Product Description
"Dark Knights & Holy Fools" is the first and only authorized, comprehensive study of the work of Terry Gilliam, one of today's most innovative and influential filmmakers.Since 1969, when Gilliam became the only American among the otherwise all-British Monty Python team, his work has won awards and acclaim for its originality and imagination.This volume traces thirty years of work and art of Terry Gilliam, from his pre-Python days, through the astounding adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, released in 1998.

Each chapter deals in depth with a different production, covering the story behind the movie and its making, and including a complete critical analysis of the film as well as detailed cast and credit listings.

Using Gilliam's own drawings, storyboards, and scripts, this book builds a complete archive of the director's work detailing his renowned immense sets and labyrinth stories of man against bureaucracy (Brazil, 12 Monkeys), triumphant tales of imagination winning over mediocrity (Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King), and, of course, something completely different (Monty Python and the Holy Grail).

Additionally, each chapter features a new, previously unpublished, in-depth interview with Gilliam in which his movies are assessed as a complete body of work within the context of his life.Amazon.com Review
With Dark Knights and Holy Fools, film writer BobMcCabe has done a masterful job of depicting the evolution of afilmmaker and his vision. Terry Gilliam, of course, is the mind behindthe bizarre and hilarious animations for Monty Python's Flying Circus,as well as the films Time Bandits, Brazil, and The Fisher King,among others. Using interviews with Gilliam and a few of hiscollaborators, McCabe takes readers on a chronological journey throughthe Python alum's work, going back as far as cartoons from his highschool and college days. The book is gloriously stuffed with Gilliam'splayfully wicked and distinctly rounded drawings--everything frompolitical posters to stills from Python clips to pencilled storyboardsfor his films. The storyboards in particular are fascinating becausethey give insight into how Gilliam's mind works as he maps out hismovies.

Dark Knights and Holy Fools also offers interestingglimpses at the inner workings of the film industry. McCabe chroniclesGilliam's well-publicized battles with studios over budgets, runninglengths, and less-than-sunny endings, illustrating the frustrations oftrying to push art through a bureaucracy (and, to a lesser extent, thefrustrations of trying to reason with a visionary). Just as engrossingare the accounts of how ideas that don't quite fit into one film canmaterialize in another, and the amount of pure serendipity that wentinto some of the indelible images Gilliam has created. This is alavish and thoughtful treatment of one of our most unpredictablemodern directors. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great Gilliam companion!
This is the perfect book for Terry Gilliam fans. It traces his history as an animator and director through the early years, into the Monty Python legacy and all the way to his feature films. This book is filled with color pictures from all of his projects, and even discusses some of the projects that never got off the ground. Very informative, but dated as this book came out right after the release of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Still, a great book if you truly enjoyed this innovative directors work!

A Fantastic, colorful showcase of the art & film of Gilliam
A fantastic art book about the work of Terry Gilliam.Some of his art has been reprinted elsewhere, but never in large format and never, in many cases, in full color.It is quite thourough, for what it is.The text and Bob McCabe's interviews give the reader the facts about what is being covered in each chapter.However, the artwork is the star of this book.If you want to know about Terry Gilliam, the artist, then this is the book for you.As Gilliam says in his intro 'you can write about them (the movies) all you want but these movies are basically there to be seen.'
If you want to know about Terry Gilliam in detail, then the book Gilliam on Gilliam, which is basically a book length interview with Gilliam, is the book for you.I think the books compliment each other nicely: 'Gilliam on Gilliam' for everything you could possibly want to know about Terry Gilliam and 'Dark Knights & Holy Fools' for Terry Gilliam's quirky, beautiful, humorous art.

The right way to look at an imaginative director
Dark Knights & Holy Fools is a portrait of director Terry Gilliam expressed through comment, interviews with the great man, and his work itself. A descriptive thread goes through each stage of his work, from before his first public beginnings as a cartoonist, to each of his films, made and unmade.

It's a biography, a reference, a wonderful collection of illustrations and photographs, and a celebration of a cinematic genius. If you enjoy Gilliam's work, I suspect this ought to be on your bookshelf.

Our most imaginative director gets comprehensive treatment
This is good. The pictures from Gilliam's archive and exclusive interviews make it special, added to McCabe's obvious enthusiasm for his subject. The book will seem inadequate once Terry makes his next film, but for now it is a good overview of an interesting career. More time could have been spent on some of the Monty Python work, and some of the pictures suffer from sloppy presentation, but that's a minor details when the book is so readable.

