“What do you think the devil’s going to look like if he’s around? … Nobody is going to be taken in by a guy with a long, red, pointy tail!”
Aaron (Albert Brooks) in Broadcast News
“The prince of darkness is a gentleman.”
King Lear
Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning producer/writer/director James L. Brooks has had one of the most remarkable careers in Hollywood. There’s his credits as creator or co-creator of The Simpsons, Taxi, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His credits as a producer include Jerry Maguire and Big. And he wrote and directed As Good As it Gets and Broadcast News.
Today I came across this 2016 interview with Brooks by Scott Huver for moviefone and found the following question and answer interesting since Brooks’ career has spanned more than 50 years.
Scott Huver: This is a loaded question for anybody, but what are you proudest of as far as your legacy as a writer of film and television?
James L. Brooks: Today? The devil speech in “Broadcast News.”
Scott W. Smith is the author of Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles
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