The Unlucky Career of Terry Gilliam

The passing of actor Heath Ledger was a sad and tragic shock; a highly talented young man who not only was just beginning a family but whose successful career was only in its early stages itself. With a huge role in the promising Dark Knight and in the midst of working on a film with Terry Gilliam, he was sure to rise to superstardom. Hollywood is all the worse for the loss of this Oscar-nominated star. But I can't help thinking: man, Terry Gilliam sure has rotten luck. Gilliam began his career in the Monty Python series, being one of the artists and animators responsible for its trademark visual style. He and Python performer Terry Jones co-directed the 1975 feature film Monty Python and the Holy Grail--to somewhat troubled results. Jones and Gilliam had some major artistic differences, and the cast themselves had some reservations about Gilliam's methods. It is notable that Jones alone directed the next two Python feature films. Gilliam's career itself began with a troubling omen: on the very first shot of the very first day, the camera broke down. After finding success with 1981's imaginative Time Bandits, Gilliam created the unique and engrossing Brazil, a sort of satirical slant on Orwell's 1984. Gilliam was pleased with his 142-minute cut of the film, which Fox International agreed to distribute in the non-US marketplace; Universal, however, thought that the film could be made more commercial. Gilliam's contract stipulated that Universal could demand the film be trimmed to 132 minutes if so desired, which Gilliam was forced to honor. As he prepared his shortened 132 minute cut, Universal secretly butchered the film to 98 minutes long, removing all the darker elements and thematic meaning Gilliam had intelligently weaved throughout the film, and substituted a rock soundtrack. Gilliam was understandably horrified, and a vicious personal battle ensued between Gilliam and the studio. Universal decided to sit on the film, while Gilliam took out a full-page ad in Variety asking Universal when they would release his film. Gilliam showed the 142 minute overseas cut to critics, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Brazil "Best Picture" of the year, even though it hadn't been released domestically. Eventually, Universal put out a limited release of a 131 minute version of the film in 1985. A book and feature documentary called The Battle of Brazil chronicled this. Gilliam's next film was The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, what would become one of cinema's most famous fiascos and taint his career as an exuberant self-indulger. Originally budgeted at something like $23 million, Gilliam went just a tad over-budget: he came in at $46 million. When it was released it made $8 million at the box-office. Disaster is an understatement. An entire book was written about it called Losing the Light. Gilliam rebounded with 12 Monkeys, but his next film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, failed to make back its budget and was critically panned. He next attempted to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, probably the most well-known disaster in cinema history. Gilliam found himself having trouble securing funding at this stage in his career, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote would be made entirely with European money, one of Europe's most expensive films. After a dreadful first day of filming in which virtually no usable footage was salvagable, a torrential storm destroyed the set and literally washed away the film equipment. Production problems continued to dog the movie while elderly star Jean Rochefort's health continued to decline, making his scenes very difficult to film. He soon was hospitalised with a double-herniated disk. As the budget and schedule unraveled, Gilliam continued to film scenes without Rochefort in the hopes that a recovery would be possible but when it became clear that Rochefort would be unable to return the film was halted. As days turned to weeks and no developments made, crew wandered to other jobs and insurance issues mangled any hope of re-starting the film. It remains unfinished. Yet another chronicle was made about this Gilliam fiasco--the award-winning documentary Lost in La Mancha. Gilliam's next film, The Brothers Grimm, had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the cross-fire of the flak that resulted from the Weinstein's split from Miramax--the film was shelved for nearly an entire year and then flopped (there is a book detailing this as well). Gilliam then moved on to the incomprehensible Tideland, a film which repulsed viewers and critics with its "whimsical" storyline involving a little girl living with and then taxiderming the corpse of her drug-addict father, among other things. The critically panned film also flopped. Currently Gilliam is filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which began shooting in Decemeber. Star Heath Ledger has died. According to reports, the production had only filmed the exteriors--meaning the most of the "acting" scenes, which usually are ones set in interiors, have yet to be filmed. It remains to be seen what will become of the film--either all of Ledger's scenes will have to be re-filmed or the film abandoned. Gilliam is certainly one of the most daring and unique directors of our time. But he sure has rotten luck.