曾凭借《母女情深》和《广播新闻》三度荣获奥斯卡奖的导演，时隔15年携新作回归，带来这部温情细腻的人物研究电影《艾拉·麦凯》。
可以说，詹姆斯·L·布鲁克斯深爱着他笔下的角色。你可能也会爱上这些角色：《玛丽·泰勒·摩尔秀》中的玛丽·理查兹，《母女情深》中雪莉·麦克雷恩饰演的奥罗拉·格林威，还有《广播新闻》里霍利·亨特塑造的那个神经质新闻制片人简·克雷格——她每天早晨都会雷打不动地哭上一场。
作为编剧、导演和制片人，布鲁克斯在影视界拥有传奇般的职业生涯（曾三获奥斯卡奖及二十余次艾美奖），他几乎将一种温暖深情的叙事风格打上了个人烙印——那些不完美的角色在他的作品中既展现出坚韧感人的特质，又充满人性光辉与幽默感。
他的最新电影《埃拉·麦凯》（12月12日上映）是他15年来的首部作品，延续了这位电影人一贯的风格。尽管布鲁克斯在描述他与角色之间的深厚情感时，一如既往地注重细节，但对某一点却持有异议。
现年85岁的布鲁克斯在沉思中反复推敲着这个概念，说道：“我只是在质疑‘爱’这个词。我想了解他们作为人的本质，真诚地对待他们。我认为画面中几乎每个人都有缺陷。”
这部明确以政治为主题的喜剧《埃拉·麦凯》设定在2008年美国一个易于管理但未具名的州。故事围绕30岁出头的主人公埃拉·麦凯（艾玛·麦基饰）展开——当她那雄心勃勃、魅力非凡的上司（阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯饰）被提名为内政部长时，她得以从副州长升任州长。然而她随即卷入一场相对无害的性丑闻，涉及她的丈夫（杰克·洛登饰），同时还要不断应对过度保护她的姑妈（杰米·李·柯蒂斯饰）和患有广场恐惧症的弟弟（斯派克·费恩饰）带来的困扰。演员阵容还包括伍迪·哈里森、库梅尔·南贾尼、阿尤·艾德维利和丽贝卡·豪尔。
接受采访时，布鲁克斯正坐在福克斯片场他那间舒适平房里的安乐椅上，这里是他创办的格拉西电影公司长期所在地。办公室里摆满了他自己作品的纪念品，与老好莱坞的照片混在一起，其中有一张乔治·伯恩斯的签名照，还有一张克拉克·盖博与玛丽莲·梦露在《乱点鸳鸯谱》中的肖像照。一旁的桌子上堆满了各式各样的奖杯（他的奥斯卡小金人则存放在家中的柜子里）。
在该剧开播近40年后，布鲁克斯仍每周积极参与《辛普森一家》的制作，参与剧本围读并提出修改建议。当被问及为何在早可抽身的情况下仍坚持工作时，他表示：“只为博人一笑——这能让你保持真诚。它比高级健身房更让人受益。”
布鲁克斯的前作——2010年上映的《你怎么知道》——尽管这部风格独特的浪漫喜剧后来积累了一批忠实的小众影迷，但当时却遭到评论界普遍冷遇，观众也大多对其视而不见。片中由瑞茜·威瑟斯彭、保罗·路德、杰克·尼科尔森、伦尼·维尼托和凯瑟琳·哈恩共同演绎的病房场景，堪称当代神经喜剧的教科书级呈现。无论评价如何，这部作品问世至今已过去漫长的15年。
“他们就是这么跟我说的——反反复复地强调，”布鲁克斯带着恼怒的语气说道，“我一直很活跃，一直在创作。”
他笑着否认了需要为自己那几年的经历辩解的念头，并补充道："我现在可是有一套防御说辞了。"
他承认自己花了大约一年时间才从电影《你怎么知道》的舆论反响中恢复过来。在此期间，除了监制2016年的《成长边缘》、2018年的《冰盒》和2023年的《上帝，你在吗？我是玛格丽特》外，布鲁克斯还开始为后来定名为《艾拉·麦凯》的项目搜集素材。
他提到，自己的创作过程总是从与人交谈开始——这次是与不同层级的政治和治理相关人士交流——最终才形成剧本。
布鲁克斯说：“正确的创作流程应该是围绕故事展开并为之绞尽脑汁。你必须先有想讲的故事，没有故事就动笔非常危险。虽然我这么笨拙，但至少先构思出了人物。之后我花了很长时间终于完善了叙事——最初我笔下全是缺乏故事支撑的人物，后来故事才自然浮现。”
最终，赋予这部电影名字的角色特质逐渐成形。埃拉对工作充满热忱，她深入钻研法律细节，并与之建立起深厚的情感联系。例如，她热情推崇一项儿童免费牙科服务计划，因为灿烂的笑容能增强自信，而统计数据显示，这最终有助于提高毕业率。但埃拉对前老板那种看似本能的虚与委蛇毫无耐心。尽管影片以政治世界为背景，其主题却不仅限于政治。
布鲁克斯表示："我开始接触政界人士，但我认为政治并非我想要探讨的领域。这恰好是她的工作。"
“她是个总想解决问题的人，”他在谈到这个角色时说，“她天赋异禀，而她不可告人的秘密就是能让人们的生活变得更好。这就是她阴暗又难以启齿的秘密，也是驱动她的动力。我曾有幸与一位前州长及其伴侣共处，其间提到州长六年前在一次演讲中未曾感谢伴侣，这件事至今仍是未愈的伤痕。听到这里，我突然灵光一现。”
根据剧情线索——例如提及当时哪些州允许医用大麻——可将故事发生地缩小至12个可能的地点，其中包括罗德岛州。该州不仅是影片的主要取景地，其州议会大厦更作为重要场景多次出现。