Strange goings on
This book does go into good detail of each of Gilliam's films, but I was left thinking that I wanted to know more on certain films.Now I want a making of book on each of his films! A bonus is the three chapters thatmention the projects that he never got off the ground - as gilliam isfamous for having problems with the studios. The major let down is thelayout of the text.Still a good read - and a great colectable for Gilliamfans. ... Read more

Product Description
An intimate look at the films of Terry Gilliam, visionary director and animator

Terry Gilliam is a famously candid commentator on his own work, and in these specially recorded interviews, he reflects on how his Midwestern childhood and early career as an animator--including his work as the only American member of Monty Python--prepared him to undertake his extraordinary adventures in cinema.

His films are distinctively dark, fantastic, and strangely hilarious. From the medieval mock-epic Monty Python and the Holy Grail to the mythic, paranoid worlds of The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gilliam has pursued a totally personal, uncompromising vision. This has led to legendary battles with studios and financiers, notably over The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil, which is now widely considered a classic.

The book includes Gilliam's storyboards for the films--a unique glimpse at his creative process--along with his original cartoons and black-and-white photographs throughout.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The best book on Gilliam
If you like Terry Gilliam's movies, you need this book. He covers his childhood in surprising detail, talks about the Monty Python years, and then gets into each movie. The book drags near the end, but that's primarily due to the exhaustion you feel reading about this stuff --- like his movies, you can get overwhelmed by the details. This is the best on Gilliam I've read, and one of the best books in the 'Director on Director' series.

Great! (For Gilliam fans, that is...)
If you happen to be a Terry Gilliam fan, you have to read this. If you don't happen to be a Gilliam fan, but are an aspiring filmmaker, this is an invaluable source of insight. Hell, there are many pros who should read this!

Reading these interviews puts you inside the creative mind of a filmmaking genius (yes, I dare say that). There's a reason for everything that's on the screen, and one understands that Gilliam's knack for weirdness is a little more than that... there's more to his filmmaking virtuosism (wild camera angles and moves) than there is when they make it in your average Nike comercial. If you wanna know what I mean, well, read the book.

Also, I don't recommend this much to Python fans. Certainly, a good part of it talks about the Python days, but it doesn't talk about their creative process much - it's more about the making of the films and Gilliam's animations.

Fascinating, flawed, and funny
As someone said on the back cover (neatly stealing my idea), Gilliam on Gilliam is like something Phillip Dick might have written. It is paranoid, neurotic, nutty, and fascinating look at filmmaker Terry Gilliam.

It is,truly, Gilliam on Gilliam, with the book in total an interview with thefilmmaker. Gilliam talks about the battle for Brazil, his frustrations inthe early Python films (was was stigmatized as the arty image guy), and hisintricate intentions in later films.

Most interesting to me, other thanhow it reminded me of how much of his films, sadly, I had forgotten, washow much visual work he puts into his films. That is relatively clear fromscreen, but even more apparent after you read through this book.

Equallyinteresting to the biz geek in me was reading Terry's pitched battle forbudget credibility. After having budget troubles on two films (Brazil andBaron Munchausen), Gilliam had a financial scarlet letter to sport and ithas been tough for him to convince the studios that he is not a riskybudgetary bet. Hard to believe that such a prolific and successfulfilmmaker could still be auditioning, but there it is.

Anyway, aninteresting and informative book. Not for those who are mildly interested,but a treat for Gilliam geeks who want the inside skinny on everything fromDe Niro's bizarre behavior in Brazil, to the casting of Jon Pryce, tounderlying mythic chain operating in The Fisher King.

Excellent overview and insight into Terry's films and mind
If I had to utter one complaint about this piece, it would be that it is terribly, if understandably, one-sided. The book is terrific in showcasing Gilliam's opinions and feelings on his career and films, but that's theonly opinion we receive. After hearing Burgess denounce his masterpiece,"A Clockwork Orange," I've been under the impression that anartist's opinion on his own work, while priceless, is nothing more thanthat; an opinion. This must be especially true in the medium of film, whichmore than any other medium is a collaborative effort. A book includinginterviews with producers, actors, technicians, designers as well as thedirector would make for a thorough and multi-layered overview on any film.Having said that, this particular book still succeeded in offering a peak,no matter how slight, into the workings of what I humbly consider to be anunspoken genius of our times.

Gilliam is just Gilliam
One of the most interesting director that the world of cinema give to us. This book it's an insight view, a dive in the mind of the visual art of Terry Gilliam. If you are a fan of his work this book it's kind of a Bibleand if you are not a fan, this book will open your mind to one of the moremagical directors in the history of this art. ... Read more

Product Description
The totally restored, revamped and researched blow-by-blow recounting of the most spectacular title bout in the blood-soaked history of Hollywood. "This book documents in rare detail the back-room haggling and the attempted ego-bashing that is part of the movie business." - Gene Siskel; "Told with the passion of an advocate yet with the objectivity of a crack reporter, The Battle of Brazil is a chilling, inevitably hilarious account of a great film that almost got away." - USA Today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Much the reverse of the great film it covers, an unhappy story with a happy ending
Well, for the most part.Perhaps a truly happy ending would entail BRAZIL, Terry Gilliam's 1985 Orwellian fantasy-nightmare, making large buckets of cash and winning many more significant awards than the LA Film Critics prizes that helped finally convince Universal to release it without tampering with it.Then again, the director seems to thrive on adversity, and perhaps giving him Steven Spielberg or James Cameron-sized budgets wouldn't do him - or his films - any real favors.

