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At a recent event in New York City honoring his film “Blazing Saddles,” director Mel Brooks recalled how one of his favorite scenes to direct came to be.
Brooks was discussing actor Gene Wilder, a dear friend and frequent collaborator, who passed away this week after complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.
The scene that Brooks recalled was from the film “The Producers,” a movie that many could argue put Wilder and Brooks on the map.
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“When we shot the blue blanket scene, Gene came to me and said, ‘It’s the end of the day. I’m exhausted,’” Brooks recalled. “I said, ‘What gives you energy?’” Wilder then asked for chocolate without nuts, Brooks said.
“I told him, ‘black coffee.’ He said, ‘I don’t drink black coffee,’” Brooks told the audience.
“I’m the director. He drank it…17 or 18 chocolate bars and a cup of black coffee later, he was wild. When you see that scene, ‘my blue blanket,’ now you know I contributed to the insanity.”
Brooks then complimented his late friend and called him a “genius.”
“He was a flat-out genius, and he blessed my life with his friendship,” Brooks recalled.
“I told him I don’t know anything about heaven or the other side but to let me know what it’s like when he gets there.”
