#1
Posted: 6/19/08 at 1:31am
In a recent interview, Mel Brooks said the following:
__________
Quint: It doesn’t surprise me that you got that applause. I would have been right along with everybody if I were there.
Mel Brooks: It was great. I’m hoping to make… I don’t know… They said “You better not make BLAZING SADDLES, because then you’ll just be turning your movies into musicals” and I said “well, I’ll make anything I want. If BLAZING SADDLES can be made and it can be totally hysterically funny, I’ll do it.” My contract is not with critics, it’s with the audience and you know, you can’t worry about pleasing the critics, because you never know what they are going to like, but you always have a sense if you love it, you’re an “audi-i,” you are a singular audience and if you like it, they will probably like it too.
and regarding the Young Frankenstein tour...
Quint: I would love to see it. I don’t get to New York too often, but…
Mel Brooks: Well we should be going out, I don’t know if it’s August or next July, August, or September, but we will be out and there will be a wonderful tour of the Broadway show and it will go everywhere and I’m sure that… We are thinking of Houston actually.
__________
It's the first time I've read Mel quoted directly about Blazing Saddles possibly happening. I get his point on having a point of view, but at the end of the day, you still have a bunch of white actors onstage saying the N-word. I just can't see it working.
As for YF, I think the tour is great news. My parents think Jay Leno is funny and they are going to eat this show up. I can't imagine it not doing great business on the road (and I'm saying that as someone who didn't really care for it here).
The full interview can be found here:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37135
__________
Quint: It doesn’t surprise me that you got that applause. I would have been right along with everybody if I were there.
Mel Brooks: It was great. I’m hoping to make… I don’t know… They said “You better not make BLAZING SADDLES, because then you’ll just be turning your movies into musicals” and I said “well, I’ll make anything I want. If BLAZING SADDLES can be made and it can be totally hysterically funny, I’ll do it.” My contract is not with critics, it’s with the audience and you know, you can’t worry about pleasing the critics, because you never know what they are going to like, but you always have a sense if you love it, you’re an “audi-i,” you are a singular audience and if you like it, they will probably like it too.
and regarding the Young Frankenstein tour...
Quint: I would love to see it. I don’t get to New York too often, but…
Mel Brooks: Well we should be going out, I don’t know if it’s August or next July, August, or September, but we will be out and there will be a wonderful tour of the Broadway show and it will go everywhere and I’m sure that… We are thinking of Houston actually.
__________
It's the first time I've read Mel quoted directly about Blazing Saddles possibly happening. I get his point on having a point of view, but at the end of the day, you still have a bunch of white actors onstage saying the N-word. I just can't see it working.
As for YF, I think the tour is great news. My parents think Jay Leno is funny and they are going to eat this show up. I can't imagine it not doing great business on the road (and I'm saying that as someone who didn't really care for it here).
The full interview can be found here:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37135
If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman
