Mel Brooks got his Spaceballs: The New One scenes shot first because, well, he's 100

The comedy legend reprises his role as Yogurt in 2027's Spaceballs: The New One.

Mel Brooks got his Spaceballs: The New One scenes shot first because, well, he's 100

If one goes to the trouble of making a 40-year-old sequel to Mel Brooks’ frightfully funny spoof Spaceballs, one ought to, at the very least, accommodate the comedy legend for his scenes. It’s only polite. Happily, such courtesy was present during production of director Josh Greenbaum’s follow-up, Spaceballs: The New One. According to co-star Daphne Zuniga, who spoke at a Melrose Place panel at the evidently real “90s Con” on Sunday (per People), shooting was planned around Brooks to ensure he made it into the film. “We filmed Spaceballs: The New One that Mel Brooks worked with the writers on. He’s a big influence in it,” Zuniga said. “He filmed his part already before we shot. It was his idea: ‘You better film me now because I’m 100.’ So we did.” We will now respectfully note the obvious “Mel shot first” joke here and move on. 

Brooks reprises his two roles from Spaceballs: The gold-chromed sage and keeper of the Schwartz, Yogurt, and President Skroob. He joins returning co-stars Zuniga as Queen Vespa and Bill Pullman as Lone Starr. Bill’s son and current New Avenger, Lewis Pullman, plays Vespa and Starr’s kid, Prince Starburst, which is adorable. And not to be outdone by the century-old comedian, Rick Moranis has also “somehow returned” (obligatory Star Wars joke) from his long-term acting hiatus as Dark Helmet, in his first live-action role since 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

“It opens April 23rd of next year,” Zuniga continued. “Rick Moranis is back as Lord Dark Helmet, and Bill Pullman is back as my husband. His real son, Lewis Pullman, plays our son, the prince, and Keke Palmer is in it. It was great fun.” Hey, Daphne, we just said most of those things! Indeed, Keke Palmer (The ‘Burbs) plays Destiny, a “mysterious Palace advisor,” and will co-star alongside Anthony Carrigan (Superman) in an undisclosed role and ‘Balls 2 co-writer Josh Gad as a Mawg, the half-man, half-dog species embodied by the late John Candy in the original film. (Just in case you needed a sad reminder of how much time has passed since Spaceballs.)

 
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