Terry Gilliam: ‘The world at the moment is beyond satire’

Terry Gilliam is in Barcelona to present the first week of the retrospective that the Filmoteca de Catalunya film archive dedicated to the director and former Monty Python member, running until April 21.

The world today is “beyond satire,” says Gilliam

Writer or director for movies such as ‘Brazil,’ ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,’ ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,’ ‘The Fisher King,’ and a variety of Monty Python flicks, Gilliam reflected on the state of the world at the moment: “It’s beyond satire.”

He elaborated that “it’s funnier, more bizarre, more dangerous than any jokes you could ever invent,” and added that it’s “the most depressing” time of his life. With a sad smile, he told the audience that “Pandora’s box has been opened” and that, now, it was time to “wait until this period is over.”

He ended by grimly reflecting: “Hopefully we survive it.”

Gilliam’s projects to continue

When asked about whether he was planning on making more films, Gilliam responded with a yes, joking that his problem was, however, that he “is getting very old.” “And I start thinking,” he explained, “’OK, each film takes usually four years at least, so how many more can I get before I kick the bucket?’”

“I don’t know,” he went on, answering his own reflection, “but I’d like to get a couple more in. I like making movies,” he laughed, saying that “I hate making movies as well, that’s the complication of life.”

Gilliam’s latest project is called ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,’ released in 2018, about a disillusioned film director. The event at the Filmoteca de Catalunya, in the Raval neighborhood, is in fact called ‘Terry Gilliam, a quixotic visionary.’ This will include screenings of several of the most iconic films penned by Gilliam.