Latest Terry Gilliam Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I want brave people. Fearless ones. A good actor just goes out and leaps off the edge and develops wings on his way down, hopefully. That's the kind of people I really enjoy working with. Playing safe isn't much fun. I like danger. It's controlled danger, always, and that's why I hope I don't lure too many good actors down into the pits with me, because I hope they maintain their own unique talents.

  Terry Gilliam

  Fun, Unique, People

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I do think so much of what I do is reactive to the way the world sees itself, or the way the world is being portrayed. I wanted to offer an alternative to that. Whether it is accepted or not is beside the point, but it's an alternative.

  Terry Gilliam

  Thinking, World, Accepted

  Source: www.avclub.com

• My strength, if it's anything, is that I can lure some big-name actors in. That's probably the strength of almost any director now. On your own, as a director, you've only got so much weight. James Cameron, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay... that's about it. Everybody else depends on the star power that they can draw.

  Terry Gilliam

  Source: www.avclub.com

• To me, the stories that have always intrigued me are the stories of people leaving my movies and being affected by them. They walk home 20 blocks the wrong way. Or they lock themselves in their office. Or they find themselves weeping when in the shower after the film. And those intrigue me, because I know I've touched something inside them.

  Terry Gilliam

  Block, Home, People

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I find Hollywood gives these pat stories, and they're reassuring stories, and I don't really want to give people that. Hollywood does all that work. I'm offering, sometimes, an alternative to that. The answers aren't black-and-white. There may not even be answers in certain instances. The ground is not necessarily solid, either. So you've got to keep awake the whole time, even after the movie is over.

  Terry Gilliam

  People, Giving, Sometimes

  Source: www.avclub.com

• A lot of people seem to get carried away that something that's made out of paper mâché is going to be better than not. And I always thought the original King Kong, that terrible little puppet with its hair going in all directions, was far more magical than Peter Jackson's incredibly beautifully rendered King Kong. So there's something to be said for a more primitive version of things. I think it's because it makes the audience work a little bit more, because you've got to invest it with life and reality, so I like doing that.

  Terry Gilliam

  Reality, Thinking, People

  Source: www.avclub.com

• Writers do the self-censoring before they even get to the studio executive, because they know the film will not run that gauntlet. They, because they want to get their films made, they censor it.

  Terry Gilliam

  Running, Self, Want

  Source: collider.com

• I never define depression, clinical or otherwise. It's the basis of most life, it seems to me, in the modern world. We're all depressed.

  Terry Gilliam

  World, Modern, Bases

  Source: collider.com

• Everybody gets excited about technology, but it doesn't interest me in the least. I'm only interested in it if it makes my job easier or cheaper. They're tools.

  Terry Gilliam

  Jobs, Technology, Tools

  Source: collider.com

• Now, anybody can make a movie, and I don't see that many great movies, because I think there's only a limited amount of talent out there.

  Terry Gilliam

  Thinking, Talent, Amount

  Source: collider.com

• It's the shock of the world if you allow yourself to disconnect from the world and forget it's out there, how noisy it is, how busy it is, how invasive it is.

  Terry Gilliam

  World, Busy, Forget

  Source: collider.com

• Reality and fantasy, we need both of those to survive. If we don't have fantasy, dreams and all of those things, what's the point of carrying on? And you need to watch out for reality because buses come.

  Terry Gilliam

  Dream, Reality, Watches

  Source: collider.com

• I'm a cartoonist, it's what I am at heart, so cartoons take reality and deform it and make it grotesque, you make it funny, but you alter it. If it works, it's based on reality. That's what I try to do.

  Terry Gilliam

  Heart, Reality, Cartoon

  Source: collider.com

• I think it's worse for actors, though, because people have to choose you. As a director, I get to choose the actors, but most of the time, actors have to be chosen in order to work.

  Terry Gilliam

  Thinking, Order, People

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I got tired of my taxes paying for exciting little wars around the world. Then I discovered that when I died, my wife would probably have to sell our house to pay for the taxes in America.

  Terry Gilliam

  War, Tired, America

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I thought, how do you confuse violent Russian mobsters? Well, by being silly!

  Terry Gilliam

  Silly, Mobster, Violent

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I was an incredible Anglophile. I found people who shared the same sense of humor and attitude toward the world.

  Terry Gilliam

  Attitude, People, World

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• The English are such a frightened, nervous, insecure group of people - they no longer rule the world!

  Terry Gilliam

  Insecure, People, Groups

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I'm overwhelmed by writers. Most people aren't impressed by writers, but if you can draw a cartoon or a picture, they think you're magic.

  Terry Gilliam

  Thinking, People, Magic

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I wasn't creative or theatrical. I was just doing everything. I was head cheerleader, valedictorian - it was ridiculous!

  Terry Gilliam

  Creative, Ridiculous, Cheerleader

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I think that's the problem with kids now. Everything is manufactured. And then they're sitting there watching the television, where all the work is done for them. Radio made me use my imagination.

  Terry Gilliam

  Kids, Thinking, Imagination

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• There's something about living in the country that I think makes you inventive, because nature is full of miracles and wonder and surprises, and if you don't have much money, you have to make things if you want things.

  Terry Gilliam

  Country, Thinking, Miracle

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• I'm trying to escape by forming my own kind of world. Basically, I'm trying to encourage others to do the same.

  Terry Gilliam

  Trying, World, Kind

• Once the voices are in your head, it's either make a movie or kill a lot of people.

  Terry Gilliam

  Voice, People

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.

• The forces that run the world always try to keep things under control. The population might be having a wonderful time, buying iPods and going to nice restaurants, but I still feel they're all kind of under control.

  Terry Gilliam

  Running, Nice, Ipods

  "Terry Gilliam’s Three-Reel Circus". Interview with Michael Mechanic, www.motherjones.com. December 16, 2009.