ALBERT BROOKS

Going deep with ALBERT BROOKS — actor, writer, director, and all-round king of comedy

A deep dive with a comedy king.

ALBERT BROOKS IS the comedy director’s comedy director. Yes, he’s been hugely successful as an actor (Oscar-nominated for Broadcast News! He’s Nemo’s dad!), but his biggest influence has come since swapping stand-up for cinema. He’s only directed seven movies, the first 1979’s Real Life, but what an impact he’s had on an entire generation. Judd Apatow has called him “the prototype”. He’s been a go-to for James L. Brooks (no relation) on a number of occasions, including numerous appearances as ‘A. Brooks’ on The Simpsons. When Adam Mckay was asked by Empire to choose a Classic Scene, he plumped, without hesitation, for a Brooks. “I bow down,” he said.

That scene was a long dialogue from Lost In America, Brooks’ third film and arguably his masterpiece. It is between Brooks’ upper-middleclass ad executive David and a casino manager, played brilliantly by the director Garry Marshall, in which the former, having just discovered that his wife has gambled away their life savings only hours after they’ve both quit their jobs and decided to drop out of society, tries to persuade the latter to just give it all back. And it absolutely captures much of what’s great about Brooks’ work — the low-key absurdity that can be wrung from the desperation and entitlement of the middleclass American male.

Now, Lost In America and his fourth film as director, the wonderful, high-concept comedy Defending Your Life, in which Brooks dies and finds himself in a weird country club-style afterlife where he has to justify his actions on Earth, are getting the Criterion Collection treatment. Which is all the excuse we needed to call him up in his Los Angeles home and have a long, freewheeling conversation with the original influencer.

Albert, Adam Mckay chose one of your films as a Classic Scene. Can you guess which one?

I would say Garry Marshall.

Correct!

Was I right?

You were absolutely right. I’m impressed.

Yeah. Garry once told me that “everything I’ve ever done, this is the thing that comes up the most. They want to talk about that scene.” It followed him for a long time.

Where did the idea come from to cast him? He hadn’t really acted before.

Well, Monica [Johnson, Brooks’ co-writer on six of his seven movies] and I always liked using non-actors in little parts and medium parts. It adds an interesting feeling. Now, Garry Marshall, there’s no better pit-boss type in the world. He’s got that weird New York accent, he gets impatient, he’s funny. I don’t think if I’d had a choice of 25 of the greatest actors, that anyone would have done that better. And what I did was leave the cameras rolling for a long time. You