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
I always think a successful television series is the best job because it gives you community, it doesn’t demand temporary insanity the way movies do, and you can be almost a normal person. – James L. Brooks
When you work alongside somebody day in and day out, the relationships tend to be wonderful: they’re lifelong. – James L. Brooks
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
Media reporting denied privacy to anybody doing what I do for a living. It was no longer possible to work on your picture in privacy. – James L. Brooks
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
I came to 20th Century Fox to do movies, and then they started a network, and they asked me to do a show as part of their starting what became the Fox network. – James L. Brooks
I think television keeps on being a place where writers can go, and if they’re successful, they can have their way, and they can have creative freedom. – James L. Brooks
I’ve done it with Broadcast News-where there was no finish line, there was no agenda that I had to move all the characters to this point, that I was sort of open to what happens. – James L. Brooks
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
I laugh every day. There are days when my laughs are pretty hollow. Dust comes out of your mouth, and your bones make a funny sound. But I’m laughing. – James L. Brooks
I love romantic comedy, but I think you have to have another idea that you’re chasing along with romantic comedy. – James L. Brooks
I love it if comedy reflects real life because to me it’s more reassuring that we’ll get through. – James L. Brooks
