Terry Gilliam talks Brad Pitt, Hollywood and Monty Python

American writer and director Terry Gilliam wowed the audience with a restored version of his 1995 cult film “12 Monkeys” at his Master Class at the Lumière Film Festival.

The former Monty Python member, who began his directing career with the 1975 satirical comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is keen to tackle difficult subjects, but the secret to his success lies in the fact that Mary He said he learned from Poppins.

“She taught me that sugar effectively suppresses medicine,” he quipped, to the delight of the audience.

On a more serious note, Gilliam said his main goal as a director is to “make movies that make you think about the world in a different way.”

Gilliam rejected the media’s portrayal of reality as “too limited” and said it could be “more fascinating, weirder, more surprising.”

“But I’m not interested in fantasy films, so I don’t make them. What I’m interested in is this battle, this tension between imagination and reality. What’s most important in our senses? , not hearing, touch, or taste, but a sense of humor. We live in an absurd world – we’re pretty absurd as a species – and if we can’t laugh at ourselves, then I don’t have a reason to live. I don’t understand,” he told the Lyon crowd.

Speaking about the production of “12 Monkeys” and the great performances of the lead actors, Gilliam said part of the film’s success was because it gave Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt very different roles than they had played before. He explained that there are certain things. Willis plays the introverted prisoner James Cole, while Pitt plays the mentally ill Jeffrey Goines.

“Brad worked incredibly hard to prepare for the role. He went to psychiatric wards, went to a psychiatric hospital…and on the first day of filming, he had a blast on set!” His funny, The strangeness, the psychosis was breathtaking and unbelievable. So in the end, Bruce gave the best performance of his life and so did Brad,” Gilliam said.

In response to host Didier Allouche’s suggestion that films like The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life could no longer be made today, Gilliam said he had never lived in a time when people were so easily offended. He said there was no such thing and expressed doubts.

“The problem is you don’t think you can do it right now – and you may be right, but I’m willing to keep doing it to see what happens. Now people are very You are self-censoring. “Don’t say this, don’t think that.” But who is telling you to do or think that way? No one is doing that to you, you’re doing it to yourself, stop it! ” he declared.

Gilliam was uncharacteristically modest about the Apple TV adaptation of the 1981 hit “Time Bandits,” saying, “Shh, I can’t say anything,” but he did share an anecdote about the original film.

“A few years after that success, Warner Bros. came to me and said, ‘We want you to make three ‘Bandit’ movies, and they offered me millions of dollars. They said, “We love this movie, but there’s one caveat: There are no dwarves.” My answer was this. “Fuck! ”’ Gilliam exclaimed while blowing a loud raspberry, which became a running joke throughout the master class.

Gilliam candidly acknowledged his rivalry with Hollywood, citing a dispute with Universal over the final cut of the 1985 cult sci-fi comedy Brazil, and exuding confidence in his longstanding relationship with the Pythons.

“This fortunate experience of being at Monty Python and being successful doing what we thought was the best thing we could do, it gives us a certain arrogance and confidence that we don’t want to give up. ” he smiled before. He continued, “My problem with Hollywood is that there are a lot of intelligent people in executive positions who are paid very high salaries to make adult decisions.

“They’re so scared because they don’t want to lose their jobs. And I don’t like my films, or other people’s films, to be judged by frightened people. I want people to feel confident I want them to feel excited, I want them to feel excited.”

In keeping with the festival’s tradition of letting filmmakers screen their films, Gilliam presents the restoration of “12 Monkeys” at least three screenings in Lyon when possible, often offering a “sound check”. I often stayed from the beginning.

“12 Monkeys” has been restored in 4K by Arrow Films and NBCUniversal under Gilliam’s direction, and will be released on DVD and in theaters by Paris-based distribution company L’Atelier DeImages on November 8th.

The Lumière Film Festival will be held in Lyon until October 22nd.