Jack Matthews' book details the struggles that Gilliam went through in the making of his dark satire between 1983 and 1985, and very specifically deals with his battles with MCA-Universal's then-CEO, Sid Sheinberg, who felt that because Gilliam had failed to deliver the film at the specified maximum running time of 125 minutes (the director's original cut ran 142, later trimmed to 132 for its American release), he and the studio had the right to ignore Gilliam's contracted right to final cut and both shorten the movie drastically and change the ending to a happy, positive one.Matthews admits at the beginning of the book that he is going to be on Gilliam's side, but he does try to be fair to Sheinberg and the other corporate money-men, who to be fair knew that the film was likely a losting proposition at the box office.The most fascinating revelation I think is that Sheinberg alone, apparently, believed that the film could make money - if cut heavily.Everyone else involved on the business side felt it was a lost cause that would appeal only to a small arthouse audience no matter what was done with it.

Reading of Gilliam's problems in making the film - which came in at budget, but well over its shooting schedule, which helped to increase the debacle of its American release (it had no such problems in Europe, where it was handled by Fox, a company which never made a fuss about the running time or content) - and knowing something about Hollywood's general aversion to depressing material, and in particular depressing "science fiction" type material (BLADE RUNNER had been a big failure just a year before BRAZIL went into production), one has to wonder at the film getting made for Universal at all.The studio was at the time the largest house in the business and had a reputation as one of the most artistically conservative, but the prestige and smooth-talking of producer Arnon Milchan (who also was behind two other great, but poorly received "difficult" films that had, like BRAZIL, starred Robert De Niro - KING OF COMEDY and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA), and the sucess Gilliam had recently had with TIME BANDITS convinced them.Until, of course, the product was done, and not to their liking.

But Gilliam and Milchan fought back, and the rest as they say is history.BRAZIL wasn't a huge box-office hit but it surely has a greater reputation today than most of the higher-profile and better-marketed films of 1985 like OUT OF AFRICA or THE COLOR PURPLE, and you can even watch Sid Sheinberg's own messy cut of the film on the deluxe Brazil - The Criterion Collection (3-Disc Boxed Set) and judge for yourself whether the studio head knew more than the visionary director.

A terrifically well put-together book that covers the bases and paints memorable portraits of all the principals in a short space, the book is filled out by the shooting script of the film along with some notes about Sheinberg's cut - at the time the book was written, unseen and apparently unfinished, but eventually aired on network TV in the late 1980s.This remains one of the essential accounts of the problems between art and commerce in the film industry, just as relevant now 25 years after the film's release as it was then.

A massive let down considering the hype surrounding this book
I love Terry Gilliam, and Brazil is one of the great movies ever made, but be warned: This book is so biased in its re-telling of events that it holds little value to today's reader.

Having heard this book mentioned in so many film articles, I was excited to get my hands on a copy. I was expecting an emotional and timeless tale of artist versus businessman, of David versus Goliath... but what is actually contained within Battle of Brazil is a lot more boring. For starters, the author makes it clear that he's not interested in telling a balanced story - he *literally* admits that. If you're like me, someone interested in truth, you might begin to think that this already makes the book somewhat pointless, but when, in the book's lowest moments, it sinks to attacks on Sid Sheinberg's personality (who is the "villain" in this piece), you being to realise that this book has pretty much no historical value whatsoever.

Still, if the events revealed had actually shown a tale of corporate malevolence, then at least it might be a gripping read, unfortunately, if you're paying attention, this book tells a very different story. What's revealed instead is (and I'm sorry to say it) the story of a director who is annoyed at having to do what he already pre-agreed to do. The author, Jack Matthews, may try and skip over these less exciting events as quickly as possible, but there's no escaping the fact that Gilliam's producer (and ally) agreed to everything that Gilliam got upset about later... and for which Sheinberg is laid to blame. This isn't so much an expose of the dreadful might of the studio, as much as a series of bad decisions by the movie-makers themselves.

Don't get me wrong, Sheinberg's edit of Brazil reveals a man so without talent that he shouldn't be allowed within 20 feet of a disposable camera, but every restriction he placed on Gilliam and Brazil was pre-agreed to at various points during production. There were no underhanded attempts at forcing Gilliam to do what the studio wanted "otherwise you'll never work in the town again", everything was done calmly in writing. If you read the book in an unbiased way, Sheinberg actually comes across as very reasonably exercising the powers he's been willingly granted. The fact that ultimately he didn't have a clue in terms of what makes a good movie is besides the point: Jack Matthews hadn't even seen Sheinberg's cut at the time he wrote this book (something revealed in passing in his new afterword).

