Young Frankenstein (1974) went through a rigorous editing process, according to Gene Wilder
Wilder co-wrote the script with the film's director, Mel Brooks.
Young Frankenstein (1974) was a labor of love between collaborators Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.
Wilder began writing the script before Brooks signed on as director, though the two had worked together previously on films like Blazing Saddles (1974). However, in the Western film, Wilder starred, while Brooks wrote and directed the film.
In Young Frankenstein, the two were on equal footing.
“I wrote the first draft [of the film], then he [Brooks] came in as a director (and assisted in the rewriting) to satisfy himself that everything he would be directing would be his rhythms, his kind of physical actions,” Wilder said during an interview with Newsday.
Wilder also explained that as the drafting process continued, the duo’s editing began to get more and more granular.
“We worked together on the second draft scene by scene and then the third draft line and then the fourth draft word by word," Wilder said.
The writing and rewriting process also became tense at times, though the bond between Wilder and Brooks could never be shaken.
“By the third draft we argued, lovingly but more intensely because it was getting closer to shooting,” Wilder said. ”If we both held on, we had kind of an automatic respect. Whoever held on longest, the other would tend to give in. By the fourth draft, we were pretty much going down the same path.”
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