Look up card in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Card (from Greek χάρτης - chartēs, "paper, papyrus") primarily refers to an entire or piece of card stock.

Card may refer to:

Small flat objects[link]

As a surname[link]

• Andrew Card, politician, Secretary of Transportation under George H.W. Bush and White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush
• Orson Scott Card, science fiction author
• David Card, Canadian labour economist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley
• Michael Card, American Christian singer-songwriter, author, and radio host

In sports[link]

• Card (sports), the lineup of the matches in an event
• Arizona Cardinals, a National Football League team nicknamed the "Cards"
• St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball team nicknamed the "Cards"

Other[link]

• Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): card

, in mathematical notation, a function that returns the cardinality of a set

• A tool for carding
• Apple IIe Card, a compatibility card
• Cards (iOS), a card-making application on iOS

As an acronym[link]

• Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development, and Stabilisation (CARDS) programme, the European Union's main financial assistance instrument to the western Balkans
• Caspase recruitment domain or CARD domain, an interaction motif found in a wide array of proteins
• Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases
• Credit CARD Act of 2009 (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009), signed into law in 2009 by President Obama
• Collegiate Aerial Robotics Demonstration, a competition
• Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters, a non-profit focused on emergency preparedness or underserved communities
• Child Abduction Rapid Deployment, FBI Team

The Card[link]

The Card may refer to:

• The Card, Arnold Bennett's 1911 novel
  • The Card (1922 film), based on the novel
  • The Card (1952 film), based on the novel
  • The Card (musical), based on the novel
• "The Card", an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants (season 6)

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Card"

• All pages with titles containing "Card"

• Card game
• Carding (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ricky Jay
At the premiere of Redbelt, April 2008
Born	1948 (age 63–64) Brooklyn, NY
Other names	Richard Jay Potash
Occupation	Magician, actor, author
Known for	Sleight of Hand, Card Tricks, History of Magic

Richard Jay Potash (born 1948), better known by the stage name Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. He is a sleight-of-hand expert and is notable for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Jay was born in Brooklyn, New York to a middle class Jewish family.^[2] His grandfather, Max Katz, was a well-to-do certified public accountant and amateur magician who introduced Jay to the profession.^[3][4][5]

At least three of his one-man shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, On the Stem, and A Rogue's Gallery were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, and Magnolia, as well as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

A collector and historian of note, he was a student and firm friend of the legendary Dai Vernon, who Jay states was: "the greatest living contributor to the magical art". An avid collector of rare books (he has spent over five thousand dollars on single books alone) and manuscripts, art, and other artifacts connected to the history of magic, gambling, unusual entertainments, and frauds and confidence games, he is also opposed to any public revelations of the techniques of magic.^[6]

Jay joined the cast and crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a guest star and writer for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Jay played card sharp Eddie Sawyer, a dealer in the Bella Union casino of ambitious newcomer Cy Tolliver. Jay wrote the episode "Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking".^[7] He left the series at the end of the first season.

He also played a henchman to villain Elliot Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. When he was offered the role, the producers assured him that they would of course change the Indian name of his character, Gupta, accordingly. Jay in turn said that he would only play the part if they didn't change the name.

Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) (the current record is 216 feet (66 m) by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces. In addition, he is able to throw a card into the air and cut it cleanly in half with a pair of "giant scissors" upon its return. In his shows, he often throws playing cards at plastic animals in "self defense".

Consultant[link]

Jay created a consulting firm, Deceptive Practices, which provides "arcane knowledge on a need-to-know basis." His firm's clients are often within the stage, television, and film industries. He has worked with libraries and museums on their collections, including the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, CA.

Credits[link]

Television[link]

• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (October 26, 1970)
• Saturday Night Live (1977)
• Arsenio (1988)
• Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women – 1 hour special for American TV (1989)
• Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret (UK)
• Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants – 1 hour version of his Off-Broadway show, taped for HBO (1996)
• Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay (1996)
• The X-Files – "The Amazing Maleeni" (2000)
• MythBusters – Episode 20, "Exploding Jawbreaker, Static Cannon, Deadly Playing Cards." Ricky demonstrated card throwing, and the speed of his throws was clocked. (2003)
• Deadwood – Eddie Sawyer (2004), Season 1
• Tales From The Crypt (Unknown)
• The Unit (2007)
• Kidnapped (2007)
• Lie to Me (2009)
• FlashForward – Flosso (2010)