The book appears to have been written from emotion and bluster, and does everyone a disservice as a result, including the reader. By trying to paint the portrait of the evil overlord in Sid Sheinberg, Matthews only makes Terry Gilliam look like a child having a tantrum, when he's been told he can't do what he wants. Of course *Gilliam* was absolutely right to fight for what he believed in, and thankfully he won (although I think he would have won anyway -- no test audience would have preferred Sheinberg's cut), but the truth is that this tale isn't David and Goliath; it's the talentless businessman versus the talented frustrated artist.

You might learn something about how a film could slip out of your control during production, but don't expect anything more than that. By being deliberately biased and by steadfastly sticking to his Gilliam-enamoured point of view, Jack Matthews has created a book with zero historical value, and since anyone can go and buy Gilliam's version of Brazil at any good DVD stockist, there's very little reason to read it.

Skip the book, rent the movie.

The birth of a film...
This book is about the struggle between Terry Gilliam, a man trying to protect his vision, vs. Universal Pictures, a group trying to turn his vision into baby food so they can sell it to the American masses.It is not only a true behind the scenes story about what happened, but it also gives you a glimpse on the process of movie making in Hollywood in general.Add the complete director's cut of the screenplay, with some notes and photos, this makes for a very complete history on the birth of the film.You SHOULD watch the film before READING the book, as that would help you understand much of the debate going on between the two sides.

The fight to get Brazil away from Sid
This is an updated, revised, expanded version of the 1986 book by the same author. (Same title, too.)

It's really good, covering the fight to release the director's cut of the film. The villain is Sid Sheinberg, one of the executives at Universal. Sid says he doesn't want to change Gilliam's movie, but he wants to change the end. Changing the end changes the whole POINT of the film. So Sid pretended that the battle is over the length of the movie. He tried to get between the producer (Arnon Milchan) and Gilliam. He sort of succeeded, too.

Then the LA critics chose Brazil as the movie of the year, even though it hadn't been released. (The author was one of those critics.) That move raised the stakes much higher, and ultimately led to Gilliam's victory.

A Good Book
When I was a little kid my favorite story was David and Golaith.I especially liked the part where David cuts the giants head off at the end.THE BATTLE FOR BRAZIL isn't exactly a story of biblical proportions.But it is a war worth reading about.

Jack Mathew's book chronicles the creative and business side of one of the strangest films ever made.The book is an act of life imitating art and exposes the deep flaws in the Hollywood system, and the subborness of the little man who won't give up.

Read the book and see the movie.You'll be really glad you did. ... Read more

Product Description
Mix one American director with a German producer on a period extravaganza, set the locations in Italy and Spain and start the cameras rolling without enough money to do the job. Then sit back and watch disaster strike. That is the scenario Andrew Yule has painstakiingly reconstructed. The more problems and reverses, the greater our interest: costly postponements, overwhelming language difficulties, elephants and tigers turning on their trainers, illnesses, sets not being ready, special effects breaking down and cameo stars (from Marlon Brando to Sean Connery) backing out of the project. You name it, Andrew Yule reports it! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Incredibly Poor Waste of Your Time
This is the most insultingly poorly written book about the making of a film I have ever read.

However, it is the only book available about the making of Gilliam's film Munchausen.

If you need such a topic for your library, I guess you'll obtain it...though you have been warned.

"Surely this time there is no escape...." for Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam is the first to acknowledge that for each of his movies, he becomes the main character and their struggle in the story becomes part of his struggle to make the film.This overlap set an ominous tone that then went from bad to worse, from the frying pan to the fire and somehow a film came out the other side.

The making of the movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" is told via Andrew Yule's interviews and research, almost a post-mortem after the near-death experience of the filmmaking process.Director and producer fought, crews walked or were fired, accountants and accusations flew, and tigers and elephants literally got out of control.Compared to "The Battle of Brazil" that was a skirmish and this was a world war.

For Gilliam fans, join the director in all his pain as he attempts to surmount and juggle language barriers, lethargic crews, bad weather, financial disputes, mysterious accidents, casts of characters fictional and real, and his own visions.

