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Terence Vance Gilliam (born November 22 , 1940 ) is an American -born British filmmaker and animator, and member of the comedy group Monty Python . He has the distinction of being the only American in the predominantly British group. EARLY LIFE Terry Gilliam was born in before he became a carpenter. He moved to California because of his sister's Asthma and enrolled into Birmingham High School. He became class president, senior Prom King, was voted "Most Likely to Succeed", and got straight A's in school. During high school, Gilliam found a comic book called '' Mad '' by Harvey Kurtzman ; this would later influence Terry’s work. When Gilliam graduated high school, he went to Occidental College . He started out in Physics and then switched to Fine Art s; he finally switched once more to major in Political Science . Gilliam was part of the College magazine, ''Fang'', and became editor of it during junior year, turning the magazine into a tribute for Kurtzman. Terry sent copies of Fang to Kurtzman. After college, Gilliam worked at an advertising agency, but not for long because Harvey Kurtzman offered him a job at a magazine called '' Help! ''. ANIMATION inspired the stream-of-consciousness style used in ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'']] Terry Gilliam started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist; one of his early Photographic Strips for Harvey Kurtzman's ''Help!'' featured future Python castmember John Cleese . Moving to England, he animated features for '' Do Not Adjust Your Set ,'' which also featured future Pythons Eric Idle , Terry Jones , and Michael Palin . Gilliam then joined '' Monty Python's Flying Circus '' at its formation, as the only non-British member. He was the principal artist-animator of the Surreal cartoons which frequently linked the show's sketches together, and defined the group's visual language in other mediums. He also appeared in several sketches and played side parts in the films. Gilliam's Monty Python animations have a distinctive style. He mixed his own art, characterized by soft gradients and odd bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from '' Angela Anaconda '', a series of television commercials for Guinness Stout , the Nickelodeon series '' You Can't Do That On Television '', the Jibjab political cartoons, a bizarre set of Internet cartoons called Animutation s, the television history series '' Terry Jones' Medieval Lives '', recent episodes of the Alton Brown 's Food Network television show Good Eats , and, to a degree, " South Park ". DIRECTING Gilliam went on to become a Motion Picture writer and director. His films are usually highly imaginative and Fantastical . Most of Gilliam's movies include plotlines that seem to occur partly or completely in the characters' Imagination s, raising questions about the definition of Identity and Sanity . He often shows his opposition to Bureaucracy and Authoritarian regimes. He also distinguishes ''higher'' and ''lower'' layers of society with a disturbing and ironic style. His movies usually feature a fight or struggle against a great power which may be an emotional situation, a human-made idol, or even the person himself, and the situations do not always end happily. There is usually a Paranoid and dark atmosphere and unusual characters who once were normal members of society. His scripts feature a dark sense of humour and often end with a dark twist. His films have a distinctive look, often recognizable from just a short clip; . Gilliam has acquired the unfortunate reputation of making extremely expensive movies beset with production problems. After the lengthy quarrelling with Universal Studios over '' Brazil '', Gilliam's next picture, '' The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen '', cost around US$46 million, and then earned only about US$8 million in US ticket sales. A decade later, Gilliam attempted to film '' The Man Who Killed Don Quixote '', budgeted at US$32.1 million, among the highest-budgeted films to only use European financing; but in the first week of shooting, the actor playing Don Quixote ( Jean Rochefort ) suffered a herniated disc and a flood crashed the set. The entire film was cancelled, resulting in a US$15 million insurance claim. Gilliam's reputation in this regard has been sufficient for the satirical newspaper '' The Onion '' to run a news article entitled " Terry Gilliam Barbecue Plagued By Production Delays ". Films directed '']]
He has several projects in various states of development, including an adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett 's comic fantasy novel '' Good Omens ''. Gilliam's unsuccessful efforts in 1999 and 2000 to film '' The Man Who Killed Don Quixote '', based on Miguel Cervantes ' '' Don Quixote '', were the subject of the 2002 Documentary '' Lost In La Mancha ''. His two efforts to film the '' Watchmen '' comics, in 1989 and 1996, were also unsuccessful. Gilliam and Harry Potter just so angry. I mean, Chris Columbus' versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian." {Link without Title} The Secret Tournament In 2002 , Gilliam directed a series of Television Advertisements called ''The Secret Tournament''. The advertisements were part of Nike 's World Cup campaign and featured a secret three-on-three tournament between the world's best players inside a huge tanker ship. The Elvis Presley song "A Little Less Conversation" plays over the top of the advertisements. The advertisements were hugely popular and critically acclaimed. Slava's Diabolo In 2006 , Gilliam directed the stage show "Slava's Diabolo", created and staged by Russian clown artist Slava Polunin . The show combines Polunin's clown style, characterized by deep non-verbal expression and interaction with the audience, with Gilliam's rich visuals and surrealistic imagery. The show was first presented at the Noga hall of the Gesher theater in Jaffa , Israel . BIBLIOGRAPHY
TRIVIA '']] Gilliam famously appeared in a Trigger Happy TV sketch where he was interviewed by Dom Joly . Whilst filming, a planted busker sets up behind the protagonists. Dom, feigning outrage at the temerity of the street performer, smashes the hapless busker's guitar before chasing him away and shouting 'Do you want some more - well do you? Come on then!' Gilliam is astonished and vaguely terrified, mouthing 'oh fuck' to the cameraman. Terry was also the Chairman and CEO of his very own studio Terry Gilliam Pictures Co. Ltd . Gilliam had dual American and British citizenship for 38 years but gave up his American citizenship {Link without Title} to live in England in 2006. An asteroid, 9619 Terrygilliam , is named in his honour. FURTHER READING Further information about Terry Gilliam can be found in the following book:
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