The two-part documentary, which was directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, arrives to HBO on Thursday. Apatow told ABC Audio that Brooks needed a bit of convincing before he agreed to become the subject of another retrospective.
“There had been other pieces made about him in the past, and I wanted to do something more personal. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that,” Apatow said. “My main pitch was, ‘But Mel, you get to hang out with me,’ you know, like, ‘We get to talk and when else are we going to have a reason to talk for 10 hours?’ And he’s like, ‘OK, I’ll do it.'”
Bonfiglio said that Brooks’ style of comedy in movies like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein became a brand unto itself.
“The Mel Brooks brand is big, laugh-out-loud funny, going for the huge, huge laughs, no-holds-barred, kind of busted all open kind of humor. Not a lot of subtlety, but always so funny,” Bonfiglio said.
Apatow said that the daring nature of Brooks’ comedy is not something that could be replicated today.
“He certainly was as daring as you can be,” Apatow said. “What’s most impressive is that at a time when people weren’t making much work like that, he decided to plant his flag and make a movie that mocked racism in a way that was such a strong point of view that even today people are like, ‘Whoa, did you see that?’ I mean, it certainly doesn’t seem tamer as the years pass. And I think the lesson of it is still very, very important, unfortunately.”
Jason Sudeikis and Hannah Waddingham in ‘Ted Lasso’ season 4. (Apple TV)
Believe it — the first look and release window for Ted Lasso season 4 has been revealed.
Apple TV has announced that the fourth season of its hit comedy series will make its global debut in summer 2026. The streaming service also shared first-look photos of the new season, which is currently in production.
According to the streamer, season 4 finds Ted returning to Richmond to coach a second division women’s football team. The official description calls it Ted’s biggest challenge yet.
“Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would,” the synopsis reads.
Jason Sudeikis is back starring as the titular coach. Also returning are fan-favorites Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt and Jeremy Swift.
New to the show this season are Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsey, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern and Grant Feely.
The new photos show off Ted standing outside an airplane with Rebecca (Waddingham); Ted at football practice with a new assistant coach, played by Reynolds; and Ted at the Crown & Anchor pub with his son, Henry, who has been recast and is now played by Feely.
Apple TV renewed Ted Lasso for a fourth season back in March 2025. At the time, Sudeikis teased what is to come in the new batch of episodes.
“As we all continue to live in a world where so many factors have conditioned us to ‘look before we leap,’” Sudeikis said in a press release, “in season four, the folks at AFC Richmond learn to LEAP BEFORE THEY LOOK, discovering that wherever they land, it’s exactly where they’re meant to be.”
Percy Jackson and the Olympians has added three new actors to its cast. Holt McCallany joins the ensemble of the Disney+ series in season 3 as Atlas. He will appear in a recurring guest role as the pivotal villain and the third season’s primary antagonist. Also joining the cast are David Costabile as Dr. Thorn and Jesse L. Martin as Annabeth’s father, Frederick Chase …
The film The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender will no longer get a theatrical release. Instead, Deadline reports the animated feature will make its debut on Paramount+. The film, which was directed by LaurenMontgomery with Steve Ahn and William Mata, previously had the release date of Oct. 9, 2026. Its voice cast includes Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Dee Bradley Baker, Freida Pinto and Ke Huy Quan …
Two classic characters from the original Star Trek series will make their first appearances in the finale of the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Variety reports the characters Hikaru Sulu and Leonard “Bones” McCoy will appear in the episode, played by actors Kai Murakami and Thomas Jane …
In this June 18, 2025, file photo, Eric Dane attends the ‘Countdown’ premiere and after-party in Los Angeles. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Prime Video, FILE)
Eric Dane is opening up about his future in acting while living with ALS.
During a panel hosted by the I Am ALS organization on Tuesday night, the Euphoria star said that moving forward, he plans to focus his acting career on roles that involve ALS.
“I’m fairly limited in what I can do physically as an actor, but I still have my brain, and I still have my speech,” Dane said from the stage, which he shared with the I Am ALS founders and his colleagues from the series Brilliant Minds.
“I’m willing to do just about anything. I’ll take on any role, but I think from here on out, it’s going to have to be, you know, ALS-centric,” he said.
“It’s gonna be very difficult for me to play any other role where, you know … look at the 800-pound gorilla in the room. And I’m fine with that,” he continued. “I’m fine with that. I’m grateful that I can still work in any capacity.”
Dane also discussed his experience acting in Brilliant Minds, in which he plays a firefighter living with ALS.
“I’ve never played a character who’s going through something … I’m dealing with in real time, in real life as well,” he said. “It was hard, and there were moments where it was very difficult for me to even get the lines out, but I overall, I was really grateful for the experience. I found it to be a bit cathartic.”
Dane said his condition can be disheartening, saying that though he has “no reason to be in a good spirit at any time” he still manages to find joy.
“It’s encouraging for me to know that I actually can have, like, a buoyant spirit in the face of something so horrible,” he added.
Dane also said he felt it was important to speak out about his ALS journey.
“It’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can, because I don’t feel like my life is about me anymore,” he said.
The former Grey’s Anatomy star announced in April that he had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
In an interview that aired in June on Good Morning America, Dane told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer he was “fighting as much as I can.”
“There’s so much about it that’s out of my control,” he added at the time.
Dane, a father of two daughters, went on to describe himself as “resilient” in both his fight against ALS and his fight to stay optimistic.
“I’m very hopeful … I don’t think this is the end of my story,” he said, speaking with Sawyer. “And whether it is or it isn’t, I’m gonna carry that idea with me.”
ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative neurological disorder where the symptoms worsen over time, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH states that ALS causes motor neurons — a type of nerve cell in the brain and spinal cord — to deteriorate, causing the muscles to weaken, and eventually leads to paralysis, taking away a person’s ability to move, speak or even breathe.
There is currently no known cure for ALS, but some treatments, and physical and speech therapies, may slow down the progression of the disorder and improve an ALS patient’s quality of life.
The NIH states that the average prognosis for ALS patients is two to five years of survival from the time of first symptoms, but there is a range: 10% of people with the condition live 10 years or more.
