The executive producer of “American Masters” chased Mel Brooks for six years.
“Mel hasn’t really wanted to have a film made about him,” Susan Lacy tells The Post. “He kind of consented with some trepidation.”
The holdup? “I would suspect to some degree that he likes to control everything,” she says. “And in our films, the subject doesn’t have control.”
Lacy, who debuted the popular PBS series in 1986, suspects the comic marvel behind “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles” gave in for less-than-artistic reasons.
“I think, honestly, it had something to do with the fact that a box set [of DVDs spanning his 64-year career] was coming out.”
Lacy’s still-untitled documentary was originally planned as a part of the seven-disc compilation, but wasn’t finished in time, she said.
Brooks, 86, has been enjoying an unlikely career renaissance. Next summer — eight years removed from his last box office hit, “The Producers” — he will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.
“If it weren’t for Mel Brooks, the world might never have discovered how very funny Nazis, hunchbacks and flatulent cowboys can be,” late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joked last week.
In addition to the PBS film — which won’t air until May — Brooks will appear next week in his second HBO special in two years.
“Mel Brooks Strikes Back” features conversations about his life and work with friend Alan Yentob, creative director for the BBC.
“I’m not going to deny it. I wasn’t the most thrilled person in the world [to hear about the HBO special],” Lacy admits.
“But there is a difference between a fully fleshed-out, thematic, film like ours that integrates his story with video clips, and what is really just a conversation between Mel and somebody else.”
Lacy began work on her project long before Brooks hooked up with the pay-cable giant. (Last summer, he received an Emmy nomination for another HBO special, “Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again.”)
Now, Lacy admits, the “American Masters” team must work twice as hard to ensure they can offer fresh material.
“Mel has been out there a lot lately,” she admits. “He has told the same stories over and over and over again. We were very conscious of that in making this movie. We were trying not to rehash.”
An even bigger challenge: deciding which of Brooks’ zany, comical episodes will make the final cut.
“He ad libs a lot,” Lacy says. “We are trying to figure out how much of that to use in the film. You can’t just throw that in. It has to be organic. And making that organic to an ‘American Masters’ film is a bit of a challenge.
“Making a film that involves comedy is really, really hard. Because jokes have to play out. It is very hard to cut in a film about comedy. But we are going to get there.”