The Brothers Grimm

[MacGuffin]

Gilliam Sneak Previews 'Brothers Grimm'

In Terry Gilliam's fertile imagination, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were more than fairy-tale collectors. They actually lived a fairy tale, complete with curses, monsters and an evil hag in a tower.

Gilliam and Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein showed off about 20 minutes of "The Brothers Grimm" to reporters at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, looking to give their movie a publicity boost for its release amid the crowded summer blockbuster season.

"The Brothers Grimm" stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as the 19th century folklorists who gathered tales that have enchanted and terrorized generations of children.

The movie casts the Grimm siblings as hucksters who travel from town to town with a bag of tricks and a reputation as fearless monster slayers, spinning tall tales of supernatural terrors that they will exorcise for a fee.

The Grimm boys get a dose of fairy-tale reality when they encounter a true curse, complete with a forest of trees that can move on its own, a horse that swallows a child and races off with it in its belly and a 500-year-old queen in a tower (Monica Bellucci) abducting young girls to steal their life energy and preserve her beauty.

The Cannes footage revealed a blend of gritty 19th century reality and the wild, surreal visuals Gilliam ("Brazil," "The Fisher King" "Twelve Monkeys") is known for.

"I tried to bring it down to a real fairy-tale level," Gilliam said. "I want the ground to be below us, because when it disappears, it's a longer fall."

The film, Gilliam's first since 1998's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has had a longer run to the finish line than most movies, with Gilliam laboring on it for two years and Miramax shuffling the release date repeatedly.

A year ago at Cannes, when the movie still was scheduled for release in late 2004, Miramax showed off a few minutes of "The Brothers Grimm." The release later switched to early this year, then late this year, and finally shifted back to this August.

"Last year, we showed three minutes, this year, 20 minutes. This way, about four or five years from how, you'll see the finished film," Gilliam joked.

Gilliam has had epic battles with studios and financial backers on such films as "Brazil" and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and his uncompleted "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" with Johnny Depp shut down after just six days of shooting in 2000 because of a series of freak troubles.

Weinstein and Gilliam reportedly clashed on "The Brothers Grimm," but they appeared chummy at Cannes, and Weinstein said Miramax was releasing the film with a huge marketing blitz.

Delays on "The Brothers Grimm" resulted because Gilliam and his collaborators had to inject top-of-the-line effects and production values essentially at half-price, Weinstein said.

"It takes so long when the movie should cost $150 million and it only costs $75 million," Weinstein said.

[Brazoliange]

Miramax better not fuck Gilliam over.

[cowboykurtis]

I don't think he will - Harvey seems to be very respectful of the directors he holds in high regard - from what I understand he thinks the world of terry.

Any tyranical stories you've heard about harvey were suffered by directors he didn't think much of - not that this is any sort of justification for his actions.

But I do feel that Harvey will provide Gilliam with the control to acheive the product he set out to make.

[Brazoliange]

I don't think he will - Harvey seems to be very respectful of the directors he holds in high regard - from what I understand he thinks the world of terry.

Any tyranical stories you've heard about harvey were suffered by directors he didn't think much of - not that this is any sort of justification for his actions.

But I do feel that Harvey will provide Gilliam with the control to acheive the product he set out to make.

what-about-kill-bill......    

[cowboykurtis]

I don't think he will - Harvey seems to be very respectful of the directors he holds in high regard - from what I understand he thinks the world of terry.

Any tyranical stories you've heard about harvey were suffered by directors he didn't think much of - not that this is any sort of justification for his actions.

But I do feel that Harvey will provide Gilliam with the control to acheive the product he set out to make.

what-about-kill-bill......    

what did harvey do to kill bill?

[Brazoliange]

he made Tarantino cut the cut he'd originally made into Volume 1 and 2

[cowboykurtis]

As far as I know, that i was tarantino's choice.

[Brazoliange]

from my understanding Weinstein told him to cut it down for time or get an NC-17 and a much smaller playing field....  let's not fight though.

[cowboykurtis]

from my understanding Weinstein told him to cut it down for time or get an NC-17 and a much smaller playing field....  let's not fight though.

We're having a discussion - no need to worry.

Are you saying Harvey gave him the option of delivering an NC-17 film or a shorther one?

That doesn't make sense to me.

[Stefen]

I was under the impression it was a mutual thing. They each wanted to make more money.

As for Brothers Grimm. This movie will rule, as all Gilliam does. We should just move this thread to the best films of the year 2005 right off the bat.

[cowboykurtis]

i hear The Brothers Grimm is going to be in two volumes

[modage]

and vol. II will suck.

[cowboykurtis]

well i hear volume II is really what was intended to be the first "story" and will be relased first - in other words volume one comes second - so it's really the first that will suck

[RegularKarate]

I heard Gilliam just abandoned this completely and announced seven more films and a television season finale.

[cowboykurtis]

He's actually going to be the next JOE MILLIONARE.

Smart move if you think about it.