Film[link]

• House of Games (1987)
• Things Change (1988)
• Homicide (1991)
• The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995) (TV)
• The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Mystery Men (1999)
• State and Main (2000)
• Heist (2001)
• Heartbreakers (2001)
• Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
• Last Days (2005)
• The Illusionist (2006)
• The Prestige (2006)
• Redbelt (2008)
• The Great Buck Howard (2008)
• The Brothers Bloom (2009)

Books[link]

When not performing, Ricky Jay collects rare books and artifacts. He is the author of several books:

• Celebrations of Curious Characters
• Extraordinary Exhibitions: The Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, The Whimsiphusicon & Death to the Savage Unitarians - a collection of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century broadsides^[8]
• Jay's Journal of Anomalies
• Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck
• Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women
• Cards as Weapons
• Ricky Jay Plays Poker

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Ricky Jay Archive at the Magic Newswire website
• Ricky Jay at the Internet Movie Database
• San Francisco Chronicle review of "Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides From the Collection of Ricky Jay" during 2005 exhibition
• "Secrets of Magus" 1993 New Yorker profile

Terry Gilliam
Gilliam at the 36th Deauville American Films Festival.
Born	Terrence Vance Gilliam (1940-11-22) 22 November 1940 (age 71) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Occupation	Actor, animator, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1967–present
Spouse	Maggie Weston (1973–present)
Website
terrygilliamweb.com (Official Site)

Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam ( /ˈɡɪliəm/; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). The only "Python" not born in Britain, he took British citizenship in 1968.

Early life[link]

Gilliam was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Beatrice (née Vance) and James Hall Gilliam, who was a traveling salesman for Folgers before becoming a carpenter. Soon after, they moved to the nearby Medicine Lake.^[1]

The family moved to Panorama City, California, in 1952. Gilliam attended Birmingham High School where he was class president and senior prom King, was voted "Most Likely to Succeed", and achieved straight A's. During high school, he began to avidly read Mad magazine, which was then edited by Harvey Kurtzman; this later influenced his work.^[2]

Gilliam later spoke to Salman Rushdie about defining experiences in the 1960s that would set the foundations for his views on the world, later influencing his art and career:

I became terrified that I was going to be a full-time, bomb-throwing terrorist if I stayed [in the U.S.] because it was the beginning of really bad times in America. It was '66–'67, it was the first police riot in Los Angeles. [...] In college my major was political science, so my brain worked that way. [...] And I drove around this little English Hillman Minx—top down—and every night I'd be hauled over by the cops. Up against the wall, and all this stuff. They had this monologue with me; it was never a dialogue. It was that I was a long-haired drug addict living off some rich guy’s foolish daughter. And I said, "No, I work in advertising. I make twice as much as you do." Which is a stupid thing to say to a cop. [...]
And it was like an epiphany. I suddenly felt what it was like to be a black or Mexican kid living in L.A. Before that, I thought I knew what the world was like, I thought I knew what poor people were, and then suddenly it all changed because of that simple thing of being brutalized by cops. And I got more and more angry and I just felt, I've got to get out of here—I'm a better cartoonist than I am a bomb maker. That's why so much of the U.S. is still standing.

—"Salman Rushdie talks with Terry Gilliam"^[3]

Career[link]

Animations[link]

Terry Gilliam started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. One of his early photographic strips for Help! featured future Python cast-member John Cleese. When Help! folded, Gilliam went to Europe, jokingly announcing in the very last issue that he was "being transferred to the European branch" of the magazine,^[3] which of course did not exist. Moving to England, he animated sequences for the children's series Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

Monty Python[link]

Gilliam was a part of Monty Python's Flying Circus from its outset, at first credited as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits), later as a full member. His cartoons linked the show's sketches together, and defined the group's visual language in other media (such as LP and book covers, and the title sequences of their films). Gilliam's animations mix his own art, characterized by soft gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, mostly from the Victorian era.

Besides doing the animations, he also appeared in several sketches, though he rarely had any main roles and did considerably less acting in the sketches. He did however have some notable sketch roles such as Cardinal Fang of the Spanish Inquisition, "I Want More Beans!" (from "Most Awful Family in Britain 1974", Episode 45) and the Screaming Queen in a cape and mask singing "Ding dong merrily on high."