A darn good book about the troubles with Munchausen
If you happen to like this movie or just Gilliam in general then I would suggest finding this book.The author, Andrew Yule, takes around thirty interviews from people related to the movie and encompasses all of the delays and pitfalls associated with it.From trying to cast Marlon Brando as the King of the Moon to the self centered producers (Thomas Schuly) total lack of concern for the crew or anyone in general this book shows how one of the most over-budgeted films of its time($20 million over) became a flop. ... Read more

Product Description
A behind-the-scenes chronicle of the creation of the Terry Gilliam's 'The Brothers Grimm', charting all the highs and lows in the film's journey from script to screen. Told by both Gilliam and McCabe, who provides an on-set diary, this unique account reveals exactly how a film is made -- or ruined -- in today's Hollywood system.THE BROTHERS GRIMM is Terry Gilliam's film for autumn 2005. After two years of pre-production hell, the film was finally greenlit in March 2003 by Miramax's Dimension Films with a budget bigger than anything Gilliam has ever had to work with -- on condition that the film was fast-tracked for a 2004 release.With stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger playing the brothers Jake and Will, and co-starring Jonathan Pryce, hero from Gilliam's seminal BRAZIL, this movie is hailed as an "Indiana Jones and the Brothers Grimm"-style adventure, in which two Middle-Ages conmen who travel the countryside inventing horrendous ghost stories, only so they can claim to have defeated evil and be showered with gifts and women, finally encounter a real magical curse and are forced to find the courage to do a proper day's work of evil-vanquishing.Drawing upon numerous crewmember's diaries and candid, outspoken interviews with Terry Gilliam and the stars as the basis for this book, author Bob McCabe follows Gilliam through the pre-production battle of wills between director and producers, the nightmares of filming without budget, equipment or even cast, and the anarchy and brinkmanship of post-production inevitable in a Gilliam film. He seeks to unravel the truth buried between the lines, and reveals exactly how a film is made -- or ruined -- in today's Hollywood system.Guaranteed to fascinate film buffs and Terry Gilliam fans alike -- already intrigued after the collapse of his Don Quixote movie formed the basis of a captivating documentary film -- this amusing chronicle will be an unputdownable read and should put anyone who has aspired to direct a film in the future completely off the idea! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A missed opportunity
In the introduction, the author stated that "this is not your typical 'making-of' book"; the problem was that it should have been.

With the exception of the intro and a wrap-up chapter at the end, the book is composed almost entirely of excerpts from interviews and diary entries from several of the main casts and crew members. The problem is that without an editorial hand to summarize and give us a big picture, it all ends up feeling disjointed, with jarring shifts in writing style every few paragraphs or so as the point of view changes. It's easy to lose track of who's narrating and the initials and short-hands used in the diary entries quickly become jumbled together. It feels like there's about half a dozen authors (which in a sense is true) instead of just one.

The sad thing is there actually is a good story to be told here, as some of the excesses and stunt pulled by the producers are pretty self-indulgent, but it's hard to really get into it since the narrative is so patchy. It's like someone who gives you all the ingredients necessary for a great meal, but won't cook it for you. The author certain had access to some great materials, but it almost felt lazy that he would just cut and paste the information together instead of presenting it in an interesting way. Compared with similar works such as "Losing the Light" and "Final Cut" this book simply falls short. The illustrations within are very nice and the narrative style is different, but it feels like too much style over substance and that's a shame.

A surprisingly unsympathetic look at my favorite director
The surprising thing to me about this diary of the making of The Brothers Grimm is that my sympathies were not wholly with the nominal director, Terry Gilliam.

He is my favorite director and I have felt steadfastly in his corner during his fights over Brazil, Munchausen, and the aborted "Quixote".

But here, it is hard to see him as heroic.Time after time when reading this admirably fair book, I found myself thinking that for all that it was a chaotic production (and Gilliam's certainly not wholly responsible for that)...you know what?

He TOOK the JOB.He knew he didn't have a script he liked, and he also knew Miramax/Dimension's reputation.Matt Damon repeats here the story he told to Peter Biskind relating Harvey Weinstein to the scorpion in the tale of the scorpion and the frog, and he seems right.

Gilliam and others speak here of his feeling "raped" by the Weinsteins in the pre-production nightmare, but he is a victim who welcomed a known rapist to his bed.

Two voices I wish could have been represented in this diary are original screenwriter Ehren Kruger and female lead Lena Headey.

Kruger's voice might have served as a reminder that however much of a mad dreamer Terry Gilliam may be (and he is that, gloriously so, and god bless him for it)...this was not his dream.

This was not Brazil, which sprang from the well of his head, and which he made exactly as the script Universal bought...and which they then tried to take away from him.Nor was it Fisher King, which had a script so great he didn't need to "fix" it, only interpret.

Gilliam made the mistake I am convinced is responsible for more mediocre films (which Brothers Grimm definitely is)than any other element:He accepted a script he didn't like in the egotistical belief that he could "fix" it, just because he wanted to get back on the treadmill again.And he was wrong.

Headey was forced upon Gilliam by Weinstein, and evidently had and/or gave something of a hellish time on the production.Periodically we hear of dinner conversations she had with Gilliam that helped her performance (which IMO turned out to be one of the strongest things in the film).I would love to have seen what they said to each other, and her thoughts on the excruciating way (for all concerned) she entered the movie.

