All About Me! by Mel Brooks

Author:Mel Brooks [Mel Brooks]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

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It was the weekend, and the studio was closed, but they opened up a few departments for me. Someone from wardrobe helped him with a costume. We went through props and he chose a pair of six-shooters. We drove out to the WB ranch, and he picked out a horse. And then he picked out a white cowboy hat and I said, “No, you’re not the sheriff. You’re the sheriff’s buddy.”

So he picked out a dark cowboy hat, which suited him perfectly. By the end of that day Gene Wilder had become the Waco Kid.

And believe it or not on that Monday (without losing a day of shooting) he was there, hanging upside down in the jail cell and redoing the same scene that Gig Young had attempted on Friday.

Gene was absolutely perfect and I asked myself: Why hadn’t I cast him in the first place? It was because I was suffering the same prejudice everybody had about serious actors and comedy. Either they can do one or the other. Originally, I didn’t want the Waco Kid to be funny. I wanted the Black sheriff to be funny, but I wanted the Waco Kid to be serious. I wanted him to carry some of the more emotional qualities of the film. I was dead wrong, but I didn’t know it yet. I hadn’t realized if you can find a funny actor who can be serious, then you’ve got heaven. That day I learned the lesson. A really good actor can do both. Hence, Gene Wilder.

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