对于29岁的英法混血演员麦琪（Mackey）而言，这是她首次担纲美国电影公司制作的主演角色。她因出演Netflix剧集《性爱自修室》崭露头角，并在国际热门影片《芭比》及爱情文艺片《热牛奶》中有过精彩表现。
麦琪在伦敦进行视频通话时，谈到她那位积极投身社会运动的州长时说：“我们截然不同。”她目前正参与格蕾塔·葛韦格执导的《纳尼亚传奇：魔法师的外甥》的拍摄工作。“她与我的文化背景不同，言谈举止也迥异。”
麦基补充道："吉姆（Jim）对敷衍了事的行为有着敏锐的洞察力，所以根本无法蒙混过关，我只能全力以赴，尽量无所畏惧。吉姆追求的是，除非尝试过所有途径，否则绝不轻言放弃。那时你才能停下，或许我们明天还会重新审视。这是一个持续的过程。身处其中是多么奇妙。虽然艰难，但保持这种节奏很有益处。就像肌肉始终在锻炼一样。"
影片的旁白由布鲁克斯的长期合作伙伴朱莉·卡夫娜（她也是《辛普森一家》中玛姬·辛普森的标志性配音）担任，她饰演埃拉的忠实助手，向我们解释故事背景设定在2008年——用她的话说，那是“我们彼此仍心存好感的更美好年代”。同年，巴拉克·奥巴马首次当选美国总统（尽管片中未提及此事）。那么布鲁克斯是否真的认为，在小布什时代末期，跨越政治分歧的人们曾更加友善相待？
“这千真万确，”他说道，“当然是真的。分裂是头新近出现的猛兽，妄图将我们吞噬。”
影片的核心支线围绕埃拉的父亲展开——这个由伍迪·哈里森饰演的角色以虚伪而绝望的魅力重新闯入女儿的生活，带着不可告人的目的。时隔多年，埃拉最终必须决定是否原谅他对家庭造成的种种伤害。
对这个角色而言，布鲁克斯得以重新审视自己与父亲的关系——他的父亲在他出生前就抛弃了家庭。
布鲁克斯在描述自己的感受时说：“这件事仍在变化中。”他称对方是个坏家伙。
我目睹了他对我们所有人造成的伤害。而我骨子里却带着一丝叛逆。好莱坞电影常以一句箴言作结：宽恕然后前行。宽恕为前行打开了大门。但我认为，若要让宽恕具有意义，就必须存在某些不可宽恕之事。总有些过错，理应永不原谅。
布鲁克斯表示：“这确实是推动我创作的关键因素。”
谈及父亲时，布鲁克斯突然停顿，原本轻快的表情黯淡下来。他用手指轻触眼角，仿佛要抑制即将涌出的泪水。当被问及拍摄这部电影是否帮助他化解了对父亲的怨恨时，他轻声承认：『完成这部作品后，我内心确实有些触动。但他（父亲）确实是个恶劣自私的人，可以说犯下了世间大多数罪过。』
然而，布鲁克斯并未像史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格的自传电影《造梦之家》那样，将核心家庭创伤作为主线叙事，而是将其作为次要情节，融入对一位女性在个人与职业困境中挣扎的刻画中。
“这就足够了。”他笑着说道，随即又振作起来。
这部电影不仅是冉冉升起的新星麦基在好莱坞的首个重要角色，还展现了杰米·李·柯蒂斯和阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯出色的配角表演。值得一提的是，詹姆斯·L·布鲁克斯与阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯是长期合作伙伴，两人曾互相执导对方作品，这种情况实属罕见。
詹姆斯·L·布鲁克斯曾在阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯执导的影片《真实生活》《现代爱情故事》和《迷失美国》中出演小角色。阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯因在《广播新闻》中的表演获得奥斯卡奖提名，并参演了詹姆斯·L·布鲁克斯的《我愿意做任何事》——该片最初是配有王子创作歌曲的音乐剧，但因试映反响惨淡，最终删除了所有音乐段落。
多年来，两人一直保持着友好关系。因此，当詹姆斯打电话给阿尔伯特，告诉他专门为他写了一个新角色时，阿尔伯特很快就做出了决定。阿尔伯特饰演的即将离任的州长，是对政客们的一种狡黠讽刺——他用魅力掩盖着几乎不加掩饰的野心，却又对埃拉怀有足够的真诚和真挚情感，这让他内心充满矛盾。再次与这位导演合作，对他来说根本无需犹豫。
阿尔伯特·布鲁克斯说道："听着，这世上只有三个人让我无法拒绝，而他正是其中之一。我总得弄清楚：我有机会吗？我能全力以赴吗？我能有所作为吗？而他向我保证我可以做到。于是我便收拾行装去了罗德岛。"
这位演员在洛杉矶通过电话表示：“他知道我对某些从未尝试过的角色很感兴趣，而我确实没演过这类人物——一个直率坦荡的政府职员，一位州长，所以立刻吸引了我。”他补充道：“于是他就说了句‘这是个很棒的角色’，毕竟人们都会这么说。”
另一方面，詹姆斯·L·布鲁克斯表示，选角埃拉这个角色相当困难，他们在考察了无数人选后，最终才选中了麦琪。
