https://www.maximotv.com Actress Jamie Lee Curtis gives a speech at the unveiling ceremony for James L. Brooks' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 6910 Hollywood Blvd, near the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. #jamieleecurtis
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00:00Our next speaker has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an actress,
00:06hitting new heights with her performance in the film Everything Everywhere All
00:10At Once, for which she won many awards, Oscars, she hates this part, Halloween,
00:15True Lies, Trading Places of a Fish Called Wanda, Freaky Friday, Freakier Friday,
00:20you're gonna see her in Ellen McKay, my friend Jamie Lee Curtis.
00:25Thank you so much.
00:27Hi, everybody.
00:32How about look at the day in the City of Angels for James L. Brooks.
00:37I mean, come on.
00:39This is, you know, everyone around the country is seeing this thinking, wow, this is Hollywood.
00:46And guess what, Jim?
00:47As he stares at me, this is Hollywood.
00:50So, good morning, everybody.
00:52On May 4th of 2023, I received a handwritten letter from James L. Brooks and it read,
01:03Dear Jamie Lee, I've worked on this script forever.
01:07We shoot in the fall.
01:09I'd love you to be Helen.
01:11I direct much better than I handwrite.
01:14Jim.
01:15Now, when you decide to try a career as an actor in show-off business, the first hustle is just for a job.
01:24Any job.
01:25Any chance.
01:26Any chance.
01:27For someone to give you a chance to try to create something from maybe, if you're lucky, a line of dialogue on a page.
01:34A chance to turn that line into a character's history and hope that someone will see it and maybe give you a chance to do it again.
01:43This time with maybe two lines and a chance at a slightly deeper character sketch.
01:50And all the while remembering the oldest movie adage, there are no small parts.
01:55Well, in my long career in film and television and commercial advertising, Activia.
02:05Yes, I sold yogurt that makes you shit for seven years for money.
02:12These last few years, I've been having pretty amazing creative opportunities.
02:19And what I still remember is that it's still all about the words on the page and the writing and that you are still only as good as the writing and the directing of that writing.
02:31And that is why we are here today.
02:33And since Danny waxed poetic about their friendship and your history in television, I thought I would, you know, talk about impressions from our collective experiences in movie theaters with James L. Brooks.
02:52So now forgive me, everyone, for my love of a good pun.
02:56But I am going to utter some terms of endearment and broadcast the news to the world that James L. Brooks is simply the El Mejor writer and director.
03:10Please excuse my Spanglish.
03:13So how do you know if it's good?
03:18Well, for me, it's the frisson, the goosebumps where the hair on my arms and legs stand up at attention.
03:25And I'll do anything that stimulates that response.
03:30Because isn't that what art is for?
03:32To tell essential truths about how complicated and contradictory and deeply human and funny and flawed and exquisite we all are.
03:43And then we see ourselves in the funny foibles and fragility of the characters we get to watch on the screen and we relate.
03:51And it gives us comfort knowing we are not alone.
03:54I hope you can now understand the absolute jaw dropping moment for me when I received the letter from James L. Brooks, where he asked me to play Aunt Helen in his latest film, Ella McKay, a movie for exactly this moment where families are fractured and people are hurting.
04:13And one woman's idealism, our Ella McKay lifts us.
04:18And as Jim writes at the end of the movie, yes, government can help folks.
04:24But in the end, for any grand plan to work, humans help humans.
04:30And one last thought, there is no opposite word for trauma, but hope comes close.
04:37Ella McKay was one of the most exciting experiences I've had in my many years as an actress.
04:43And all of us involved from the extraordinary cast, my friend Woody, Bob Ellswood and his crew, we all wanted to do our absolute best for Jim because the writing, your writing is so special.
04:57So who else today tells a story filled with heart and politics and contradictions and complexity and humor and rage better than James L. Brooks?
05:08The simple answer is no one.
05:10Because after my almost 50 years as a professional actor, James L. Brooks is simply as good as it gets.
05:21And that I get to stand here in my hometown and welcome him to this August collection of artists on this boulevard of dreams is definitely a pinch me moment.
05:33Thank you, Jim, for your trust and your confidence and your love.
05:37And most of all, your glorious words.
05:40God bless you all.
05:41Let's bring Jim Brooks up here, but I'm gonna let Mark do it.
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