Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks took to Twitter on Thursday to express his growing concerns about the iPhone search application Siri. Announcing that he was "on the brink of an insight through a troubling plot against us," Brooks spent the next 45 minutes tweeting observations about the app. Mainly, he suspects Siri reflects our emotions, nothing "I believe that when I was hyper the other day she talked faster." How, exactly, this proves Siri is plot against mankind is unclear. Nevertheless, Brooks is optimistic "we have a chance against her diabolical programmers" if he heed his warnings.
Al Jean, executive producer and current showrunner:
"Nobody's perfect," Mr. Jean said in a telephone interview. "But I don't think we have terrible secrets to hide."
John Ortved, author of The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History:
The story ran in the August 2007 issue, and by the fall I'd signed on with Faber and Faber to expand the material into a book. When word of this got out, [executive producer James L.] Brooks sent a letter to every current Simpsons employee, and all the former ones he thought mattered, asking them not to speak to me. The writers' agents sent denial after denial for interview requests and eventually stopped responding altogether. When I asked a mutual acquaintance to put in a query with Ari Emanuel, chief of the Endeavor agency (now WME Entertainment) - where many of the Simpsons writers were represented - Emanuel told my friend he couldn't even begin to talk about it. James L. Brooks was on the warpath.
Along with at least 100 other showrunners, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks joined in solidarity with the WGA strike, signing a pledge and vowing that they "will do no writing" until a deal is made. Wait, they still work on the show? [WGA.org]
The Simpsons Movie, which has been anticipated for nearly two decades, and in production over the past three years or so, is finally coming out in only six short months from now! What's the latest status on its progress?
"We're still trying to figure out what the movie is about," admitted show producer James L. Brooks during a recent Television Critics Association panel discussions attended by FilmStew.
[FilmStew.com]
