2023-11-06 09:38:23
As part of the comedian group Monty Python, he shaped the understanding of humor for an entire generation, and later left his mark on Hollywood with weird films like “12 Monkeys” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”: Cult director Terry Gilliam has never cared about expectations or trends sheared. That didn’t change shortly before his 83rd birthday, as can be seen in the APA conversation on the occasion of a retrospective in Vienna’s Gartenbaukino.
APA: Mr. Gilliam, when you see your film work presented in such a concentrated form, what is your first thought?
Terry Gilliam: My first thought is: Who made these films? Someone must have been pretty hardworking in my life. (laughs) It’s a shock that I’ve been doing this for almost half a century. I wish I had shot more.
APA: What is it like seeing your old work again?
Gilliam: I don’t usually watch my films after they’ve finished filming. I prefer coming back to them years later and seeing them as a different person discovering them for the first time. I’ve done this a few times recently and I’m honestly impressed with some of the things. (laughs) Those works that were really painful to shoot are hard for me to enjoy because those memories come back. But we did a 4K version of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which I haven’t seen in a long time. This is a damn good movie! I usually only see the mistakes in my old work. But there is no film that I would be ashamed of.
APA: Your films are always located on the borderline between reality and dreams, sometimes nightmares. What is so special about this condition?
Gilliam: It’s a healthy way to live your life. You need dreams, but don’t get too caught up in them – otherwise you’ll get caught by the bus if you don’t look both ways when crossing the street! This tension between fantasy and dreams on the one hand and reality on the other is what makes life interesting.
APA: Making a film is hard work, in many ways. You worked on “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” for almost 30 years. Was its completion in 2018 perhaps your greatest success?
Gilliam: I don’t think so, it’s just another film I made – it just took a long time. (laughs) What was frustrating, however, were the critics who asked: Was that worth 30 years of his life? The answer is of course: no! Actually, it was like an operation to remove a tumor. This project has taken up so much space in my life. The process reflects exactly what “Don Quixote” is about. The book is not about dreams, but about his noble idea of the world, only he is constantly thrown down by reality. But he gets back up every time. I had to have exactly this experience too.
APA: Is that your secret to success: never giving up and not letting yourself get down?
Gilliam: When you’re working on a film, you obviously hope that everyone involved shares your vision. But sometimes they have completely different ideas. Often these are the people who find themselves in a position of power. Well, then I have to go to war! I have to fight for it, not just for myself, but for the actors, the set designers, the technicians – everyone who made the film possible. My attitude is: We made a film, don’t screw it up now!
APA: In your 2015 memoir “Gilliamesque,” you describe your journey from cartoonist to comedian and filmmaker, from the USA to England. Were all of these steps essential to the artist Terry Gilliam as we know him today?
Gilliam: Whether essential or not, these steps were just there. (laughs) I never really had a career, so I didn’t approach my life that way. Half the time I didn’t know what I actually wanted to do. Either the wind blew me in one direction, or a door opened somewhere. “Oh, that looks interesting, I’ll check it out!” It’s always been that way. Ultimately, I just wanted to surprise myself.
APA: In your book you also describe the vibrant atmosphere of the 60s and 70s, which led to many social changes. What do you think when you look at the state of our world today?
Gilliam: The world has become boring, everything is becoming more and more restrictive. Just look at the so-called activists! I’m not an activist, I’m an inactivist. Many people are very angry, but they are not really intelligent. They scream about history, but it’s too late – you can’t change history. They don’t even know what they’re actually talking about. They just say: colonialism is bad, end of conversation. No. There are good aspects of colonialism and terrible aspects, that’s just the reality. These people’s views are very narrow, using words like inclusive. But if they say “I’m right, everyone else is wrong,” then that’s not very inclusive.
APA: Then I’m assuming you haven’t changed your views on #MeToo, which caused controversy a few years ago?
Gilliam: No. It just became a hysterical mob. Some people who aren’t bad people but may have behaved irritatingly have lost their jobs because of it. But that’s not enough. Harvey Weinstein is a monster, I’ve always said that. But there were others too. Pixar’s John Lasseter lost his job because he apparently hugged too much. Hugging is not a crime, it is not sexual assault. It may be annoying, but nothing more. And life is full of annoying people, and you have to deal with that without starting a witch hunt.
APA: You gave up your US citizenship in 2006. One reason for this was the presidency of George W. Bush. Now President Joe Biden could run against Donald Trump in the next election campaign. How do you see the situation in your old homeland?
Gilliam: I have nothing to do with it anymore! I wash my hands in innocence, just like Pontius Pilate. (laughs) Of course it’s crazy. If Trump actually becomes the Republican presidential nominee, it will be ridiculous because he will lose many of the court cases currently underway against him. He is a very dangerous person. Biden, meanwhile, has done a half-decent job, but doesn’t get enough credit for it.
APA: Finally, let’s come back to the film: Are you currently working on a new project?
Gilliam: I have a script called “Carnival at the End of Days.” God chooses to wipe out humanity because it has ruined his beautiful garden of earth. A simple story, a comedy. (laughs) There’s just a craziness out there. For example, in the 60s people discovered new things, tried new ways of living, it was a big wow. Today it’s exactly the opposite, everything is getting tighter. And I hate it. It is frightening when young people today no longer know what the Holocaust is. The story should be obvious to everyone. How did Mark Twain say it? “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
(The interview was conducted by Christoph Griessner/APA)
PERSONALITY: Terry Gilliam was born on November 22, 1940 in Minneapolis. He studied political science and initially worked as a satirical illustrator for magazines such as “Help!” active. In his 20s he moved to England, where he first worked at the BBC and finally joined Monty Python, for which he primarily did the animation. The comedy group was successful worldwide with their TV sketches and films such as “The Knights of the Coconut” and “The Life of Brian”. Eventually Gilliam turned entirely to filmmaking and was particularly fond of fantastic, surreal material (“Brazil”). His most commercially successful film was the science fiction dystopia “12 Monkeys” with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. He again shot “The Zero Theorem” with Oscar winner Christoph Waltz. After over 30 years in development, he finally realized his “Don Quixote” project “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” in 2018. Gilliam has been a British citizen since 1968.
(SERVICE – Retrospective “The Magic of Terry Gilliam” until November 13th at the Gartenbaukino in Vienna, www.gartenbaukino.at/programm/specials/the-magic-of-terry-gilliam)
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