It seems Gilliam got a strange case of "buyer's remorse" after taking the job and went, by his own admission, into a kind of catatonia.Believe me, I understand how it can feel for a creator to have his "baby" taken away from him...but there were other people involved who needed Gilliam to engage them.

Damon and virtually everybody else involved with the film tells McCabe their biggest if not their sole reason for wanting to work on the movie was this:The chance to make "A Terry Gilliam film."It seems the only person who didn't want to do that is Terry Gilliam.



... Read more

Product Description
Brazil is regarded as Terry Gilliam's masterpiece. The genesis for Oscar nominated screenplay to the film lies in a faded notebook in Terry Gilliam’s attic. It began life in 1977 when Gilliam was working on the Jabberwocky. He had had in his mind for years an image of a totalitarian state, an image of a superficial society where dreams have become scarce. He retired to a cottage in Wales for a month with Jabberwocky screenwriter Charles Alverson and created a 150 page screenplay which, eight years later he and Tom Stoppard used as the blueprint for the final film. This screenplay is significantly different to that filmed featuring numerous previously undisclosed fantasy sequences, plot lines and characters. The original script is wonderfully biting. It also has some of the most eccentric characters in all of cinematic history. In addition to the full, restored, previously unseen screen-play, the book includes an extensive foreword chronicling the beginnings of the project, featuring extracts and sketches from Gilliam’s notebooks and includes new in-depth interviews with both Terry Gilliam and Charles Alverson talking for the first time about his contribution to the movie. With its huge cult appeal this is a fascinating insight into the evolution of a modern movie classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Draft Number One?
Brazil is a great movie with a slow and painful birth.While there are many books and articles out there, with tons of interviews and fun fact, this book has something the rest do not.The first version of the screenplay.This is NOT how the movie ended up but this IS how the movie started.From this first screenplay characters were born, changed and twisted, ideas were created, killed and returned to life.A good example on how good movies are made during conflict, pain, and meal times. ... Read more

Product Description
The complete screenplay and credits with dozens of photos from the 1998 film. Paperback. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Almost as Good As Seeing the Movie (but no cigar)
The script to one of the classic films of the 20th century.It's facinating to see the large and minute permiatations as a script is transformed into a living, breathing movie.Only by reading the script canyou get a sense of some of the chunks that had to be left out due to budgetconstraints.

See the movie!
I haven't read the screenplay, but it must be just as good as the movie, one of my favorite films of all time! It's a rousing fantasy/ adventure story of a group of superpowered people going on a qeust around the universe to stop a war. Exciting enough for kids, and intriguing enough for adults! See it for your own sake! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Terry Gilliam, a contemporary genius.
There's not doubt that Terry Gilliam is a contemporary genius and a master of the cut-out animation.
Throught this wonderfully created book, you can discover the complete process of making one of this amazing animations, that appeareds between some python sketches and other popular tv shows.
From the finest political humour to kinda simple kiddie humour!
Terry Gilliam at his very, very best!!

...large pneumatic ladies exploding...
I acquired this book when I was in high school, having just discovered Monty Python.I was fascinated by the strange cutout animations that joined the skits, and that's what drew me to the book originally.Now, it is a rare, classic treasure.Mainly, it is a book overviewing cutout animation.The fun part is the documenting of a body of work that Gilliam has now moved away from as a film director.There are a few political cartoons, not used for Python, and some pages of raw sketches that show the darker side of animation.Plus, as a bonus, you get a running gag about a black spot and a badger that keep trying to hijack the actual book as you read it....Technically beneficial to animators, a Holy Grail of acquisitions to Gilliam fans.

How to animate Monty Python style
Terry Gilliam is a wonderful animator, the success of Monty Pythons Flying Circus was to a large part because of his graphic abilities. Everyone who has seen the opening titles with the big foot squash will know what toexpect from this book. In this book, he goes to great lengths, to help youmake graphics that can be funny. Even more importantly he shows you how tomake animation with very little effort. This book was a lifesaver for mewhen I made my first Hollywood animation back in the early 1980's. Absolute essential reading for every cut-out animator or pixilator, and recommendedto all who aspire to amuse others. Suitable for all ages, as my threechildren loved it. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
This collection of interviews with the renowned filmmaker, animator, artist, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe covers the phases of his career from his early work as a cartoonist and animator through his most recent and most difficult projects.

Among many subjects, Gilliam discusses his formative years as an artist and humor-magazine cartoonist, his move from the United States to England, his entry into British television, and his success as resident animator for the Monty Python's Flying Circus television show.

