{"product_id":"albert-brooks-interviews-9781496849984","title":"Albert Brooks: Interviews","description":"\u003ci\u003eAlbert Brooks: Interviews \u003c\/i\u003ebrings together fourteen profiles of and conversations with Brooks (b. 1947), in which he contemplates, expounds upon, and hilariously jokes about the connections between his show business upbringing, an ambivalence about the film industry, the nature of fame and success, and the meaning and purpose of comedy. Throughout all these encounters, Brooks expresses an unwavering commitment to his own artistic expression as a filmmaker and a rejection of mainstream conventions. With his questioning and critical disposition, nothing seems certain for Albert Brooks except for the integrity of art and the necessity for a wry skepticism about the incongruities of everyday life in corporate America. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBrooks is neither a Hollywood insider nor an outsider. He's somewhere in-between. Since the early 1970s, this inimitable actor-writer-director has incisively satirized the mass media system from within. After initial work as an inventive comedian, both live and on network television, Brooks contributed six shorts to the first season of \u003ci\u003eSaturday Night Live\u003c\/i\u003e, which earned him a cult following for their avant-garde form and sensibility. These were followed by his feature debut, \u003ci\u003eReal Life\u003c\/i\u003e, the first of only seven films--including \u003ci\u003eModern Romance\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLost in America\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eDefending Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e--that Brooks has directed to date. His limited output reflects not only the difficulty in financing idiosyncratic films, but equally the exacting seriousness which Brooks has in making audiences laugh and think at the same time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlexander Greenhough\u003c\/b\u003e teaches in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Mississippi","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50522889355538,"sku":"9781496849984","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f4f01f20-5539-453e-83ce-54b25594fbb5.jpg?v=1731128017","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/albert-brooks-interviews-9781496849984","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}