More frequently, he played parts that no one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or uncomfortable costumes, such as a recurring knight in armour who would end sketches by walking on and hitting one of the other characters over the head with a plucked chicken) and took a number of small roles in the films, including Patsy in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (which he co-directed with Terry Jones, where Gilliam was responsible for photography, while Jones would guide the actors' performances) and the jailer in Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Directing[link]

With the gradual break-up of the Python troupe between Life of Brian in 1979 and The Meaning of Life in 1983, Gilliam became a screenwriter and director, building upon the experience he had acquired during the making of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Gilliam says he used to think of his films in terms of trilogies, starting with Time Bandits in 1981. The 1980s saw Gilliam's self-written Trilogy of Imagination about "the ages of man" in Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). All are about the "craziness of our awkwardly ordered society and the desire to escape it through whatever means possible."^[4] All three movies focus on these struggles and attempts to escape them through imagination; Time Bandits, through the eyes of a child, Brazil, through the eyes of a thirty-something year old, and Munchausen, through the eyes of an elderly man.

Throughout the 1990s, Gilliam directed his Trilogy of Americana, The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), which were based on scripts by other people, played on North American soil, and while still being surreal, had less fantastical plots than his previous trilogy.^[5]

Themes and philosophy[link]

Terry Gilliam at Cannes, 2001

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: Salman Rushdie talks with Terry Gilliam^[3]

As for his philosophical background in screenwriting and directing, Gilliam said on the TV show First Hand on RoundhouseTV: "There's so many film schools, so many media courses which I actually am opposed to. Because I think it's more important to be educated, to read, to learn things, because if you're gonna be in the media and if you'll have to say things, you have to know things. If you only know about cameras and 'the media', what're you gonna be talking about except cameras and the media? So it's better learning about philosophy and art and architecture [and] literature, these are the things to be concentrating on it seems to me. Then, you can fly...!"^[6]

His films are usually highly imaginative fantasies. His long-time co-writer Charles McKeown comments about Gilliam's recurring interests, "the theme of imagination, and the importance of imagination, to how you live and how you think and so on [...] that's very much a Terry theme."^[7] Most of Gilliam's movies include plot-lines that seem to occur partly or completely in the characters' imaginations, raising questions about the definition of identity and sanity. He often shows his opposition to bureaucracy and authoritarian regimes. He also distinguishes "higher" and "lower" layers of society, with a disturbing and ironic style. His movies usually feature a fight or struggle against a great power which may be an emotional situation, a human-made idol, or even the person himself, and the situations do not always end happily. There is often a dark, paranoid atmosphere and unusual characters who formerly were normal members of society. His scripts feature black comedy and often end with a dark tragicomic twist.

As Gilliam is fascinated with the Baroque due to the historical age's pronounced struggle between spirituality and logical rationality,^[8][9] there is often a rich baroqueness and dichotomous eclecticity about his movies, with, for instance, high-tech computer monitors equipped with low-tech magnifying lenses in Brazil, and in The Fisher King a red knight covered with flapping bits of cloth. He also is given to incongruous juxtapositions of beauty and ugliness, or antique and modern. Regarding Gilliam's theme of modernity's struggle between spirituality and rationality whereas the individual may become dominated by a tyrannical, soulless machinery of disenchanted society, film critic Keith James Hamel observed a specific affinity of Gilliam's movies with the writings of economic historian Arnold Toynbee and sociologist Max Weber, specifically the latter's concept of the Iron cage of modern rationality.^[9]

Look and style[link]

Gilliam's films have a distinctive look not only in mise-en-scene but even more so in photography, often recognizable from just a short clip; in order to create a surreal atmosphere of psychological unrest and a world out-of-balance, Gilliam makes frequent use of unusual camera angles, particularly low-angle shots, high-angle shots, and Dutch angles. Roger Ebert has said "his world is always hallucinatory in its richness of detail."^[10] Most of his movies are shot almost entirely with rectilinear ultra wide angle lenses of 28 mm focal length or less in order to achieve a distinctive signature style defined by extreme perspective distortion and extremely deep focus. Gilliam's long-time director of photography Nicola Pecorini has said, "with Terry and me, a long lens means something between a 40mm and a 65mm."^[11] This attitude markedly differs from the common definition in photography which qualifies 40mm to 65mm as the focal length of a normal lens instead due to resembling natural human field of view, unlike Gilliam's signature style defined by extreme perspective distortion due to his usual choice of focal length. In fact, over the years, the 14mm lens has become informally known as "The Gilliam" among film-makers due to the director's frequent use of it since at least Brazil.^[12]

