214 Quotes by Albert Brooks

You know, I became a director out of necessity. I was writing comedies, and I couldn’t find anybody to deliver it correctly.

I’ve always liked to think ahead. Not stupid-far ahead. A hundred years doesn’t interest me. But 20 years interests me, and more for what happens to humans as opposed to things.

Regrets are stupid; they don’t mean anything and they don’t add up to anything.

One of the things I like about a character: I always think it’s fascinating when a character can turn on a dime and go from one emotion to another. I like watching that.

Even though my father was a radio comedian, it wasn’t cool to say, at a young age, ‘I want to be a comedian.’

Well, you know, with every character, if you’re going to expose yourself, you’ve got to figure out every detail that you’re going to play. So there’s no character that you can just go put on his shirt and be fully prepared.

You always got to be happy when somebody likes what you do. It’s stupid not to be happy.

When I audition, I understand what it takes and the insecurities that come with it. If I do anything, I put actors at ease. I used to tell directors who weren’t actors, the best thing they could do was take an acting class for a couple of months. Just to understand.

One thing about Los Angeles is it feels like it's not new. It feels like it's already been built, and it's deteriorating, except for the places they're trying to make nicer. But in general, you drive all through the city, and the city feels like it was new a long time ago.