As co-director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and as director of Jabberwocky (1977) Gilliam made his advent as a maker of feature films, followed by such popular movies as Time Bandits (1981) and The Fisher King (1991). A mixture of critical acclaim and film-studio animosity greeted his epic Brazil (1985). Gilliam discusses all these, as well as the damage The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) did to his career and the disasters that plagued his attempt to film a time-travel comedy called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote after the commercial disappointment of his unexpectedly acerbic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

In his conversations with a diverse array of interviewers Gilliam talks about an eclectic succession of topics, including his idiosyncratic tastes in painting and architecture, his fascination with the art and history of medieval Europe, his outspoken hostility for the commercial film industry, his views on comedy, fantasy, and film, and his philosophical perspectives on contemporary society.

"I like the idea," he says, "of actual demons sucking your brains out---envy and greed, these things being tangible. It's somehow on a common level, a more sensible way of dealing with the world. . . ." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

valuable, if often rather repetetive collection of interviews with Gilliam over a 30-year career
I haven't taken a look yet at the Faber & Faber "Gilliam on Gilliam" which I suppose could be seen as a competitor to this book.If the format to that is similar to their "Scorsese on Scorsese", it might be a better choice for an overview collection, at least if you want to cut to the quick.The problem with this generally solid book is that it often gives multiple interviews done at approximately the same time - sometimes on the same promotional tour for the same film - so it can often seem like going over similar or identical ground twice or even three times.

That said, it's still a valuable book for the Gilliam fan or completist.The interviews date back to his work on MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975), his first film as director (co-directed with Terry Jones, the only time he has collaborated on helming duties) and continuing up through FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998) and his attempted and aborted (though conceivably soon-to-be-reactivated as I write this) film of THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE in 2002-3.Gilliam is an expansive, highly cine-literate, entertaining and witty subject - especially when paired with a fellow Python as he is a couple of times.Some of the interviews are transcriptions of live sessions in front of audiences or for TV, others are the more typical sitting-in-a-hotel-lobby press type.The director's interest in comics, the middle ages, and the nature of fantasy and dreams come up again and again, as well as politics and his rage against much of what he sees wrong with America (a country he left more or less for good in the late 1960s for England) over his lifetime.He has certainly softened somewhat as he has reached middle age and is entering his autumnal years, and is often much more generous in later interviews towards onetime foes such as Sid Sheinberg (producer and near-destroyer of BRAZIL) than in earlier, more wrathful and youthful periods.

The interviews range from quite short - 3 or 4 pages - to pretty lengthy, 40 or more pages - and given, as I said, the repetetive nature of the multiple interviews/same time period structure, you might find as I did that skipping around the book is more interesting.Recommended certainly for the fan, but you might have a look at the Faber & Faber volume as well. ... Read more

Product Description
Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. This is the screenplay of the hit movie of the same title. Includes thoughts by both Tony Grisoni and Terry Gilliam. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Are you kidding me? LESS than 1 star!
I ended up on this quest to figure out WHY this book/movie was so highly acclaimed...by anyone that could get through the material, anyway. I read the book, watched the movie, and felt complelled to peruse this book at a book store. Below is my review of the book and movie (which, as much as I hated the material, the movie does a great job of bringing the book to the screen), but this book is just a way to throw good money after bad. If you have the Thompson book you definitely don't need this one!

REVIEW

This book is so overrated. I've yet to read exactly WHAT the genius is supposed to be behind this book. That Thompson is able to ramble on and on and on and on and ON about drugs for a few hundred pages? That he was able to put to words what it's like to be in a week-long drug binge (which WOULD be hard, because how COULD you remember it?)

I enjoy out-of-the-ordinary books and movies. Although the people that have previously posted (rave) reviews about this book are much deeper into the alternative culture, things like Pulp Fiction and Fight Club are still considered "out there" by the vast majority of the public. And Fear and Loathing not just out there, it's gone.

(...)

I started the book. I lost interest. I rented the movie, hoping it could contain my focus for 90 minutes. It was ***. At the encouragement of another author, I read the book all the way through. Still bored. Constant drug ramblings with no real objective. It could have ended 50-100 pages earlier, or it could have continued 50-100 pages more (in Denver or Malibu), and it would have made no significant change to the content of the book. I rented the movie again. Ugh. Other than they did a good job sticking to the original content (amazingly so), the original material still was... boring!

I'm sure the flames will come, but after spending a considerable amount of energy trying to get through this material, I can't find the genius in the work. As for why everyone that has previously reviewed it has given it 5 stars: it is rare for anyone not extremely interested in the drug culture to get past the first 5 pages, so anyone who didn't love the book probably gave up on it way early and can't make a valid review.

buy the NOVEL!
Good book, but it's pretty redundant if you have the actual novel (by the amazing Hunter S. Thompson). So you don't really need it. Unless you simply must buy every piece of Fear and Loathing merchandise you see. In thatcase, go right ahead.

