With lines as “There is no life I know / To compare with / Pure imagination / Living there, you’ll be free / If you truly wish to be”, the song is a flawless fit to pay homage to Wilder. Wilder, 83, had chosen not to disclose his disease publicly prior to his death.
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The filmmaker shared stories about his friend Gene Wilder with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night.
When Brooks was writing The Producers, he said that he first told Wilder that when they got the money, Wilder would be the accountant Leo Bloom, but Wilder didn’t quite believe they would get the money to make the film. Watch to the end for some delightful tidbits about their process for casting Young Frankenstein and Madeline Kahn ad-libbing on the set. But you saw it throughout his oeuvre, from his Mel Brooks days down to his work with Richard Pryor.
Wilder said he would have been happy to do more films like those, but comedy went in a different direction than the one he was comfortable with. It’s a big shock. I’m still reeling from that.
But the film remains a big part of his life, and Wilder’s death Sunday hit him personally.
Upstate New York’s Peter Ostrum, best known for his role as Charlie Bucket in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, is mourning the loss of Gene Wilder.
He met Brooks through Anne Bancroft, with whom he starred in the Brecht play “Mother Courage”. “So he said, ‘Why are they always laughing at me?’ I said, ‘Look in the mirror – blame it on God!'” It provided the audience – and Brooks – a chance to laugh at what made Wilder so great.
Brooks recalled numerous famous stories about his relationship with Wilder. “I can’t call him”, Brooks added. And he burst into tears and held his face and cried. According to Brooks, Wilder said, “when you get the money”.
He also recalled, “He was so quirky”.
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It was during the filming of Blazing Saddles that Wilder proposed the concept for Young Frankenstein to Brooks.
