I've spent several years in Hollywood, and I still think the movie heroes are in the audience.

Mizner’s quip plays on Hollywood’s mythology of heroic stars and screen protagonists by relocating “heroism” to ordinary people. The joke implies that the real courage, decency, and endurance are more often found among those who watch movies than among those who make them—an inversion that also satirizes the film industry’s self-importance. Coming from Mizner, a famed Broadway wit and cynic about money and fame, the line fits his broader tendency to puncture glamour with streetwise skepticism. It can be read as both a compliment to audiences (their lives contain the real stakes) and a jab at Hollywood’s manufactured narratives.