Josh Gad Had to Explain Recent ‘Star Wars’ Lore to Mel Brooks During a Pitch Meeting for ‘Spaceballs’ Sequel

variety.com:

Andrés Buenahora Mel Brooks, who helmed the classic “Star Wars” parody “Spaceballs,” has not returned to the franchise since his 1987 feature.

And at a pitch meeting for the “Spaceballs” sequel, it was up to producer and star Josh Gad to catch Brooks up on the happenings of “Star Wars” during the last 38 years. “Mel is incredibly involved,” Gad said during an appearance on the “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast. “I’ll share a funny story that I haven’t yet shared.

When we were pitching him the original conceit for what we wanted to do with the film, at the beginning he 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.’” Gad explained that he pitched to Brooks for around 40 minutes and that he seemed to be impressed by his vast knowledge of the franchise. “It’s literally like, I am a combat vet just going to war in front of one person.

I’m sweating, I am getting into every line and every beat and every comedic set piece, every reveal,” Gad said. “I’m painting all of it and I’m speaking to how this speaks to a certain ‘Star Wars’ moment.” Gad reflected on how Brooks told him “‘it really sounds like you’ve got your finger on the pulse,’” which Gad then called “the greatest compliment I could have ever gotten, even though there’s no context for it for Mel.