He says he regularly turns down projects and public appearances but that he just cant say no to TCM.
Who else celebrates great old movies?
TCM is so important.
Credit: Everett Collection; Inset: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Brooks jokes he received 1,100 letters from every rabbi that ever saw it.
I didnt think I was sinful in any way, he says.
But if you could ridicule him and make people laugh, then you win.
Everett Collection
Its as simple as that.
It isnt as critical, dynamic, and frightening as it was then, he explains.
The name Hitler had some direct emotion connected to it.
He lived in the office, remembers Brooks.
He washed out his shorts, he did his shirt, he hung everything out on a line.
Theyd make out a check and theyd say Whats the name of the play?
Who should I make it out to?
Hed always say, The name of the play is cash.
And theyd make it out to cash.
That was the character when I was looking for an idea to write as a play.
He read it and said, Youve got 38 scenes.
Theres kind of a rule on Broadway one set, five characters.
Just the scenery alone will wipe me out.
This is a movie, Brooks says.
I took his word for it and turned it into a screenplay.
Brooks also wrote songs for the project as part of the ill-fated musical within the story.
I needed a musical number to send the Jews fleeing from the theater, he jokes.
It wasnt a hard leap to get into writing the notes.
From there, it was a matter of finding funding and assembling a cast.
I said, Joe, let me direct it because Ive written it.
I see the scenes, theyre in my head.
I know how to decorate it.
I know what should be in the room.
Ive seen it, it happened in my life.
Well save a lot of money if I direct it, Brooks recalls.
Joe said, Thats very wise, good.'
For Brooks, there was no one but Zero Mostel for the role of Max Bialystock.
He added his own peculiar, wonderful comic genius to it.
It was he who looked into the camera.
He said, Im sorry I looked into the camera like I could see the audience.
I said Good, I love it.
KEEP IT, he remembers.
I would do that the rest of my career, I would have characters look into the camera.
Zero invented that for me in my first movie.
Levine was eager to replace Wilder and offered Brooks a bigger budget to do so, but he refused.
Gene Wilder is eloquent.
Hes a great actor.
His comedy oozes from him; hes a natural, says Brooks.
I said, I cant get rid of him.
I wont, for any money in the world.
Really, it was the chemistry of Gene and Zero that made the movie work.
There was a line around the block when the magazines came out, he remembers.
It went from a failure in theNew York Timesto a grand hit in all those great magazines.
And that was only the beginning Brooks went on to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay for the film.
It was thrilling, he says.
It justified all the angst and all the sweat, blood, and tears.
To be rewarded with an Academy Award with the screenplay was beyond my wildest dreams.
The first movie was an absolute miracle that they let me make it.
They paid for it and people came to see it.
I went in the back of the theater and I heard them laughing.
It was absolutely amazing.
And I am so grateful to TCM for saving these treasures.
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