The Brothers Grimm premiere at the London Film Festival

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On October 31 2005The Brothers Grimm received its UK premiere at Leicester Square in London, as part of the annual London Film Festival. Some pictures taken before the screening are below.

The director of the picture, Terry Gilliam, introduced the screening by saying that his job was to lower everyone’s expectations. He added that, given he has spent three months talking about it, the film may exist only in interviews. And the US critics, who didn’t warm to the film, must have seen a different version. Then onstage came actors Richard Ridings, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Julian Bleach, Laura Greenwood and Jonathan Pryce.

There was a short Q&A session after the screening, with Terry Gilliam and Jonathan Pryce on the receiving end.

Gilliam said that he did not know what movie he was going to make next, but that he had already finished Tideland, a film that is “the flip side of Brothers Grimm. How a child survives through her imagination, how she gets through a harrowing experience.”

The director said that it was always wonderful working with Jonathan Pryce, who added that Gilliam gives him lots of room to work.

Gilliam was asked if he was still haunted by Don Quixote. His response was that Maggie, his wife, says that he is always making the same film, but with different costumes. Hinting that he might yet make the film that eluded him, “Quixote is not dead, there is life in the corpse.”

In response to a question about the accents in Grimm, Gilliam said that they decided to use a mix of different Northern English accents for the local townsfolk because it would not have been sensible to use English with a German accent. But the pair joked that Pryce was remaking British sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo, famed for its pantomime French accents.

There is unlikely to be a sequel to Time Bandits – “Hallmark pulled out of the entertainment industry after 9/11”.

Gilliam said that there was no “Hamster Factor” in this picture, but he added that it is possible to count the fairy tale references. “Someone numbered them and found some I wasn’t aware of!”.

“Kids can come in and reassure their parents. We have thoroughly tested this film on children but we haven’t done any animal testing yet.”

Comparing this film to others in the same genre, Gilliam said, “The ride is bumpier and more interesting. It’s disturbing and foolish… it’s a more elaborate ride.”

Finally, Pryce was asked how the kitten tasted. “Delicious” he replied, “…we had to do that take 10 or 11 times, because once you get a taste for these things…!”

Below are a few pictures from the premiere by Nick Wall for the festival.

Director Terry Gilliam with fellow Pythons Michael Palin and Terry Jones

Jonathan Pryce with Gilliam

Laura Greenwood, Jonathan Pryce, Terry Gilliam,
Richard Ridings and Roger Ashton-Griffiths

A number of special Brothers Grimm T-Shirts were made for this event, and Dreams had two of them to give away in a competition. The winners were “Mad” Matt from Reading, UK and Laura from Lamezia Terme, Italy.

More to explore

Films in depth

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
The Zero Theorem
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Tideland
The Brothers Grimm
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
12 Monkeys
The Fisher King
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Brazil
Time Bandits
Jabberwocky