Product Description

Covering all of Gilliam's work from Monty Python's Flying Circus to the 1998 big screen version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Each chapter deals in depth with each production, covering the story behind its making, complete with critical analysis of the film and detailed cast lists and credits. The book will be fabulously illustrated featuring many previously unseen photographs, story boards and drawings from Gilliam's private archive. Each chapter features an interview with Gilliam which gets his take on the work. Chapters include Early Years - childhood and early collaborations with John Cleese and Woody Allen; Monty Python - for the first time Gilliam talks about the creation of the cultiest of cult TV shows; Python and the Holy Grail -first attempt at directing includes interviews with John Cleese and Terry Jones; Jabberwocky, includes interviews with Michael Palin; Time Bandits; Brazil including the inside story of the infamous ad war with Universal, interview with co-writer Tom Stoppard; The Budget fiasco which was Baron Munchausen; Fisher King includes interview with Robin Williams; Twelve MonkeysOincludes an interview with Bruce Willis; Fear and Loathing Hunter S. Thompson talks about Gilliam's adaption. Also includes the abandoned projects - A Tale of Two Cities with Mel Gibson and Defective Detective with Nicholas Cage, as well as work in progress on Time Bandits II.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #335725 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Peculiar beasts, Anglicised Americans. Terry Gilliam came to Britain to escape his illiberal homeland in 1967 on the arm of a girlfriend and ended up as an animator of peculiar beasts for a group of young British performers who became Monty Python's Flying Circus. After cutting his teeth on the group's feature films, the long-haired Young American in the fur jacket cast out on his own, making a series of innovative and uneasy films that established him as a director in his own right, from his interpretation of Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" in 1977 to the self-described "cinematic enema for the 90s", Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The core of Bob McCabe's book is based on interviews with Gilliam, who is a master of candid self-observation. Where Ian Christie's Gilliam on Gilliam in the Faber Film series is a sober, mid-life contextualising of the artist's oeuvre, McCabe's book is a louder and more colourful cousin, crammed with stills and illustrations. It speaks highly of the director that both representations work; the biography remains essentially the same, and after the legendary struggles to release Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (the story of the former already covered by Jack Mathews' The Battle of Brazil), the anecdotal production detail is well-honed without losing any sparkle. McCabe, an experienced writer on cinema, clearly knows both his and Gilliam's onions, and his contention is that Gilliam remains essential to the modern film world as much for his uncompromising spikiness as his unquestioned vision and technical prowess, while exemplifying the hard graft needed to harness even the most powerful imagination.

That he is still kicking against the pricks and polarising opinion is testament to a funnily serious and urgent director, perhaps only now coming to the peak of a career for which this book serves as an enlightening and affectionate record to date. --David Vincent

About the Author
Bob McCabe broadcasts on film for Radio 1 and is associate editor of 'Film Guide'. He contributes to 'Empire', and 'Q' magazines and has also contributed to 'Premier', 'Film Review', 'Evening Standard', 'Daily Mirror', 'The Express' and was film editor of 'Vox'. He is the author of the BFI book on 'The Exorcist'. Bob McCabe broadcasts on film for Radio 1 and is associate editor of Film Guide. He contributes to Empire and Q magazines and has also contributed to Evening Standard, Daily Mirror and Daily Express, and was film editor of Vox. He is the author of The Pythons by The Pythons and numerous other books, most recently the authorised biography of Ronnie Barker.

Customer Reviews

Terry Gilliam - Mad to Python to Fear and Loathing in 1 book
Dark Knights and Holy Fools is an in-depth view of Terry Gilliam's work, from Occidental College's student magazine Fang, Harvey Kurtzman's magazine HELP!, through Monty Python to his dark and often gothic films such as Time Bandits, Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

This book contains the stories behind many of the films (although if you want the full version of the Brazil saga, you're better off reading The Battle for Brazil). Bob McCabe also talks to the man himself to get his take on what the films are really about. With storyboard pictures, behind the scenes shots, new artwork and old favourites, this book is a must for all Terry Gilliam (and Monty Python) fans.

A look into the mind of Gilliam
A great book, large and packed with interesting photos, showing what it must be like to work on a Terry Gilliam film. Never a dull moment - I bought this book for a friend, and was so engrossed in it, I had to buy a second copy, as I wanted one for myself! One not just for Gilliam fans, but those interested in the film making process too.