'Remembering Gene Wilder' reveals behind-the-scenes 'Willy Wonka' moments, star's last words before his death

From The Producers to Young Frankenstein, Stir Crazy and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the late Gene Wilder is easily one of the most entertaining, hysterical and iconic actors in film history. Now the documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, directed by Ron Frank, looks back at the star's career, from his early days on stage to his battle with Alzheimer's disease.

In this documentary, it's actually Wilder himself who guides the audience through his life story, with the film using the audiobook he recorded for his autobiography to tell much of the story. That's in addition to interviews with people close to Wilder, including his wife Karen Boyer Wilder, Mel Brooks, Carol Kane, Harry Connick Jr., Richard Pryor's daughter Rain Pryor, and many more.

"I wanted him to tell the story in first person, if he were alive I would have done the same thing, but having him narrate and tell this in first person ... brought the audience closer to him," Frank told Yahoo Canada. "He's telling us the story, rather than me or anybody else."

"We were very fortunate to have his audiobook that he recorded, but we couldn't use all of it. So we had to be very selective. ... We listened a lot to his other interviews on shows like Merv Griffin, and years ago on Larry King, and we could see what was important to him, because he often repeated stories in many of his interviews."

Frank joined the team for this documentary after working with executive producers David Knight and Julie Nimoy on Remembering Leonard: His Life, Legacy and Battle with COPD, a film about Leonard Nimoy (Julie Nimoy's father). As Frank explained, the Nimoys and the Wilders were friends.

"I've been a Gene Wilder fan since I first saw him hanging upside down in jail cell in Blazing Saddles, .. and I just jumped at the opportunity," Frank said.

'Mel Brooks really helped make this film'

Someone who is particularly critical to Remembering Gene Wilder is Brooks, Wilder's friend and frequent collaborator, and the film chronicles their time together from The Producers to Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.

"Mel Brooks really helped make this film," Frank said. "We knew that we would only have really half a story if we couldn't get him, and we waited because COVID got in the way."

"I have to tell you, I've been doing this a long time, Mel was probably the best interview and greatest highlight that I've ever had interviewing anybody. He was 95 when he sat down with us. He is an amazing storyteller, very sharp. ... Movie aside, he entertained us and it was just wonderful to be in his presence."

From Brooks we learn fun tidbits about their time working together in Remembering Gene Wilder. Like during Young Frankenstein, Brooks initially wasn't sold on the "Puttin' On the Ritz" number Wilder performs with Peter Boyle in the film, but Wilder was adamant about it.

"Gene put everything he had into it to prove it," Brooks says in the documentary.

But Brooks also provides an intimate look at how close they were as friends, and the impact of Wilder's Alzheimer's. Brooks says in the movie, clearly very emotional, that there was a point when he thought if he called Wilder and gave him enough references of experiences they had shared, Brooks could "take him out of it," but that wasn't the case.

The last words Gene Wilder said before his death

When it comes to Wilder's Alzheimer's, there is no one that knew more about that struggle than Wilder's wife.

"She told us her experience firsthand about what it was like, not just to fall in love with Gene, to marry Gene, but also take care of him," Frank said. "I think overall, she was probably the most important person in Gene's life."

In Remembering Gene Wilder, Boyer Wilder reveals the final moment she shared with her husband, and it's particularly touching.

“He was dying and Gene looked at me and said, 'Is that what’s happening?” Boyer Wilder recalls in the documentary.

She goes on to explain that he walked across their kitchen, saying that he wanted to go swimming, and then he jumped in the pool. He took a couple of strokes and said, "that's good," and went to bed. With Ella Fitzgerald's "Over The Rainbow" playing, Wilder sat up, looked at his wife and said, "I trust you. I love you." And those were his final words to her.

The joy of Gene Wilder

But despite the sadness of his illness, at the core of Remembering Gene Wilder is all the joy that Wilder gave to the word.

Frank recalled a story that he was told by a woman who came to a screening of the film in Stamford, Connecticut, where the Wilders lived. She took her nine-year-old son trick-or-treating on Halloween and knocked on the Wilders' door, and her son asked to see Willy Wonka. Boyer Wilder said he's not well enough to come to the door, due to his Alzheimer's, but Wilder suddenly got out of bed, and invited the mother and her son into their home.

"This boy got to meet Willy Wonka, gave him candy, they talked for a little while," Frank revealed.

"The mother told me she never forgot that and neither did the boy. He made an effort to come out and greet this nine-year-old boy, and talk to him, and as Willy Wonka."

Much like this young boy in Connecticut, ultimately Frank just hopes that anyone who sees Remembering Gene Wilder leaves the theatre with "a smile on their face."

Remembering Gene Wilder begins screening April 5 in Toronto at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema