The 12 emotions all actors should master, according to Mel Brooks
American filmmaker and funnyman Mel Brooks is an undisputed comedic legend, entertaining audiences for over seven decades. He started his career in the 1950s as a television writer, with credits on shows such as Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour.
Brooks took inspiration from a fellow writer, Mel Tolkin, who gifted him with a book that gave him vital guidance. He once told The New York Times: “The book was Dead Souls by the magnificent genius Nikolai Gogol. It was a revelation. I’d never read anything like it. It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time… It was a life-changing gift, and I still read it once a year to remind myself of what great comic writing can be.”
Through the 1960s, Brooks performed in a comedy duo with Carl Reiner, creating his iconic character, The 200-Year-Old Man. Eventually, Brooks began directing feature films, starting with The Producers, which was turned into a musical in 2001. The movie won ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards. Further success came with Blazing Saddles, grossing $119million in the United States and Canada alone.
Often regarded as one of the best comedies ever made, Blazing Saddles earned multiple Oscar nominations and featured Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens and Brooks in various roles. Despite its commercial success and current status as a comedy classic, critics were not sold when the movie first emerged.
Brooks explained to Vanity Fair, “I think they missed the irony. They missed the satire. They missed the greater message. As a writer, you can appeal to the critics. It can be done. But you’d lose half the audience.” Still, since then, Brooks has continued to make films, including Young Frankenstein, History of the World, Part 1 and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He’s also racked up an impressive list of accolades, including an EGOT.
Brooks is an inspiration for many comedians and actors, and in 1982, he appeared in the French magazine Beat to give some crucial advice to budding stars. He demonstrated the 12 emotions that every actor needs to master, with each image accompanied by a humourous caption courtesy of Brooks.
Under his example of seduction, Brooks writes: “I cannot go to the discos without locking myself in the bathroom because the women are so beautiful.” Elsewhere, he demonstrates love, captioning it with “A good book in the hand of a beautiful naked girl when I’m in a hotel room that she paid for.”
Brooks pulls a particularly great face for ‘Fear’, writing: “When there are many people at the table but they bring me the check,” and reminds us that “believing the promises of politicians” is associated with ‘Stupidity’.
Check out the images below.
