘Spaceballs: The New One’ that Mel Brooks worked with the writers on. He’s a big influence in it. He filmed his part already before we shot,” Zuniga, who plays Princess Vespa, told People during the “Melrose Place” 90s Con panel. “It was his idea: ‘You better film me now because I’m 100.'”
“So we did,” she said.
The sequel is set to open April 23 of next year. It brings back several original cast members alongside new additions. Rick Moranis returns as Lord Dark Helmet, and Bill Pullman returns as Zuniga’s husband. Pullman’s real-life son, Lewis Pullman, plays the couple’s son, the prince, and Keke Palmer joins the cast as well.
“It was great fun,” Zuniga said.
A Comedy Classic Turns Decades Later
The original “Spaceballs,” co-written and produced by Brooks, premiered in 1987, when Brooks was 60. The film follows Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man, half-dog sidekick Barf (John Candy) as they try to rescue Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) from the villainous Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and President Skroob (Mel Brooks). A parody of “Star Wars,” the movie also takes aim at “Star Trek,” “Alien” and other science-fiction staples.
Moranis’ turn as Dark Helmet remains one of the film’s most memorable performances, though Brooks has said it wasn’t cheap to produce. “Rick Moranis cost me a lot of money,” Brooks told Fox News Digital. “When we were filming, the whole crew kept laughing at his antics and ruining take after take!”
“It all started with his entrance in his giant helmet and the line, ‘I can’t breathe in this thing,'” Brooks recalled. “His reading of it was so real and funny that everybody on the set exploded with laughter! I had to sternly caution the crew not to break up when Rick did his stuff, but it was hard because often I’d be the guilty one laughing my head off.”
Nearly four decades after first putting on Dark Helmet’s oversized headgear, Moranis said returning to the role felt disorienting in a good way.
“Well, I kept having to pinch myself because I would look at Daphne [Zuniga] and Bill [Pullman] and George Wyner. Earl Sanders. And then there were all these young people,” Moranis said during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, according to People. “And I realized I was their age 39 years ago when we made this. And here we are now, and my kids are the age of this.”
“I felt like I was in a time warp, but I was in that outfit and wearing the helmet,” he added. “And it just felt very strange to be honest with you. But it started to feel really good and I really started to love it.”
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