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The laughs and appreciation for Rick Moranis were as plentiful as Amazon MGM Spaceballs: Newa sequel to Mel Brooks’ 1987 Star Wars parody, flew into San Diego Comic-Con’s cavernous Hall H on Friday afternoon.
One of the biggest attractions of the panel was seeing Moranis, a comedian who appeared in 1980s films like… Ghostbusters andHoney, you’ve made the baby smallerappeared for the first time ever. The actor played villain Dark Helmet in the original 1987 film, but has been largely absent from films and television for most of this century, so he’s back with Space balls The sequel made the title.
After the “audience sweep” joke, a callback to a line in the original film that revealed the comedian in the audience wearing an oversized Darth Vader-style helmet, Moranis jumped on stage to rapturous applause and chants of “Rick! Rick! Rick!”
“You made our childhoods better,” said Kevin Smith, who ably moderated the session.
Moranis sat between Josh Gad, one of the creative forces behind the sequel, and Daphne Zuniga, who played Princess Vespa in the original film and is returning for the sequel. Also on stage were director Josh Greenbaum, actors Keke Palmer and Lewis Pullman, and writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Sammit.
Gad described the origins of the sequel, and recounted how he was working on the film Honey I squeezed the kids sequel with Moranis which eventually fell apart, but she ended up watching Moranis’ films with his daughter.
“We finished it and I was like, ‘Can we watch part two?’” he said. “And I said, ‘There’s no Part 2.’ And she said, ‘Yes, the weird little alien guy said there would be a Part 2.’”
When he replied, “Oh dear, this is called a joke,” she replied, “Well, why isn’t there a part 2?”
Gad said that night he dreamed about the sequel, and soon after was pitching to Brooks and his producing partner. He has thrown out ideas that reference new Star Wars movies and characters such as The force awakens And Kylo Ren.
Imitating Brooks, Gad summed up his reaction: “Josh, it sounds like you’ve really got your finger on the pulse. I don’t know half of what you’re talking about, but I really like it.”
Brooks’ comedic presence, only apparent via a video recorded early in the panel in which he thanked nerds for keeping his film alive for nearly 40 years, loomed large over Hall H. Amazon MGM bucked the Comic-Con trend by not debuting a trailer or showing any clips from the film, but it did show videos of Brooks meeting with Moranis, reuniting with original star Bill Pullman and Zuniga, and recording lines in a booth during the tribute — Or not – the script.
Greenbaum recounted meeting the comedy legend early in the film’s development, and as the time approached to take over principal photography, he asked if the man had any advice.
Brooks stopped and said yes. Greenbaum was very happy. bent.
“Don’t say ‘Cut!’ first. ‘It’s work!'” Brooks told him, then “Cut!”
The takeaway for the young director? “It was like, ‘Don’t take this too seriously and go out there and have a good time,'” Greenbaum summed up.
Gad said that the new film takes a look at the state of cinema and nostalgia for the past.
“The industry we were making fun of is a very different industry than the one that existed 40 years later,” Gadd said. “We’ve all objectively talked about the word ‘nostalgia’. We love movies that look back. We love consequences. We love continuing these stories we grew up with. We analyzed why and thought Space balls It was the perfect way to update us on everything that happened in and around the world of cinema.
Smith interjected, “When they made the first one, there was a trilogy to make fun of. Now there’s a fountain that never ends.”
“We really wanted to dive into that,” Gad replied.
The panel also included a funny segment in which Lewis Pullman reads a letter purportedly written by his father, Bill Pullman, about how great it is to be part of a family, while ignoring the father-son relationship. It also showed, on multiple screens, the alleged plans for Space balls A cinematic universe, mapped out in decade-spanning film “phases,” a snapshot of how Marvel Studios unfolds the timeline for its various film plans.
