THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Q&A with director Terry Gilliam		 Search all of phase9.tv






It is often said that our personalities can be affected by the company we keep. If one accepts that premise, it thus easily explains the uniqueness of Terry Gilliam. A one time successful cartoonist, the Minnesota native met John Cleese in the late 1960’s while working for Help! Magazine and soon found himself the resident animator for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Performing as well with the troupe, Gilliam began writing several sketches, moving to the big screen as actor and writer with AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (1971).

In 1975, Gilliam was afforded the opportunity to co-direct MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and one year later, made his solo helming debut with JABBERWOCKY. An acknowledged visionary, Gilliam soon found himself among an elite core of filmmakers testing the boundaries of conventional cinema. Films such as BRAZIL, TIME BANDITS and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN were critically praised for their bold style and fantasy elements.

His first Hollywood picture, THE FISHER KING, brought an Oscar nomination for its lead actor Robin Williams; a feat he repeated a few years later with TWELVE MONKEYS with kudos for Brad Pitt.

Called “visually intoxicating”, “wildly ambitious” and “at times perplexing”, Gilliam admits that he goes out of his way to make films that are hard to define. But the 64 year-old has a legion of admirers (including Johnny Depp and Robin Williams) who consider his slice of cinematic life to be some of the boldest and most refreshing images on screen today.


How much did you know about the real Brothers Grimm prior to making this film and what changed when you did all your research?

GILLIAM: I knew that they wrote these stories. But they didn’t. I actually found out that they were merely collectors. There concern was the oral tradition of folklore was dying in Germany and so they wanted it to be written down before all the grandparents of the peasantry died it. So they did write it. Their first publication was over 500 stories and it was a flop. It was too academic and thick so they cut it down to a much smaller number and it took off.

When did it spread from Germany to the rest of the world?

GILLIAM: I am not sure of exactly when but I presume it happened in the 19th Century. Perrault in France had done it in France almost a Century earlier so the tales were out there. The German version was that much darker, more dangerous and more twisted (laugh). They come from the Old Norse sagas and they go way, way back.

Did you understand the Tales as a kid?

GILLIAM: When I was a kid they all didn’t make particular sense. They were interesting but I didn’t know what they meant or why they happened. Maybe as you get older it makes more sense. But as I read more about the Brothers, I learned that they became more political active and got themselves in trouble. I think Jacob got exiled for a while. They then set out to write the first German dictionary. It helped create the German language. What was interesting about it was that they only got to F before they died and then there work was carried on. I guess F was for Fairy Tale (laugh).

So let’s set the record straight for another about to see this film. This is not a biography.

GILLIAM: I am hoping the trailer will make that pretty clear. This is not two academics going around collecting tales.

When you first got the script, why did you decide not to venture down that accurate historical path and just capture more the flavor of what they were about?

GILLIAM: I didn’t even really care about that. I was more interested in creating the kind of world of Fairy Tales that they brought into international existence and into my childhood. We didn’t have a TV when I was growing up so I read books. That is what I was more interested in. The two brothers were interesting because we turned them into two sides of the brain – one was the pragmatist and one was the dreamer. Now you have an interesting conflict developing ad so you can start telling the story. When I was looking at the Grimm book recently it hit me that Jake was actually the older brother. We made him the younger brother. On the other hand, factually we do have the right events happening in the world. Napoleon’s army did invade Germany as it was sweeping across Europe. The Age of Reason and Enlightenment was being spread with that. The German culture was older and more superstitious, more complicated at least in the peasantry, and so that new Enlightenment affected the German painters of the time. German romantic painting was a result of the French invasion and as things became more reasonable, they returned to go back to the old world, which was what the Grimm’s were keeping alive.

You mention about the Age of Enlightenment. Here we have a world inside this film where people are superstitious and fearful of the unknown – that there are enemies out to get us. Without being too analytical, it does seem that this could almost be a political metaphor for the world today.

GILLIAM: You could argue that point. The Age of Enlightenment was about materialism. There was no God anymore. It was things we could measure and what man could do. God was pushed to the background. Today we are in an age where those who are inventing God, looking for God or bringing God back from out there are on the rise and that really worries me. Fundamental religion has always ended up in battles. Fairy Tales are pagan and they are not like that. They are not religious based and I think that is another reason why I liked that. We are in an age that is totally secular although there are those who are looking for something greater to give meanings to their lives.

I was fascinated with how and when you decided to drop fairy tale references into the story. You could have chosen more but you were quite selective. What were your criteria?

GILLIAM: I don’t remember precisely how it all came about. In the first script in the tower with the Queen, there was a painting. I knew it had to be a mirror. Mirror, Mirror on the wall had to be said. So we moved in a mirror and things started growing that way. Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel were in the original script but I kept pushing others in. There was that moment when the old crone in the village goes to the door and knocks. I had her have an apple because I knew people would have the reaction of seeing the witch in Snow White. In the Queen’s bedroom, I had the bed about twenty mattresses high so it was the Princess and the Pea. I had the Queen have this incredibly long hair so when Heath jumps out the window, he can yell “Rapunzel” instead of “Geronimo” (laugh). I just kept doing it and it became a game to have these notions of various Fairy Tales.

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