布鲁克斯表示：“这个有意识的梦想是为了致敬那些我认为在电影喜剧黄金时代极具影响力的人物——凯瑟琳·赫本、奥黛丽·赫本。我们要将那种精神和能量赋予现代气息。没错，荒诞元素是其中的一部分，但真实的痛苦、人类的处境也必须有所体现。这种对经典影片的致敬是非常刻意的。比如《费城故事》，我都记不清自己看过多少遍了。”
谈及麦琪为这个角色带来的特质，布鲁克斯表示：我认为她能驾驭《费城故事》这样的作品。
麦基表示，塑造埃拉这个角色的核心挑战在于如何展现其坚韧的特质，这既指她个人的性格特点，也体现了布鲁克斯式经典女主角的典型特征。她将其描述为一种无畏的精神——允许角色偶尔摇摆笨拙，但始终保持机智敏锐与清醒的头脑。
为了避免有人认为三度获得奥斯卡奖的人如今拍电影很容易，布鲁克斯很乐意表达不同看法，并表示这对他和其他人来说一样困难。
“这就像爬山一样。”他说道，并炫耀着自己将最艰难的教训转化为俏皮话的娴熟能力：“所有人都在向你挥手喊，‘回去吧，回去吧。’
他说：“如今拍摄院线电影可谓举步维艰。尤其是当你无法参照‘看，那个成功了，这个肯定也行’的经验时，难度就更大了——这种困难完全可以理解。正因机会来之不易，你才会格外珍惜每个镜头。能拥有这样的机会实属幸运，而你也深知这一点。我认为，这种珍视之情对整个电影制作过程都大有裨益。”
尽管电影制作行业正经历着变革，布鲁克斯却依然对未来充满乐观。他已在着手创作下一部剧本，并于近期第三次步入婚姻殿堂（其妻子詹妮弗·布鲁克斯是这部新片的制片人）。
“我真心相信，你无法用棍棒扼杀它，因为真心永远跳动，”他说道。“而且我始终确信，就在我们此刻交谈时，某个房间里的某个人正在做这件事——”他模仿打字的动作——“尽管困难重重，那个人终将拍成一部电影。此时此刻，这样的场景正在某处上演。”
布鲁克斯（Brooks）的终极技巧或许在于将清醒的现实主义与梦想家的乐观主义融为一体，这种真诚、苦乐参半且幽默的混杂风格，奠定了其'沉重喜剧'的基调。尽管埃拉·麦凯（Ella McCay）历经磨难，但影片最终仍传递出希望与振奋之感，流露出对美好未来的向往。
“我不相信人们会不喜欢喜剧，”他说道，这与好莱坞的主流趋势背道而驰。“显然，我希望作品能有实质内容，但这并不意味着你不能呈现真实困境的场景，尤其是对于这部电影而言。”
“我当然是想逗大家笑，”他补充道，“但这些话题实在难以启齿。我试图真实地反映生活，而生活总是免不了，你知道的，那些糟心事。”
The three-time Oscar winner behind Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News is back with his first film in 15 years, the richly warm character study Ella McCay.
Its easy to say that James L. Brooks loves his characters. You probably love them too: Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Shirley MacLaines Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment, Holly Hunters neurotic news producer Jane Craig in Broadcast News, having her regular morning cry.
With a legendary career in film and television as a writer, director and producer (winning three Oscars and more than 20 Emmys), Brooks has practically trademarked a certain kind of warm, affectionate storytelling, in which imperfect characters emerge as resilient and touching, while also being very human and funny.
His latest movie, Ella McCay, his first in 15 years (its in theaters Dec. 12), bears the filmmakers signature touch. Although in describing his loving relationship to his characters, Brooks, always with an eye for detail, takes exception to one thing.
