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"Inception" director Christopher Nolan is helping people discover the animated films of the Quay brothers.

Cult filmmaker Terry Gilliam has inked a deal to produce original content for Amazon.

As part of the deal, Gilliam will take another stab at trying to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, an unfinished film based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. “It’s my madness,” he told The Playlist.

Gilliam has been trying to make the film for several decades. Filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe documented a failed attempt in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha starring Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Jeff Bridges and Tony Grisoni.

Robin Williams also stars, in what appears to be one of his final performances, as a horny talking dog.

A collection of animation work by Terry Gilliam on the occasion of his 74th birthday.

In a 1988 interview with David Morgan for Sight and Sound, Terry Gilliam proposed that the most common theme of his movies had been fantasy vs. reality, and that, after the not-entirely-happy endings of Time Bandits and Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen offered the happiness previously denied, a happiness made possible by “the triumph of fantasy”.

That triumph is not, though, inherently happy. Gilliam’s occasional happy endings are not so much triumphs of fantasy as they are triumphs of a certain tone. They are the endings that fit the style and subject matter of those particular films. More often than not, his endings are more ambiguous, but fantasy still triumphs. Even poor Sam Lowry in Brazil gets to fly away into permanent delusion. Fantasy is sometimes a torment for Gilliam’s characters, but it is a torment only in that it is haunted by reality, and reality in Gilliam is a land of pain, injustice, and, perhaps worst of all, ordinariness.

Although I haven’t seen the exhibit “Gustave Doré (1832-1883): Master of Imagination,” currently at the National Gallery of Canada, I can say that the catalog is beautiful, informative, and opened up Doré’s career in ways I had not anticipated.

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) was an artist’s artist, renowned among critics and curators, but hard for the general public to warm up to. His most famous fine art works are his Black Paintings, from the 1960s, which at first glance appear to be solid black, but on closer inspection turn out to be blocks of black and almost-black shades. Important, but challenging.

Imagine that animator/film director Terry Gilliam had a daughter. Imagine that daughter dug through her dad’s archives. Imagine that she started a blog to share all the cool things she found with the rest of the world. Now, stop imagining! Rush over to Holly Gilliam’s fantastic new blog Discovering Dad. Even better, she’s organizing her dad’s work “so it can eventually be put in a book and an exhibition.”

I can’t let this opportunity pass without mentioning that there’s a Czech film and theater poster shop named in honor of Terry Gilliam’s socks. The store, Terry Posters, has an amazing catalog of images online that’ll inspire you for days on end.

(Thanks, Slowtiger)

Cartoon Brew | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Terry Gilliam, Terry Posters

These updated and animated archival photos are made by Kevin Weir over at Flux Machine. They remind me of Terry Gilliam’s animations for Monty Python, with a bit of the bizarre spookiness of Travis Louie.

Watch Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam explain how he creates his famous cut-out animations.

(via KC Green on Twitter)

Wow, here’s something I’d never seen before: Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam discussing his animation techniques on Bob Godfrey’s Do-It-Yourself Animation Show in 1974. Godfrey’s show, which made animation accessible to the masses by taking the mystery out of the production process, was vastly influential and inspired an entire generation of kids in England, including Nick Park, who created Wallace & Gromit, Jan Pinkava, who directed the Pixar short Geri’s Game, and Richard Bazley, an animator on Pocahontas, Hercules, and The Iron Giant.

In a day and age when more kids are interested in animating than ever before, it’s a shame that TV shows (or Web series) that are fun and informative like this don’t exist. The DIY advice that Gilliam gives in this episode is not only brilliant, but still as relevant today as back then:

“The whole point of animation to me is to tell a story, make a joke, express an idea. The technique itself doesn’t really matter. Whatever works is the thing to use.”

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Bob Godfrey, cut-out, Cutout, Do-It-Yourself, Terry Gilliam

Eight years ago after the worlds worst break-up ( and before I met the amazing Julie, who would improve every aspect of my life ) I couldn't draw for a while. For months and months I barely scratched out a proper line on paper. I was also busy failing school. A tough time. I could however, write. Maybe not well but there were stories and ideas that had to come out somewhere, somehow. That's where Bera came from. She started off as a troll but I'm not sure what she is anymore. Bera is a horror comic about ghosts and monsters and zombies. Loads of fun. A bit like Burton or Gilliam or Gaiman ( well, in my opinion.) Anyway, I'm babbling. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I was just talking to the good people at Chizine (one of Canada's very best publishers) and throwing around the idea of a short illustrated book about her. This wouldn't be finished for a couple of years but I'm super excited in any case. I hope this happens. Something like this is a dream for me.