The wide-angle lenses, I think I choose them because it makes me feel like I'm in the space of the film, I'm surrounded. My prevalent vision is full of detail, and that's what I like about it. It's actually harder to do, it's harder to light. The other thing I like about wide-angle lenses is that I'm not forcing the audience to look at just the one thing that is important. It's there, but there's other things to occupy, and some people don't like that because I'm not pointing things out as precisely as I could if I was to use a long lens where I'd focus just on the one thing and everything else would be out of focus. [...]
[M]y films, I think, are better the second and third time, frankly, because you can now relax and go with the flow that may not have been as apparent as the first time you saw it and wallow in the details of the worlds we're creating. [...] I try to clutter [my visuals] up, they're worthy of many viewings.

—Terry Gilliam, "Gilliam's 'Imaginarium': Surreal And All-Too-Real", Fresh Air, National Public Radio^[13]

In another interview, Gilliam also mentioned, in relation to the 9.8mm Kinoptic lens he had first used on Brazil, that wide-angle lenses make small film sets "look big".^[14] The widest lens he has used so far is an 8mm Zeiss lens employed on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.^[15]

Production problems[link]

Terry Gilliam at IFC Center. 4 October 2006.

Gilliam has made a few extremely expensive movies beset with production problems. After the lengthy quarreling with Universal Studios over Brazil, Gilliam's next picture, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, cost around US$46 million,^[16] and then earned only about US$8 million in US ticket sales. The film saw no wide domestic release from Columbia Pictures, which was in the process of being sold at the time.

In the mid-1990s, Gilliam and Charles McKeown developed a script for Time Bandits 2, a project that never came to be made. Several of the original actors had died. Gilliam also attempted to direct a version of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, which collapsed due to disagreements over its budget and choice of lead actor.^[17]

In 1999, Gilliam attempted to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, budgeted at US$32.1 million, among the highest-budgeted films to use only European financing; but in the first week of shooting, the actor playing Don Quixote (Jean Rochefort) suffered a herniated disc, and a flood severely damaged the set. The film was cancelled, resulting in an insurance claim of US$15 million.^[18] Despite the cancellation, the aborted project did yield the documentary Lost in La Mancha, produced from film from a second crew that had been hired by Gilliam to document the making of Quixote. After the cancellation, both Gilliam and the film's co-lead, Johnny Depp, wanted to revive the project. The insurance company involved in the failed first attempt withheld the rights to the screenplay for several years^[19] but the production was finally restarted in 2008.^[20][21]

Gilliam has attempted twice to adapt Alan Moore's Watchmen comics into a film. Both attempts (in 1989 and 1996) were unsuccessful.^{[clarification needed]} Most recently, unforeseeable problems again befell a Gilliam project when actor Heath Ledger died in New York City during the filming of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

On the other hand, Gilliam's first successful feature, Time Bandits (1981), earned more than eight times its original budget in the United States alone; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) was nominated for four Academy Awards (and won, among other European prizes, three BAFTA Awards); The Fisher King (1991) (his first film not to feature a member from Python) was nominated for five (and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress); and 12 Monkeys went on to take over US$168 million worldwide; whilst The Brothers Grimm, despite a mixed critical reception, grossed over US$105 million worldwide. According to Box Office Mojo, his films have grossed an average of $26,009,723.