Im just questioning the word love, says Brooks, 85, turning the idea over in his mind. I want to know them as people. I want to be true to them as people. And I think almost everybody in the picture is flawed.
An expressly political comedy set in a relatively manageable but unnamed American state in 2008, Ella McCay follows the 30s-ish title character (Emma Mackey) as she is tapped to move up from lieutenant governor to governor when her ambitious, charismatic boss (Albert Brooks) is picked to be secretary of the Interior. She is immediately embroiled in a relatively harmless sex scandal involving her husband (Jack Lowden) while also constantly worrying about her overprotective aunt (Jamie Lee Curtis) and agoraphobic brother (Spike Fearn). The cast includes Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri and Rebecca Hall.
For our interview, Brooks is seated in a comfy chair in the cozy bungalow that is the longtime home of his production company, Gracie Films, on the Fox lot. His office is full of memorabilia from his own projects mixed with photos of Old Hollywood, including one signed by George Burns and a portrait of Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe from The Misfits. A table off to the side is cluttered with miscellaneous awards. (His Oscars are in a closet at home.)
Nearly 40 years after the series began, Brooks is still actively involved with The Simpsons week to week, sitting in on table reads and offering notes and advice. As to what keeps him working on the show, when he easily could have stepped away long ago, Brooks says, Just to be pitching laughs it just keeps you honest. Its better than a good gym.
Brooks previous film, 2010s How Do You Know, was mostly dismissed by critics at the time and largely overlooked by audiences, although the unusual rom-com has since built its own small, dedicated fan base. A hospital room scene featuring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson, Lenny Venito and Kathryn Hahn is a modern screwball master class. Regardless of what one thinks of it, it has been a long 15 years since it came out.
