Josh Gad Got One Surprising Request From Mel Brooks for 'Spaceballs 2'
When Spaceballs 2 eventually hits theaters, it will be well over thirty-five years since the original Mel Brooks comedy film was released in 1987. Easily one of Brooks' best-loved spoof films, the original Spaceballs parodied the original Star Wars trilogy brilliantly, and in some ways, created iconic moments that are just as memorable as the source material.
And oddly enough, a few Star Wars films in the 21st century unintentionally connect to Spaceballs. In Rogue One (2016), there's a planetary shield gate much like in Spaceballs, and throughout the sequel trilogy that began with The Force Awakens (2015), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) removes and replaces his helmet often enough to remind us more than a little bit of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis).
But now, the next Spaceballs will have several decades of catching up to do, at least when it comes to Star Wars and sci-fi material to make fun of. The in-development sequel will be produced by Mel Brooks, but the writer behind Spaceballs 2 is Josh Gad. And, in a recent interview on the podcast Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Gad revealed that Mel Brooks demanded a crash course in all the Star Wars developments since ... well, 1987.
"When we were pitching him the original conceit for what we wanted to do with the film, at the beginning he [Mel Brooks] goes, 'I'm just telling you now, I want you to really go into detail because I don't know a lot about the new Star Wars films.' And I said, 'Okay.'"
From there, as reported by EW, and as Gad related to Kelly Ripa, Gad launched into a 40-minute monologue, explaining every nuance and detail of the Star Wars saga, post-1987. Presumably, this would have included everything from Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace through Porgs in The Last Jedi and even Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian. Gad described the experience as feeling like "a combat vet just going to war in front of one person."
But at the end of it, Brooks was relieved and said: "Wow. Josh, it really sounds like you've got your finger on the pulse!"
As of now, we don't have an exact release date for Spaceballs 2, or even a sense of what the plot might be. But, based on Gad's enthusiasm, there's a good bet that for fans of Star Wars and the original Spaceballs, this comedy sequel could truly be something very special; a mix of classic Mel Brooks comedy with some up-to-the-minute humor from one very passionate Star Wars fan.