[Screenwriting] is no more complicated than old French torture chambers, I think. It's about as simple as that. James L. Brooks More Quotes by James L. Brooks More Quotes From James L. Brooks I took some time out for life. James L. Brooks unfaithful new-year time I had a marketing idea that everybody hated, decency is sexy. James L. Brooks sexy marketing ideas You become so obsessed, and that's not a bad thing for a movie. Serve it with that sense that it's the whole world. James L. Brooks obsessed obsession world Once you read the script, it's the only way it can be. James L. Brooks scripts way I spent two years telling studio heads that it wasn't a cancer picture. I hate cancer pictures. I don't want to see a cancer picture. There is only one thing worth saying about cancer, and that is that there are human beings in cancer wards. James L. Brooks cancer hate years A lot of things just aren't true any more. James L. Brooks Things get very distorted when you do a movie, weirdly so. James L. Brooks It never stops, accepting that fact is difficult. James L. Brooks time-management accepting facts I love romantic comedy, but I think you have to have another idea that you're chasing along with romantic comedy. James L. Brooks romantic-love ideas thinking I always believe you can't kill good movies, because somebody's in some room and will die unless it gets made. James L. Brooks good-movie believe rooms I think you have a pact with an audience in every picture, and I think the pact is to try and be truthful and to be real. James L. Brooks real trying thinking Kids in general make things fresh and alive and they have this great appreciation for, Holy mackerel, we're making a movie! James L. Brooks air appreciation kids Great things that can happen when you're doing a movie. James L. Brooks great-things happens When you produce and direct your own film you havethe somewhat consoling feeling that the producer will kill for you. James L. Brooks produce film feelings There was a great director who directed a picture that I wrote who barred me from the set quite appropriately and said, "I'm sorry, Jim. When you're directing, you don't need to know everything. You need the illusion that you do." And, you know, and I WOULD be there behind him trying to signal the actors in, you know, in a way I wasn't even aware of. James L. Brooks sorry trying directors What does it mean for an actor to make a part his own? It means that he takes on what you had intended and starts to put in his own stuff so that it becomes something that could only happen if he played it. James L. Brooks actors doe mean I value comedy. I value somebody who can be funny. James L. Brooks values comedy I have a lot of nightmares. James L. Brooks nightmare The thing that usually gets me through the writing is that my feelings of wretched inadequacy are irregularly punctuated by brief flashes of omnipotence. James L. Brooks omnipotence feelings writing Dagwood Bumstead was a great unrecognized hero of American literature. He showed up every day, he got knocked down every day, he never got to eat his sandwich every day, the dog jumped on him every day, his wife was giving him a hard time and he showed up every day. James L. Brooks hard-times hero dog
