WILL MAY 21, 2011 BE THE END OF THE WORLD? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHO IS TO BLAME?

For, I can't even remember how long, there have been people toting the idea that tomorrow is Judgement Day and until this week I thought they were nuts but, being the paranoid freak that I am, it did start to get to me. I mean the world has to end sometime and while Christians are taught to beware of false profits, how can one be sure when they are false? After some research I feel a lot better because basically some dude decided, based on some concocted ideas and faulty math, that tomorrow will be judgement and the end of the world will be October. I also found a ton of religious people saying that God said nobody but him would know when the end was so I am 99.9% sure it will all be okay.

That said if something major happens, blame Terry Gilliam. I know what you are thinking, "I thought she was a huge fan of the maverick director. She wrote a huge blog about it in the Fall and read a book of his interviews for an obscenely long time." While those things are true, lets look at some facts.

Just this week Gilliam mentioned how he is attempting to make THE DEFECTIVE DETECTIVE, a project that he has attempted several times and every time it has collapsed. This by itself may not be a sign of the Apocalypse but pair it with his illustrious history of failure, near failure and disaster.

MONTY PYTHON HOLY GRAIL, directorial debut, plagued by bad weather, cast disputes, money trouble.

BRAZIL, first dream project, turns into nightmare as budget get sliced, stress leads Terry into temporary paralysis, and producers decide movie needs to be dumbed down for US audiences. This leads to very long public battle, that gets movie released eventually but causes Gilliam to begin to be thought of as difficult.

BARON MUNCHHAUSEN, very next film proves even worse financial issues as German producer promises huge budget and then goes Nazi when he can't deliver. Backers get mad, blame Gilliam, try to sue him and replace him. Special effects must be cut, scenes compromised, but Director makes it work. Studios Change creative heads during production leading studio to not care about project and barley release film with almost no promotion.

After this point Gilliam movies became considered Taboo, nobody wanted anything to do with anything he came up with so he decides for the first time, to do a movie where he had not created it in hopes of winning over producers to again make original work. This was 1991'S FISHER KING, a highly successful film and was followed by an even bigger success, 1994's TWELVE MONKEYS, but it would be 2009-20 years and five films before a Gilliam Original, IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS, was released. Of those five, TIDELAND lost it's distributors and funding (leading Gilliam to take to the streets of New York to beg for money, but really gain attention,) and THE BROTHERS GRIMM hit so many road blocks that it was released over a year later than originally planned and so many compromises were made in both direction that both the director and his producers hated the movie.


Both of these were considered failures at the box office but nothing compared to THE MAN WHO KILLED QUIXOTE, an original idea Gilliam was shooting in 2000 for three days before they had to shut down production. The whole ordeal was documented in LOST IN LA MANCHA (check out that link or watch it for full details) but destruction included a freak rain storm washing away the set and equipment- or as insurance companies call that an act of God (are you beginning to feel that maybe someone upstairs doesn't want him making films?)

The there is IMAGINARIUM, which did get made and is a wonderful film but, as has been well documented, only after the star, Heath Ledger, literally died mid shoot. Coincidence? The day after filming completed, one of the producers died and, oh yeah, Gilliam himself was hit by a bus breaking his back, during editing.

He was quoted as saying, "They got the star, they got the producer, but they didn't get the director!" Nice move Terry,if God is after you, you should totally mock him.Which brings us to his latest film attempt announced the week of Crackpots theory for Judgment Day. I'm sure we will be fine but again, if I am wrong, I think we all know who's ass to kick in the afterlife.