James L. Brooks names his five favourite movies of all time
There’s at least one generation out there who might know him best from the credits of The Simpsons, but James L. Brooks had carved out a stellar reputation on the big screen long before he became one of the key creative driving forces behind the long-running animated classic’s development.
Even though it’s been well over a decade since he directed his last feature in the star-studded romantic comedy How Do You Know, and he’s now into his 80s, Brooks is far from retirement. In fact, he’s currently prepping the politically-tinged Ella McCay with Emma Mackey in the lead role, and as he revealed to People, he’s even planning to try and coax Jack Nicholson out of his self-imposed exile to collaborate for a fifth time after confidently stating that “he’s going to get itchy and scratch it”.
An eight-time Academy Award nominee and three-time winner – all of which came when Terms of Endearment scooped prizes for ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ – Brooks’ filmography is almost entirely comprised of character-driven dramas with lashings of comedy. However, that isn’t largely reflected in his five favourite films of all time, as he named them during a conversation with A.Frame.
It is in the case of Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, though, with Brooks revealing that he saw it with a group of comedy writers, only for them to be left despairing at what they’d just witnessed: “It was like we were sort of stunned and in awe that that picture happened,” he said. “Forget comedy, it was the best romance – and that picture didn’t forget comedy.”
The biting satire of Network also left a mark, and while Brooks found it “too farcical upon first viewing”, he soon changed his tune. As an accomplished writer himself, he was inevitably inspired by Paddy Chayefsky, who he called “one of the few screenwriters in history to have power over his films”, with the film itself labelled as “a great example of what happens when the writer’s in charge”.
Propulsive action thrillers don’t seem as if they’d be up Brooks’ street stylistically, but he was happy to praise The French Connection for containing “the greatest chase scene ever”. Beyond that, he branded the Oscar-winning classic as a “nuclear explosion” for the way director William Friedkin allowed his cast to do great work without reducing the immediacy of the story or set pieces.
Even if There Will Be Blood was only selected “arbitrarily”, Brooks notes that he’s a fan of anything Paul Thomas Anderson puts out, so he was selecting the filmmaker more than the film: “Every time he’s at bat, it’s only a pleasure,” he explained. “There’s no one quite like him. I think he’s in a class by himself, to use a cliché correctly.“
Released just a year after the end of World War II, William Wyler’s rousing drama The Best Years of Our Lives traces the difficulties faced by three veterans reacclimating to civilian life, which had a profound impact on Brooks. Comparing it to “the best church service you’ve ever been at”, he was enthralled by the way in which it honoured the sacrifices made without losing any of its cinematic heft.
James L. Brooks’ favourite movies:
- Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
- The French Connection (William Friedkin, 1971)
- Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1979)
- There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