A Great Script Adaption Of The Book
Twisted, funny (for some), and outrageous. Although the title of the book is a bit confusing, it is an excellent item to purchase for fans of the film and/or book. ... Read more

Product Description
La Dolce Vita's Anita Ekberg cavorting by night in the Trevi fountain. Humphrey Bogart contemplating the mysterious bird in The Maltese Falcon. Marilyn Monroe's white dress flying up as she stands over a subway grate in the Seven Year Itch. Or the white-suited young John Travolta striking a dance floor pose in Saturday Night Fever. Decades later, stitches in the fabric of our culture, they still trigger a nostalgic rush.

In the lavishly illustrated Magic Movie Moments, a distinguished film critic brings together 101 all-time masterpieces that span the history of film--from Modern Times to Star Wars, from Casablanca to Thelma and Louise, from Psycho to The Shining. Captivating stills in full color and duotone fill every large-format page with witty captions packed with Hollywood history and gossip. Who knew that Dustin Hoffman's "Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?" in The Graduate would send a struggling young actor down the path of stardom? Or that Gene Kelly singing in the rain on a lamppost was in fact feverish with a case of the flu? Here's a wondrous and original collection of favorite screen moments that everyone--from film buffs to casual moviegoers--will want to give as a gift or hoard for themselves. ... Read more

Product Description
Over thirty years ago, a group of six Englishmen - well, one was Welsh and another an interloping American - rewrote the rules of comedy.Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded, previously unseen half-hour show of sketches, hilarities, inanities and animations, first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact has been felt the world over ever since. From its humble beginnings, it blossomed into the most influential movement in modern comedy. THE PYTHONS' AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE PYTHONS is a unique look at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age, with 64 pages of photographs, many culled from the team's own personal collections, and many more seen for the first time. This is the definitive word on all things Pythonesque. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

And now for something completely not funny, yet indispensible.
...but that's not a bad thing (explanation below).

I got this book for Christmas and was concerned that because of it's size I would probably end up just thumbing through and reading select parts.Not the case.I started reading it and couldn't stop.

It covers the group and individuals from their pre-Python lives through discussions of working together again after The Live at Aspen event - though I won't tell you what conclusion they came to.In between is chock full of every detail about their influences, TV show, the movies, the stage shows and more.And because each member contributes (hence...autobiography) you get a great insider's perspective on the dynamics of the group.You learn first hand who doesn't like who, what they enjoyed and how, at times, they really struggled, and a bunch more behind the scenes insights into their personalities.

I found the book to be fascinating.It is formatted such that each event is discussed by multiple members of the troop.So you get a 360 degree view of their writing sessions, their fights, their good times, their movie productions, their business and artistic relationships.

The only downside (and here is why I titled this as such) is that it was rarely funny.That is by no means a fault, but could come as a surprise (as it did me) to the reader who expects it to be silly and funny like their performances.As a result this book is probably only going to be of interest to a true Python fan.And a true Python fan will find it indispensible.

Wonderful book
The Pythons were like the British Marx Brothers, Anti-authority,
subversive, surreal, and very very funny.Particularly interesting are the Python's accounts of their childhood and pre-fame days.

It seems "A Careful Reader" wasn't so careful after all.The picture of Dudley Moore (and it is most assuredly him) is on page 68 NOT 88.Here's a clue for ACR...he's about 30 years younger than he was when he appeared in the movie "10."Thank you and good night!

A few points about this Monty Python book
On page 88 it says that one of the four men in the photo is Dudley Moore. The fellow in the picture doesn't look at all like Dudley Moore. Furthermore, it says, on another page,that Ian MacNaughton is beseeching Terry Jones. But the man MacNaughton is begging seems to actually be Michael Palin. On a different note, in his autobiography part of the book Eric Idle seems too proud of his anti-authority stances. The 60's are very long gone now. Idle should grow up and not be so flaunting of his anti-societial ways. Being part of society is back in fashion. ... Read more

Product Description
Adventures, written by Rudolph Erich Raspe in 1785, became an instant best-seller, and was hailed as a comic sensation in the satirical spirit of GulliverÕs Travels and Tom Jones. Terry Gilliam has now resurrected the Baron and his comrades in entirely new adventures capturing the Munchausen spirit in a volume destined to be a classic for generations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The movie's book
"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" has always been, in my opinion, one of Terry Gilliam's best movies. Usually known for his dark fantasy for adults, here Gilliam made a light-hearted fantasy for children,which truly is endearing. Now, Gilliam, with the help of Charles McKeown,has turned the film into a novel. One thing I liked best about the film isthat it was visually beautiful. Obviously, that is missing from the book.But still, the book is written with humor and intelligence, which makes ita good read, even if you've never seen the film. It can be read both bychildren (who will like the adventure), and by adults (who will respect thewit). Overall, this is a warmhearted tribute to fantasy, and is recommendedwhether or not you've seen the film. ... Read more