Recurring collaborators[link]

Ever since his first Python-independent feature Jabberwocky, Gilliam has shown a propensity to work with particular actors in numerous productions. Up until the 1990s, each of Gilliam's non-Python films was to feature at least one of his fellow Monty Python alumni (particularly Palin, Cleese, and Idle), and for his finished projects Gilliam has worked with the following actors more than once (in order of first film appearance):

• Derrick O'Connor (Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil)
• Ian Holm (Time Bandits, Brazil)
• Peter Vaughan (Time Bandits, Brazil)
• Jack Purvis (Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
• Jim Broadbent (Time Bandits, Brazil)
• Charles McKeown (Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
• Katherine Helmond (Time Bandits, Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
• Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Brothers Grimm)
• Simon Jones (Brazil, 12 Monkeys)
• Robin Williams (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King; also was to play Cavaldi in The Brothers Grimm until objections by producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein)
• Jeff Bridges (The Fisher King, Tideland)
• Michael Jeter (The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
• Tom Waits (The Fisher King, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
• Christopher Plummer (12 Monkeys, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
• Christopher Meloni (12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
• Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus; held the title role in Gilliam's first attempt at directing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2000)
• Verne Troyer (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
• Heath Ledger (The Brothers Grimm, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)
• Peter Stormare (The Brothers Grimm, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)

Other recurring collaborators include Gilliam's cinematographers Roger Pratt (Brazil, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys) and Nicola Pecorini (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), and his co-writer McKeown (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus).

[edit] Gilliam and Harry Potter

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is a fan of Gilliam's work. Consequently, he was Rowling's first choice to direct Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2000, but Warner Bros. ultimately chose Chris Columbus for the job.^[22] In response to this decision, Gilliam expressed that "I was the perfect guy to do Harry Potter. I remember leaving the meeting, getting in my car, and driving for about two hours along Mulholland Drive just so angry. I mean, Chris Columbus' versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian."^[23] In 2006, Gilliam added that he found Alfonso Cuarón's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to be "really good...much closer to what I would've done."^[24] In retrospect, however, Gilliam has stated that he wouldn't have liked to direct any Potter film. In a 2005 interview with Total Film magazine, he said that he would not enjoy working on such an expensive project due to interference from studio executives.^[25]

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, director David Yates paid homage to Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil.^[26][27][28]

Secret Tournament[link]

In 2002, Gilliam directed a series of television advertisements called Secret Tournament.^[29] The advertisements were part of Nike's FIFA World Cup campaign, and featured a secret three-on-three tournament between the world's best football players inside a huge tanker ship, with the Elvis Presley song "A Little Less Conversation" playing during the advertisements.

Slava's Diabolo[link]

Gilliam at the 41st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, April 2006

In 1996, Gilliam directed the stage show Slava's Diabolo created and staged by Russian clown artist Slava Polunin. The show combines Polunin's clown style, characterized by deep non-verbal expression and interaction with the audience, with Gilliam's rich visuals and surrealistic imagery. The show premiered at the Noga hall of the Gesher theater in Jaffa, Israel.

[edit] The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed and co-written by Gilliam, was released in 2009.^[30] In January 2007, Gilliam announced that he had been working on a new project with writing partner Charles McKeown. One day later, the fansite Dreams reported^[31] that the new project was titled The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. In October 2007, Dreams confirmed that this would be Gilliam's next project and was slated to star Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits.^[32] Production began in December 2007 in London.^[33]

On 22 January 2008, production of the film was disrupted following the death of Heath Ledger in New York City. Variety reports that Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing.^[34] Production was suspended indefinitely by 24 January,^[35] but in February actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell reportedly signed on to continue Ledger's role, transforming into multiple incarnations of his character in the "magical" world of the film.^[36][37] Thanks to this arrangement principal photography was completed 15 April 2008 on schedule. Editing was completed November 2008.^[38] According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter channel^[39][40] launched on 30 March 2009, the film's post-production FX work finished on 31 March.

During the filming, Gilliam was accidentally hit by a bus and broke his back.^[41]

The UK release for the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009. The USA release was on 25 December 2009. The film has had successful screenings including a premiere at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. The director stated his intent to dedicate the film to Ledger.^[42] Depp, Farrell, and Law donated their proceeds from the film to Ledger's daughter.^[43]

The Damnation of Faust[link]

Gilliam made his opera debut at London's English National Opera in May 2011, directing The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz.^[44] The production received positive reviews in the British press^[45][46][47]

Projects in development or shelved[link]

Gilliam has several projects in various states of development, including an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's and Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy novel Good Omens. Other projects Gilliam has been trying to get off the ground since the 1990s are an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (starring Mel Gibson), an adaptation of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (which has been adapted into movies several times before), and a script titled The Defective Detective that Gilliam has co-authored with Richard LaGravenese (who wrote Gilliam's The Fisher King before).

