James L. Brooks

Broadcast News

Broadcast News

Since the 1970s, the name James L. Brooks has been synonymous with intelligent television comedy—his shows are insightful about work and love and always plugged in to the zeitgeist. He is also a master storyteller of the big screen, and none of his films was more quintessentially Brooks than Broadcast News. This caustic look inside the Washington news media stars Holly Hunter, in her breakout role, as a feisty television producer torn between an ambitious yet dim anchorman (William Hurt) and her closest confidant, a cynical veteran reporter (Albert Brooks). Brooks’s witty, gently prophetic film is a captivating transmission from an era in which ideas on relationships and the media were rapidly changing.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1987
  • 132 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #552

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director James L. Brooks and editor Richard Marks, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New audio commentary featuring Brooks and Marks
  • James L. Brooks—A Singular Voice, a new documentary on Brooks’s career in television and film, featuring actresses Marilu Henner and Julie Kavner, among other collaborators
  • Alternate ending and deleted scenes, with commentary by Brooks
  • New video interview with veteran CBS news producer Susan Zirinsky, one of the models for actress Holly Hunter’s character and an associate producer on the film
  • Featurette containing on-set footage and interviews with Brooks, Hunter, and actor Albert Brooks
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film critic Carrie Rickey

    New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director James L. Brooks and editor Richard Marks, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New audio commentary featuring Brooks and Marks
  • James L. Brooks—A Singular Voice, a new documentary on Brooks’s career in television and film, featuring actresses Marilu Henner and Julie Kavner, among other collaborators
  • Alternate ending and deleted scenes, with commentary by Brooks
  • New video interview with veteran CBS news producer Susan Zirinsky, one of the models for actress Holly Hunter’s character and an associate producer on the film
  • Featurette containing on-set footage and interviews with Brooks, Hunter, and actor Albert Brooks
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film critic Carrie Rickey

    New cover by Eric Skillman
Broadcast News
Cast
William Hurt
Tom Grunick
Albert Brooks
Aaron Altman
Holly Hunter
Jane Craig
Robert Prosky
Ernie Merriman
Lois Chiles
Jennifer Mack
Joan Cusack
Blair Litton
Peter Hackes
Paul Moore
Credits
Director
James L. Brooks
Written and produced by
James L. Brooks
Executive producer
Polly Platt
Coproducer
Penney Finkelman Cox
Director of photography
Michael Ballhaus
Production design
Charles Rosen
Editor
Richard Marks
Casting
Ellen Chenoweth
Music
Bill Conti
Associate producers
Kristi Zea
Associate producers
Susan Zirinisky
Costume designer
Molly Maginnis

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