So they tell me so they tell me repeatedly, Brooks says with an air of exasperation. I have been active. I produced.
Laughing at the notion of feeling he has to justify how he spent those years, he adds, I have such a defensive rap now.
He admits it took about a year to get over the reception to How Do You Know and in the intervening time, aside from producing 2016s The Edge of Seventeen, 2018s Icebox and 2023s Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret, Brooks at some point began gathering material for what would eventually become Ella McCay.
His writing process always begins with talking to people, he says in this case those involved in politics and governance at varying levels and eventually a screenplay emerges.
What should be the process is that you start and kill yourself over story, says Brooks. You have a story to tell. And its very dangerous to start without that. So, putz that I am, I had characters. And then I spent a long time, finally, on the narrative. I had pages filled with characters without a story and then the story happened.
Eventually the specifics of the character that would lend the movie its name began to take shape. Ella is fiercely committed to her job, burrowing into the minutiae of legislation to become deeply connected to it emotionally. For example, she passionately extols a program for free childrens dental services because a good smile leads to increased confidence, which statistics show can ultimately boost graduation rates. But Ella has no patience for the sort of glad-handing that seems like second nature to her former boss. Yet while the film is set in the world of politics, it is not exclusively about politics.
I was starting to talk to political people and I dont think politics is the thing that I wanted to examine, Brooks says. It happens to be her job.
Shes somebody who tries to fix things, he says of the character. She has a gift and her dirty secret is she can make peoples lives better. Thats her dark, dirty secret. Thats the motor that drives her. I had the good fortune to be with an ex-governor and the governors mate. And it came up that the governor had not thanked the mate six years ago in a speech. And it was still an open wound. And [hearing] that, something went click.
Clues in the story, such as a reference to which states had medical marijuana at the time, can be used to narrow the location down to 12 possibilities, including Rhode Island where much of the film was shot and whose state capitol building is a location for numerous scenes.
For Mackey, the 29-year-old French-English actor who broke out with a role on the Netflix series Sex Education and also appeared in films such as the international smash Barbie and the romantic drama Hot Milk, this was her first lead role in an American studio production.
We are very different, says Mackey of her crusading governor, on a video call from London, where she is currently in production on Greta Gerwigs Narnia: The Magicians Nephew. Shes from a different culture to me, speaks differently, acts differently.
Jim has a very good B.S. radar, so there was no hiding, I just had to go all out and try to be as fearless as I could be, Mackey adds. And what Jim seeks is that you dont stop until weve tried all avenues. Then you can finally stop and then maybe well revisit it tomorrow. Its continuous. How amazing to be in that. Its tough, but its good to be in that sort of rhythm. The muscles always exercising.
The narrator of the film, longtime Brooks collaborator (and the unmistakable voice of Marge Simpson) Julie Kavner as Ellas faithful assistant, explains to us that the story is set in 2008 or, as she puts it, a better time when we all still liked each other. That would also be the year Barack Obama was elected president for the first time, though he is never mentioned. So does Brooks really believe people liked each other more across the political divide at the end of the George W. Bush era?
Its absolutely true, he says. Of course its true. Division is a fairly recent beast that wants to devour us.
A core subplot in the film involves Ellas father, played with an unctuous, desperate charm by Harrelson, reappearing in her life after many years with his own agenda. Ella ultimately must decide whether she can forgive him for all the ways he wronged their family.
For Brooks the character was an opportunity to reconsider his own relationship with his father, who abandoned the family before he was born.
Its still gears shifting on it, Brooks says of his feelings. He calls him a bad guy.
I saw the damage that he did to all of us. And I like to have a little perversity in me. Hollywood movies end with something thats very often a true concept: forgive and move on. Forgiving opens the door to moving on. And I feel that in order for forgiveness to mean anything, theres got to be some unforgiveness. Something has to be unforgivable.
That was really a driving thing in the writing of this, Brooks says.
Thinking about his father, Brooks pauses and his buoyant demeanor dims as he puts a finger to his eye as if it might begin to well up. As to whether the process of making the film helped him resolve any of his own resentment toward his father, he quietly allows, Im almost feeling since I did this a little movement in me. But he was definitely a bad, selfish guy who committed, you know, most of the sins.