It was rumoured that Gilliam may direct – or be involved in the production of – the animated band Gorillaz' movie. In a September 2006 interview with Uncut magazine, Damon Albarn was reported saying "... we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved."^[48] However, in a more recent interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial, Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the band, stated that since the time of the previous interview, Damon's and his own fixation on the film had lessened. In an August 2008 Observer interview, Gorillaz band members Albarn and Hewlett revealed the nature and title of the project, Journey to the West, a movie adaptation of the opera of the same name based on a 16th-century Chinese adventure story also known as Monkey.^[49] In January 2008, while on set of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Gilliam stated that he was looking forward to the project, "But I'm still waiting to see a script!"^[38]

Zero Theorem was a planned feature film project by Gilliam. The science fiction film would have starred Billy Bob Thornton.^[50] Participating were producer Richard D. Zanuck and screenwriter Pat Rushin. When little was revealed about the nature of the film writer Pat Rushin suggested that his short story "Vow: A Prolix Parable" was an example of the screenplay's sensibility.^[51] An article at film website Tout Le Cine stated the film was to be about a reclusive and tortured data processing genius working on a mysterious project.^[52] Production was said to start May 2009.^[50][53] However, in June 2009 Gilliam stated that he had dropped the film having to invest more time than expected in the promotion of the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as well as in preparation for his film of Don Quixote.^[54][55]

Future projects[link]

After regaining the rights to the screenplay of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2008, with Johnny Depp still attached to the project.^[56] The film will be reshot completely, and Rochefort's role will be recast. Michael Palin reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote.^[57] However, Gilliam revealed on Canadian talk show The Hour on 17 December 2009, that Robert Duvall had been cast to play Quixote.^[58]

On 16 December 2010, Variety reported that Gilliam is to "godfather" a film called 1884 which is described as an animated steampunk parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with several former Pythons lending their voice talents to the project whereas Gilliam will be credited as "creative adviser".^[59]

Personal life[link]

Gilliam has been married to the British make-up and costume designer Maggie Weston since 1973. She worked on Monty Python's Flying Circus, many of the Python movies, and Gilliam's movies up to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. They have three children, Amy (b. 1978), Holly (b. 1980), and Harry (b. 1988), who have also appeared in several of Gilliam's films.

In 1968, Gilliam obtained British citizenship, then held dual American and British citizenship for the next 38 years. In January 2006 he renounced his American citizenship.^[60] In an interview with Der Tagesspiegel,^[61] he described the action as a protest against then President George W. Bush, and in an earlier interview with The Onion AV Club,^[62] he also indicated that it was related to concerns about future tax liability for his wife and children. As a result of renouncing his citizenship, Gilliam is only permitted to spend 30 days per year in the United States, fewer than ordinary British citizens.^[61] Gilliam also maintains a residence in Italy near the Umbria-Tuscany border. He has been instrumental in establishing the annual Umbria Film Festival,^[63] held in the nearby hill town of Montone.

Filmography[link]

Feature[link]

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (co-directed with Terry Jones)
• Jabberwocky (1977)
• Time Bandits (1981)
• Brazil (1985)
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
• The Fisher King (1991)
• 12 Monkeys (1995)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
• The Brothers Grimm (2005)
• Tideland (2005)
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Upcoming films:

• The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (in pre-production)

Shorts[link]

• Storytime (animated short)
• The Miracle of Flight (1974) (animated short)
• The Crimson Permanent Assurance (1983) (a short supporting feature that accompanied Monty Python's The Meaning of Life)
• The Legend of Hallowdega (2010)
• The Wholly Family (2011)

Advertisements[link]

• MTV "Boogeyman" (1987)
• Secret Tournament (2002)
• The Rematch (2002)

Awards, nominations and honours[link]

