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Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam was the token American guy who did those funny little cardboard animations for the Monty Python team. He co-wrote much of the Python canon with his fellow stars and was responsible for a lot of Life of Brian. Always keen to inject darker twists to many a fairytale, Gilliam is a great film-maker, if a somewhat over-ambitious one.

After the great post-Python Jabberwocky, Gilliam began work on his first trilogy; Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Each of these self-contained films are both very funny and at the same time quite dark: the exploits of young Kevin and the dwarven Time Bandits played to full slapstick effect countered by the somewhat eerie ending, the daft Orwellian idiocy of Brazil plagued by nightmarish dreams and the epic exploits of Munchausen set against the backdrop of a costly and bloody war.

Terry Gilliam writes stories that are not always acceptable Hollywood fare, and has found himself becoming increasingly marginalised for his grandiose and profit-eluding epics, Munchausen losing record sums. Hollywood backers aside, many famous actors have been part of Gilliam's experiments: Robert de Niro, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, all of Monty Python and so on.

His second trilogy of films has been a lot more conservative and accessible, but still quite daring - The Fisher King (homelessness, insanity and fairytales), Twelve Monkeys (time-travel, insanity and global viruses) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson, insanity and drugs). All have been fairly successful and wooed back his backers for more personal projects. However, after his latest film, Quixote, collapsed in a financial ruin (of which "Lost in La Mancha" was made) he is becoming increasingly frustrated by how financial backing seems to be going elsewhere onto 'safer' projects. With luck, Terry Gilliam will have gotten back on his feet and gotten Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens" filmed soon.

Terry Gilliam makes intelligent films and tells good stories. If money was no object, imagine the kind of films this man could make! He has a love for style and cares about content. However, his films are deemed inaccessible or cult by the blockbuster-loving public, who really should know far better!

Films you must see of his:

Brazil
Time Bandits, (recently re-released, so no excuses!)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Twelve Monkeys
The Fisher King

Links:

http://www.trond.com/brazil/
http://www.ambidextrouspics.com/html/terry_gilliam.html

submitted by Davy G

Focus on: James Woods | Terry Gilliam