Name: Terry Gilliam
Date of Birth: 22/11/1940
Age at Time of Writing: 73
Date of Birth: 22/11/1940
Age at Time of Writing: 73
Born in America Terry Gilliam got involved with his fellow Pythons by first working as a cartoonist for the magazine Help!, one of his photo strips included John Cleese. He later moved to England and began making animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set where he met several of his fellow Pythons. He worked on the Python series throughout all four series and all the films making the ridiculous animations made from cutouts of antique photographs and unusual drawings which are just about the funniest parts of the series as a whole.
Following the breaking up of the group Gilliam began to expand upon skills he learned when co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail and started a long and successful career as a director. He used to view his films as trilogies though they were unconnected, his first being the trilogy of imagination, comprised of Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Later on would follow the trilogy of Americana with The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. These films were critical successes but most were not financial; Gilliam made these films big and expensive, but all too often they lost money so his work became less frequent as time went on.
Following the breaking up of the group Gilliam began to expand upon skills he learned when co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail and started a long and successful career as a director. He used to view his films as trilogies though they were unconnected, his first being the trilogy of imagination, comprised of Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Later on would follow the trilogy of Americana with The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. These films were critical successes but most were not financial; Gilliam made these films big and expensive, but all too often they lost money so his work became less frequent as time went on.
Gilliam's films are, from what I've seen, unusual; they have strange visuals, odd performances and don't much care about making sense or appealing to everyone and that is what people love about them. He has made his success by playing to the side of us that wants to see something weird and wants to be confused now and again. His films can be dark and brooding, or funny and silly; it doesn't matter because they do it intelligently and in a way that makes for highly entertaining viewing.
I adore Gilliam's addition to Monty Python's legacy, the animations are just as funny now as they were then and make up a truly essential part of the stream of conciousness. He is also one of the most successful outside of Python as his directing career still continues with the recently released Zero Theorem and directing a number of Operas in recent years.
I adore Gilliam's addition to Monty Python's legacy, the animations are just as funny now as they were then and make up a truly essential part of the stream of conciousness. He is also one of the most successful outside of Python as his directing career still continues with the recently released Zero Theorem and directing a number of Operas in recent years.