One of Terry Gilliam‘s many recent non-feature projects is The Wholly Family, a short film funded by Italian pasta company Garofalo. The company commissioned a set of short films set in or otherwise concerning Naples, and Gilliam is one of the people tapped to take advantage of the option. We haven’t seen anything from the film since some stills hit in February, but a teaser trailer hit the web a week or two back, and you can see it below. Read More »
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About a month ago, I wrote up info on a Dutch animated short called The Monster of Nix, which was notable for (a) some really wild character designs, and (b) the fact that Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits are voicing characters. It kinda flew under the radar, so here’s another chance to check it out.
A new teaser clip has appeared for the film, and it features the voice of Tom Waits as a very strange bird. Check it out below. Read More »
The very occasional working relationship between Tom Waits and Terry Gilliam is something that has given me great pleasure for a long time. It was a thrilling surprise when Waits played a cameo in The Fisher King in 1991; Terry Gilliam then used the Waits track ‘Earth Died Screaming’ for a key point in Twelve Monkeys, and it all lead up to Waits’ big role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Now the Gilliam/Waits partnership is on again, but with a slightly new twist: the two are providing voices for a 30-minute short called The Monster of Nix, by Dutch artist/director Rosto. Read More »
Time Bandits is a wonderful kids movie that also happens to be clever enough for adults. It has grand adventure; weirdness that is both mundane (an impotent fairy tale prince) and outlandish (a troupe of time-traveling thieves); and it is deeply, wonderfully silly. Time Bandits is permeated by a sense of unpredictability that makes the film seem like it came from the mind of either a child or someone deranged. The mind actually belongs to someone in between those states: Terry Gilliam.
Now we may have the chance to see what would have happened if Time Bandits had been created by someone far more sane. The film is being envisioned as fodder for a remake. Or, perhaps, more like a total revamp, as the new film is being designed as the kickoff for a new action franchise. Face, meet palm. Read More »
If you’re feeling a bit down this Monday morning — maybe you’re one of those who isn’t enjoying a holiday in the States, today, for instance — you might need some clowns.
More specifically, you might need some Terry Gilliam clowns, as seen in the first images from his new short film The Wholly Family. Don’t be afraid: they’re Italian Commedia Dell’arte clowns… whose masks and expressions only remind me of the Clockwork Orange home invasion scene… and they seem to be attacking (or, worse, staffing) a hospital. Oh, dear, I’m really not making this any better, am I?
Clown-filled images and some behind the scenes video, after the break. Read More »
Terry Gilliam may not be making that second take on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote after all, but don’t think he isn’t busy. He’s already done a webcast with the Arcade Fire this year, and made that strange NASCAR-themed short film, The Legend of Hallowdega.
Now he’s got another short planned that will go before cameras early in 2011. Details on The Wholly Family, after the break. Read More »
It’s a strange world. If you’d told me that one day I’d be watching Dale Earnhardt, Jr. introduce a short NASCAR film directed by Terry Gilliam, I can’t imagine I’d have taken the idea seriously. And yet here’s the online presentation of The Legend of Hallowdega, an 18-minute film in which the secret, possibly spooky past of the Talladega Speedway is explored. Seriously. Read More »
Briefly: Terry Jones — the Monty Python member who directed The Life of Brian, not the nutter who wanted to burn the Qu’ran in Florida — is preparing to make his return to the director’s chair with Absolutely Anything. The film will star John Oliver, recently known as the Senior British Correspondent (among other titles) at The Daily Show. That makes Oliver the latest TDS alum to jump from small screen to large, and a well-deserved jump it should be.
Jones wrote the script with Gavin Scott, and it reportedly includes as diverse elements as “aliens, a goofy Brit, a talking dog and buckets of silliness,” to all of which I’ll simply say: ‘yes.’
We don’t have info about Oliver’s role (‘goofy Brit,’ one would assume) but Deadline says that Robin Williams is in talks to play the talking dog (named Dennis the Dog) while John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam have all been contacted about voicing aliens. Again: yes. Absolutely Anything is currently hoping to shoot in Spring 2011.
