Everything about Terry Gilliam totally explained
Terrence Vance Gilliam (born
22 November 1940) is an
American-born
British filmmaker, animator, and member of the
Monty Python comedy troupe. He has the distinction of being the only American-born Python, as the rest of the group are all native Britons.
Personal life
Early life
Gilliam was born in
Medicine Lake, Minnesota. His father was a
traveling salesman for
Folgers before becoming a
carpenter. Gilliam has two siblings: a sister two years younger, and a brother ten years younger.
The family moved to
California because of his sister's
asthma, and Terry Gilliam enrolled into
Birmingham High School. He became class president, senior
Prom King, was voted "Most Likely to Succeed," and got straight As. During high school, he discovered
Mad magazine, which was then edited by
Harvey Kurtzman; this later influenced his work.
When Gilliam graduated from high school, he attended
Occidental College, at first studying
physics, then switching to
fine arts before finally majoring in
political science. Gilliam contributed to the college magazine,
Fang, becoming the editor during his junior year and turning it into a tribute to Kurtzman, to whom he later sent copies. While in college, Gilliam was a member of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After finishing college, Gilliam worked briefly for an advertising agency before Kurtzman offered him a job at
Help! magazine.
Later life
Gilliam has been married to the British make-up and costume designer Maggie Weston (who worked on
Flying Circus, many of the Python movies and Gilliam's movies up to
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) since 1973. The two have had three children, Amy, Holly, and Harry, who have also appeared in several of Gilliam's films.
In 1968, Gilliam obtained British
citizenship and held a dual American and British citizenship for 38 years. In January 2006, he renounced his American citizenship. In an interview with Der Spiegel he described the action as a protest against U.S. President George W. Bush, but in an earlier interview with The Onion AV Club he also indicated that it was related to concerns about future tax liability for his wife and children. As a result of renouncing his citizenship, Gilliam is only permitted to spend 30 days per year in the United States, less than ordinary British citizens. held in the nearby hill town of
Montone.
Career
Monty Python
Gilliam was a part of
Monty Python's Flying Circus from its formation, at first credited as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits), later as a full member. His cartoons linked the show's sketches together, and defined the group's visual language in other media (such as LP and book covers, and the title sequences of their films).
Besides doing the animations, he also appeared in several sketches, though he rarely had any main roles and did considerably less acting in the sketches. Instead, he usually played parts that no one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or uncomfortable costumes, such as a recurring knight in armour who would end sketches by walking on and hitting one of the other characters over the head with a plucked chicken) and took a number of small roles in the films, including
Patsy in
Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the jailer in
Life of Brian.
Animations
Terry Gilliam started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist; one of his early
photographic strips for
Help! featured future Python cast-member
John Cleese. Moving to England, he animated features for
Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured future Pythons
Eric Idle,
Terry Jones, and
Michael Palin.
Gilliam's
surreal animations for
Monty Python have a distinctive style. He mixed his own art, characterized by soft gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from
antique photographs, mostly from the
Victorian era.
Directing
Gilliam went on to become a
motion picture writer and director.
His films are usually highly imaginative
fantasies. Most of Gilliam's movies include plot-lines that seem to occur partly or completely in the characters'
imaginations, raising questions about the definition of
identity and
sanity. He often shows his opposition to
bureaucracy and
authoritarian regimes. He also distinguishes "higher" and "lower" layers of society, with a disturbing and
ironic style. His movies usually feature a fight or struggle against a great power which may be an emotional situation, a human-made
idol, or even the person himself, and the situations don't always end happily. There is often a dark,
paranoid atmosphere and unusual characters who formerly were normal members of
society. His scripts feature
black comedy and often end with a dark
tragicomic twist.
His films have a distinctive look, often recognizable from just a short clip;
Roger Ebert has said "his world is always
hallucinatory in its richness of detail." There is often a
baroqueness about the movies, with, for instance, high-tech
computer monitors equipped with low-tech
magnifying lenses in
Brazil, and in
The Fisher King a red
knight covered with flapping bits of cloth. He also is given to incongruous
juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness, or antique and modern. Most of his movies are shot almost entirely with extremely wide lenses of 28 mm
focal length or less, and extremely
deep focus.
Production problems
Gilliam has made a few extremely expensive movies beset with production problems. After the lengthy quarreling with
Universal Studios over
Brazil, Gilliam's next picture,
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, cost around US$46 million, and then earned only about US$8 million in US ticket sales.
In the mid-1990s, Gilliam and
Charles McKeown developed a script for
Time Bandits 2; the project never came to be, as several of the original actors had died. He also attempted to direct a version of
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, which collapsed due to disagreements over its budget and choice of lead actor.
