I don't think you ever learn just one thing. At some point you start unlearning things. I have been working hard to unlearn everything I know. Terry Gilliam More Quotes by Terry Gilliam More Quotes From Terry Gilliam I've given up asking questions. l merely float on a tsunami of acceptance of anything life throws at me ... and marvel stupidly. Terry Gilliam asking-questions given acceptance 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 watches reality I just like the fact I can make a film which might give comfort to some people who think they are the only crazy person in the world and suddenly they see there are two crazy people in the world. Terry Gilliam crazy two thinking Well, I really want to encourage a kind of fantasy, a kind of magic. I love the term magic realism, whoever invented it – I do actually like it because it says certain things. It's about expanding how you see the world. I think we live in an age where we're just hammered, hammered to think this is what the world is. Television's saying, everything's saying 'That's the world.' And it's not the world. The world is a million possible things. Terry Gilliam magic-realism age thinking 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 cartoon heart reality What I want to do is make films that astonish people, that astound people, and I hope you want to do that too. It's easy to make money. It's easy to make films like everybody else. But to make films that explode like grenades in people's heads and leave shrapnel for the rest of their lives is a very important thing. That's what the great filmmakers did for me. I've got images from Fellini, from Bergman, from Kurowsawa, from Bunuel, all stuck in my brain. Terry Gilliam important brain people Gorillaz virtually changed my wife...sorry, I mean, life...no, actually, it was my wife. Terry Gilliam wife sorry mean Whatever I do might be good, it might be bad, it might be all sorts of things, but it's not mediocre. Terry Gilliam mediocre be-good might I do want to say things in these films. I want audiences to come out with shards stuck in them. I don't care if people love my films or walk out, as long as they have a strong response. Terry Gilliam strong long people 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 I've always sworn that not having enough money has saved me from mediocrity. Terry Gilliam mediocrity saved enough If you really want your films to say something that you hope is unique, then patience and stamina, thick skin and a kind of stupidity, a mule-like stupidity, is what you really need. Terry Gilliam stupidity skins unique I can feel my dreams but I can't remember them. Terry Gilliam dream feels remember Because I dislike being quoted I lie almost constantly when talking about my work. Terry Gilliam dislike talking lying Fantasy isn't just a jolly escape: It's an escape, but into something far more extreme than reality, or normality. It's where things are more beautiful and more wondrous and more terrifying. You move into a world of conflicting extremes. Terry Gilliam beautiful reality moving 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 kind trying world 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 magic people thinking All films are learning processes. I am still trying to work out how you make a movie. I didn't study at film school or any of those things. I didn't bother with film theory. Terry Gilliam work-out trying school 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 people thinking [Steven Spielberg's films] are comforting, they always give you answers and I don't think they're very clever answers. The success of most Hollywood films these days is down to fact that they're comforting. They tie things up in nice little bows and give you answers, even if the answers are stupid, you go home and you don't have to think about it. The great filmmakers make you go home and think about it. Terry Gilliam nice stupid clever
