In Hollywood, Brooks met John Huston, who became his friend, mentor, and occasional collaborator. On the film "Key Largo," Huston suggested that Brooks come to the set every day, with the idea of encouraging Brooks to follow in his own footsteps as a writer-director. The film's cinematographer, Karl Freund, had also done some directing. He took it upon himself to offer Brooks advice in the form of two short films he brought in for Brooks to screen.
"They were porno films," says Brooks, "and they were rather good. In fact, I ran 'em twice. Next day I went back and told Karl that they were very good. "I directed them!" he said. "I was confused. I asked, so what's the lesson in direction?" "You don't get it?" Karl said. "No," I said. "Well," he said, "one day you'll direct your first movie and you'll say to yourself, where do I put the camera for this shot? Remember, just get to the [bleep]'in point! And to this day, when I go to line up a shot for the camera, I think to myself, get to the point!"
Brooks signed with MGM with the promise that he'd get a chance to direct. But when he was writing a film for Clark Gable, Louis G. Mayer reneged on the promise, saying he didn't want to let Brooks direct such a big star in his first film as a director. "You'll do the next one, " Mayer promised."
But next time, he was writing a film set to star Ricardo Montalban. And now there was another problem: "You've never directed a movie, and he's not yet a star. You'll do the next one." Next up was a script for Cary Grant. Brooks ran into Grant, who'd read the first part of the script and liked it. Brooks offered up his problem: "I'm supposed to direct the film, but they're gonna say, how can I direct Cary Grant, such a big talent?" Grant said, "So you've never directed before." "No," I said. "Well," he said, "if the rest of the script turns out like this, I guess what you don't know about directing, I do." "And that day, I became a director!" says Brooks.
During the shooting of that film, Brooks was so nervous he stood too close to the camera and suffered an accident. "The camera rolled over my foot. I refused to go to the hospital. I told Grant, if I leave this set for 15 minutes, they'll have another director down here." And Grant said, "If they have another director, they'll have to get another actor. Go to the hospital." "He was a special man, Grant, " says Brooks. "He was fearless."
Passionate and contentious to the end, Richard Brooks died in 1992. As the film finishes, Brooks sums up his career: "I love the movies. I love making them, because I love the people who make the movies. And they are people who make movies. Not buildings, not logos - it's people who make movies. I love 'em."
In Hollywood, Brooks met John Huston, who became his friend, mentor, and occasional collaborator. On the film "Key Largo," Huston suggested that Brooks come to the set every day, with the idea of encouraging Brooks to follow in his own footsteps as a writer-director. The film's cinematographer, Karl Freund, had also done some directing. He took it upon himself to offer Brooks advice in the form of two short films he brought in for Brooks to screen.