And yet rather than make the story of his core family trauma into something like Steven Spielbergs autobiographical The Fabelmans, Brooks makes it a secondary plot point in his portrait of a womans many personal and professional travails.
This was plenty, he says with a laugh, perking back up.
As much as the film is the first major Hollywood role for Mackey, a star in the making, it also features strong supporting performances from Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks. James L. Brooks and Albert Brooks are longtime collaborators, a rare situation where they have each directed each other.
James L. Brooks appeared in small parts in Albert Brooks films Real Life, Modern Romance and Lost in America. Albert Brooks was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Broadcast News and also appeared in James L. Brooks Ill Do Anything, which infamously began as a musical with songs by Prince but had the music stripped out after disastrous test screenings .
The two have remained friendly through the years, so when James called Albert having written a new part for him it didnt take long to decide. Alberts role as the outgoing governor is a sly send-up of political animals, his barely concealed ambition masked by charisma, with just enough sincerity and genuine affection for Ella to make him conflicted. Working with the director again was a no-brainer.
Look, thats one of the three people on the planet Im not going to say no to, says Albert Brooks. I always like to know: Do I have a chance? Can I put my teeth into this? Can I do anything with it? And he assured me that I would be able to. And I packed up and went to Rhode Island.
He knew I was intrigued by certain things I havent played and I have not played a character like this, sort of a straight-ahead government employee, a governor of a state, so that immediately interested me, the actor says on the phone from Los Angeles. So he just said, Its a great part, because thats what you say.
On the other hand, James L. Brooks says casting the part of Ella was difficult, looking at countless options before finally seeing Mackey.
The conscious dream was to pay tribute to what I think was so influential in the golden age of film comedy Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, says Brooks. To contemporize that spirit and that energy. Yes, screwballs part of it, but real pain, the human condition, has to be in there someplace. And that was very conscious, the tribute to those pictures. I mean The Philadelphia Story, I dont know how many times Ive seen it.
As to what Mackey brought to the part, Brooks says, I thought she could do The Philadelphia Story.
The whole challenge with Ella was to be able to sell the solidity of this person, says Mackey, describing not just her character but also the classic Brooksian heroine. She calls it the fearlessness while also being allowed to wobble and be clumsy, but always have wit and always have sharpness and clarity.
Lest anyone think that its easy for a three-time Oscar winner to make a movie these days, Brooks is happy to differ, saying it is as hard for him as for anyone else.
Its like climbing a mountain, he says, flaunting his well-honed ability to turn even the toughest-learned lesson into a playful one-liner: Everybodys waving at you, Go back, go back.
These are tough days to do a theatrical movie, he says. And to do a theatrical movie where you cant compare, Hey, look, that worked, so thisll work, makes it harder. Understandably harder. You appreciate getting the shot so much because its tough to come by. And youre lucky to have it. And youre aware of that. And I think that appreciation of that was good for the whole process of making the movie.
And yet Brooks, who is already working on his next script and recently got married for the third time (his wife Jennifer Brooks is a producer on the new film), remains upbeat about the future, even if the business of making movies is undergoing transformational change.
I really believe that you cant kill it with a stick, that the heart beats true, he says. And I always know for sure that, as were talking right now, somewhere in some room, somebodys doing this he mimes typing and against all odds, that person will get a movie made. Somewhere thats happening right now.
The mix of clear-eyed realism with a dreamers optimism might be Brooks ultimate trick, the bedrock of his mixed-up style of sincere, bittersweet and funny: comedies with a heavy heart. For all that Ella McCay goes through, in the end there is still a sense of hope and uplift, an aspiration for something better, emanating from the movie.
I dont believe people dont want comedy, he says, against prevailing Hollywood trends. Obviously, I hope that you have meat on the bone and that doesnt mean you cant do a real scene about real difficulty, especially with this picture.
Im certainly going for laughs, he adds. Its all such a hard thing to talk about. Im trying to be true to life, which always involves, you know, crap.
