Terry Gilliam is a talented director, and I’m really looking forward to seeing The Brothers Grimm. I also generally think that a director should have 100% authority over a picture that he (or she) is directing. After all… one ship… one captain. Too many people pulling the strings of a puppet makes a mess of things.
So when Harvey and Bob Weinstein started pulling rank on Gilliam in his new project Brothers Grimm… Terry got right pissed off (which is understandable. The good folks over at M&C give us this:
The powerful pair first ditched Gilliam’s plans to cast Samantha Morton in the lead role in favour of lesser known actress Lena Headey, and then further enraged the former Monty Python star by sacking his cinematographer Nicola Pecorini for working too slowly.
Tensions escalated to the extent that Gilliam refused to shoot for two weeks as he was so staggered by what he viewed as the Weinsteins’ constant interference.
Wow… that’s pretty intense. Now, before we (including myself) all start getting all outraged at Bob and Harvey for sticking their noses in Terry Gilliam’s business… keep this in mind. It is THEIR money that is on the line. Gilliam didn’t pay for the film… Harvey and Bob Weinstein did. So you’ve got to at least give a little leeway to some guys when it’s their money on the line. They do get to have a say. But I think they should also be VERY careful about when they do it. Directors are pretty damn territorial… and for good reason.
