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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Terry Gilliam

April 5, 2012

Acclaimed director and comedy legend, Terry Gilliam–actors adore him, money men want to restrain him, and the gods, well, what the heck, gods?  Even the mad auteur himself has acknowledged a “Curse of Gilliam.”   So let’s take a (cautious) look at ten things about the man, the movies and the bad fortune that won’t keep him down.

1. Most likely to succeed…

Gilliam was not just the American in Monty Python but the “all-american”:  a Minnesota-born prom king, he was voted “most likely to succeed” in high school and even considered becoming a missionary.

2. What a knight…

On Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Gilliam rarely appeared on camera, but cameo alert, comedy nerds:  he’s the knight in armor who randomly appears to head-bash a character with a rubber chicken when a sketch has run its course.

3. Friends with money…

Were Gilliam’s legendary budget battles with Hollywood studios because his financiers weren’t “rock ‘n’ roll” enough?  Low-budget smash, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was funded by friends in Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull.  Life of Brian was bankrolled by George Harrison.

4. A well-placed ad…

Speaking of which, Gilliam was so desperate over Universal’s butchered edit of Brazil, he placed a full-page ad in VARIETY asking they stop ruining his picture.  He prevailed only after he personally screened his own version of the film for critics and won Best Picture from the LA Film Critics Assn.

5. Begging never hurts…

He went the public plea route again in 1996.  Feeling ThinkFilm bungled the theatrical release of Tideland, he greeted fans outside a Daily Show appearance carrying a cardboard sign reading “Studio-less Filmmaker.  Family to Support.  Will Direct for Food.”

6. Near-hire at Hogwarts…

Gilliam was J.K Rowling’s first choice to direct the Harry Potter franchise, but Fox felt Chris Columbus was ‘safer.’  Other at-one-time Gilliam projects:  Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,  The Addams Family and Watchmen.

7. Dream project disaster…

His 2000 dream project Who Killed Don Quixote? was such a production disaster it inspired an “unmaking of” documentary, Lost in La Mancha.  But the good news:  Gilliam hasn’t given up on the film.  It’s back in development with Robert Duvall and Ewan McGregor attached.

8. More disasters…

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was also struck down by the shocking death of its star, Heath Ledger, half-way through filming.  That’s not all:  in post-production, the film’s producer also died and Gilliam was hit by a bus, cracking his vertebrae.

9. No longer the “All-American”…

Gilliam has primarily resided in England since the 1960′s and in 2006 he formally renounced his American citizenship in protest of George W. Bush.  By law, he’s now only allowed to visit the United States thirty days a year.

10. Still busy as ever…

Now in his seventies, Gilliam’s busier than ever.  Recent projects include directing an Arcade Fire webcast, his first opera, The Damnation of Faust, and a short film, The Wholly Family.  He’s also actively updates his doings on Facebook.  We’ll end with this choice message he posted to John Cleese a few months ago:  “Dear John, you may remember me. We were in a group several centuries ago called Marty Feldman’s Flying Circus…I’ve been very lonely since the group broke up and all the others died. I hope you are still alive.”

Calling all Monty Python fans!  This month Ovation is airing Holy Flying Circus, the story of the outraged, and sometimes violent, response to Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. Holy Flying Circus premieres on Saturday April 7th at 10pm.

Brett Barth is a freelance writer living in the constant state of Venice, CA.

Image: bafta