In 1999, Gilliam attempted to film
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, budgeted at US$32.1 million, among the highest-budgeted films to use only European financing; but in the first week of shooting, the
actor playing
Don Quixote (
Jean Rochefort) suffered a
herniated disc, and a flood severely damaged the set. The film was canceled, resulting in an
insurance claim worth US$15 million. Although the film was canceled, the story behind the whole production was filmed by a second crew hired by Gilliam to document the process. This production story was made into the documentary
Lost in La Mancha. In recent years, both Gilliam and the film's co-lead,
Johnny Depp, have expressed interest in reviving the project. However, the insurance company involved in the failed first attempt currently holds the right to the script.
He has attempted twice to adapt
Alan Moore's
Watchmen comics into a film. Both attempts (in 1989 and 1996, respectively) were unsuccessful. Most recently, unforeseeable problems again befell a Gilliam project when actor
Heath Ledger died in New York City during the filming of
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Gilliam's reputation for production problems has been sufficient for the satirical newspaper
The Onion to run a news article entitled "Terry Gilliam Barbecue Plagued By Production Delays."
Gilliam has helmed some successes.
The Fisher King (1991) was nominated for five
Academy Awards,
Twelve Monkeys grossed over US$168 million worldwide, and
The Brothers Grimm has grossed over US$105 million worldwide. However, according to
Box Office Mojo, his films have grossed an average of $26,009,723.
Future projects
Gilliam has several projects in various states of development, including an adaptation of
Neil Gaiman and
Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy novel
Good Omens; Gilliam also has in mind for the leads
Johnny Depp as Crowley and
Robin Williams as Aziraphale.
In the near future, Gilliam may direct - or be involved in the production of - the animated band
Gorillaz' movie, due out in 2008 or 2009. In a September 2006 interview with
Uncut magazine,
Damon Albarn was reported saying "... we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved."
Recurring actors in Gilliam-directed films
Gilliam has shown a propensity to work with particular actors in numerous productions. These include all of his fellow
Monty Python alumni (
Graham Chapman, Cleese, Idle, Jones, and Palin), as well as
Jeff Bridges,
Johnny Depp,
Katherine Helmond,
Ian Holm,
Michael Jeter,
Simon Jones,
Heath Ledger,
Charles McKeown,
Derrick O'Connor,
Christopher Plummer,
Jonathan Pryce,
Jack Purvis,
Peter Vaughan,
Jim Broadbent, and
Robin Williams.
Gilliam and Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling, author of the
Harry Potter series, is a fan of Gilliam's work. Consequently, he was Rowling's first choice to direct
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2000.
Warner Brothers refused to consider Gilliam as director, instead selecting
Chris Columbus for the job. Recently, Gilliam stated in relation to this episode, "I was the perfect guy to do Harry Potter. I remember leaving the meeting, getting in my car, and driving for about two hours along
Mulholland Drive just so angry. I mean, Chris Columbus' versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian."
Despite the rumors, Gilliam has stated that he'll never direct any Potter film.
The Secret Tournament
In 2002, Gilliam directed a series of television advertisements called
The Secret Tournament. The advertisements were part of
Nike's
World Cup campaign and featured a secret three-on-three tournament between the world's best players inside a huge tanker ship, with the
Elvis Presley song
A Little Less Conversation playing during the advertisements. The advertisements were hugely popular and critically acclaimed.
Slava's Diabolo
In 2006, Gilliam directed the stage show
Slava's Diabolo, created and staged by Russian
clown artist
Slava Polunin. The show combines Polunin's clown style, characterized by deep non-verbal expression and interaction with the audience, with Gilliam's rich visuals and surrealistic imagery. The show premiered at the Noga hall of the Gesher theater in
Jaffa,
Israel.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
On
23 January 2007, Gilliam announced that he'd been working on a new project with writing partner Charles McKeown. One day later, the fansite Dreams reported that the new project was entitled
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. On
3 October 2007, Dreams confirmed that Gilliam's next project will be
Imaginarium, slated to star
Christopher Plummer and
Tom Waits, and scheduled for release in 2009. Production began in December 2007 in
London.
On
22 January 2008, production of the film was disrupted following the death of
Heath Ledger in
New York City.
Variety reports that Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing. Although production was suspended indefinitely by January 24, Gilliam continues working to salvage the film, stating his intention to dedicate the film to Ledger. In February 2008 actors
Johnny Depp,
Jude Law, and
Colin Farrell reportedly signed on to continue Ledger's role, transforming in to multiple incarnations of his character in the "magical" world of the film.
Filmography
Awards & nominations
The Fisher King (1991)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Tideland (2005)
An asteroid, 9619 Terrygilliam, is named in his honor.Further Information
Get more info on 'Terry Gilliam'.
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