11/23/2023
Terry Gilliam: "'Brazil' came specifically from the time, from the approaching of 1984. It was looming. In fact, the original title of 'Brazil' was '1984 ½'. Fellini was one of my great gods and it was 1984, so let’s put them together. Unfortunately, that b@stard Michael Radford did a version of '1984' and he called it '1984', so I was blown."
During the 1985 film's production, other working titles floated about, including "The Ministry of Torture," "How I Learned to Live with the System—So Far," and "So That's Why the Bourgeoisie Sucks," before settling with "Brazil," relating to the name of its escapist signature tune.
The film was produced by Arnon Milchan's company Embassy International Pictures. Gilliam's original cut of the film is 142 minutes long and ends on a dark note. This version was released internationally by 20th Century Fox. US distribution was handled by Universal, whose executives felt the ending tested poorly. Universal chairman Sid Sheinberg insisted on a dramatic re-edit of the film to give it a happy ending, and suggested testing both versions to see which scored higher. At one point, there were two editing teams working on the film, one without Gilliam's knowledge. As with the cult science fiction film "Blade Runner" (1982), which had been released three years earlier, a version of "Brazil" was created by the studio with a more consumer-friendly ending. After a lengthy delay with no sign of the film being released, Gilliam took out a full-page ad in the trade magazine Variety urging Sheinberg to release "Brazil" in its intended version.
Sheinberg spoke publicly of his dispute with Gilliam in interviews and ran his own advertisement in Daily Variety offering to sell the film. Gilliam conducted private screenings of "Brazil" (without the studio's approval) for film schools and local critics. On the same night Universal's 1985 award contender "Out of Africa" premiered in New York, "Brazil" was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Picture. This prompted Universal to finally agree to release a modified 132-minute version supervised by Gilliam.
In 2004, Total Film named Brazil the 20th-greatest British movie of all time. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Original Screenplay (Gilliam) and Best Art Direction (Norman Garwood, Maggie Gray). (Wikipedia)
Happy Birthday, Terry Gilliam!