• Brazil (1985)
  • Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Film, Director, and Screenplay
  • 1 Academy Awards nominations Best Original Screenplay
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
  • 3 BAFTA Awards Best Costume Design, Best Make Up Artist, Best Production Design
  • 3 Silver Ribbons awarded by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design
  • 4 Academy Awards nominations Best Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup
  • 4 Saturn Awards nominations Best Costumes, Best Fantasy Film, Best Make-Up, Best Special Effects
  • Hugo Award nomination for Best Dramatic Presentation
• The Fisher King (1991)
  • Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mercedes Ruehl)
  • 4 Academy Awards nominations Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robin Williams), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Music, Original Score, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
  • Venice Film Festival Silver Lion Winner
  • Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award Winner
• Twelve Monkeys (1995)
  • 2 Academy Awards nominations Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Brad Pitt), Best Costume Design
  • Berlin Film Festival Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost" – 3rd Place
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
  • Cannes Film Festival Official Selection^[64]
• The Brothers Grimm (2005)
  • Venice Film Festival Official Selection
• Tideland (2005)
  • San Sebastian Festival Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize^[65]
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
  • 2 Academy Awards nominations Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction
  • 2 BAFTA Awards nominations Best Production Design, Best Make Up & Hair
  • Best Fantasy Film nomination by the Costume Designers Guild of America
  • British Independent Film Awards nomination for Best Achievement in Production
  • International Press Academy Satellite Award Best Costume Design, 3 more nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction & Production Design, Best Original Song
  • Voted Best Fantasy Film of the Year by readers of the Total Sci-Fi Online magazine.
• An asteroid, 9619 Terrygilliam, is named in his honor.
• Gilliam was given the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 2009 for his contribution to motion picture arts.^[66]
• Terry Gilliam awarded the Fellowship of the Kermodes, by film critic Mark Kermode.^[67]
• Gilliam was honored with the Director with Unique Visual Sensitivity Award at the Camerimage film festival in Łódź, Poland in 2009.^[68]

Further reading[link]

• Gilliam, Terry; Sterritt, David; Rhodes, Lucille (April 2004). Terry Gilliam: interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-57806-624-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=8eDE0hce0kEC. Retrieved 7 October 2010. 
• Gilliam, Terry; Christie, Ian (1999). Gilliam on Gilliam. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-20280-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=82RQJgAACAAJ. Retrieved 7 October 2010. 
• McCabe, Bob; Gilliam, Terry (30 September 1999). Dark Knights And Holy Fools: The Art And Films of Terry Gilliam. Diane Pub Co. ISBN 978-0-7567-9080-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=Fp5IPgAACAAJ. Retrieved 7 October 2010. 
• Wilmut, Roger (1980). From fringe to flying circus: celebrating a unique generation of comedy, 1960–1980. Eyre Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-46950-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=PzxaAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 7 October 2010. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Terry Gilliam

• Terry Gilliam's Official Website
• Watch Terry Gilliam's new film - The Wholly Family
• Terry Gilliam at the Internet Movie Database
• Dreams – exclusive interviews with Gilliam and coverage of his films
• Senses of Cinema: Terry Gilliam
• The Terry Gilliam Files – Interviews and behind-the-scenes production stories
• Extensive Terry Gilliam Filmography and Biography
• Terry Gilliam's Cinématon. A 4 minutes portrait by Gérard Courant
• Terry Gilliam: BAFTA A Life in pictures
• Terry Gilliam Interviewed by Jonathan Derbyshire “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" on New Statesman

"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé (aka The Velvet Fog), and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.

"I saw a spiral pad on his piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled. "They started, "Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos.' Bob (Wells, co-writer) didn't think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics."

The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song early in 1946. At Cole's behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made the same year utilizing a small string section, this version becoming a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Nat King Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49,^[1] while Cole's original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.^[2] Mel Tormé recorded the song himself in 1954, and again in 1961, 1966 and 1992.

The Nat King Cole recordings[link]

First recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, June 14, 1946. Label credit: The King Cole Trio (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist; Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist). Not issued until 1989, when it was (accidentally) included on the various-artists compilation Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits (1935–1954) Rhino R1 70637(LP) / R2 70637(CD).

Second recording: Recorded at WMCA Radio Studios, New York City, August 19, 1946. First record issue. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Nat King Cole, vocal-pianist, Oscar Moore, guitarist; Johnny Miller, bassist; Charlie Grean, conductor of 4 string players, a harpist and a drummer) Lacquer disc master #981. Issued November 1946 as Capitol 311 (78rpm). This is featured on a CD called The Holiday Album, which has 1940s Christmas songs recorded by Cole and Bing Crosby. In 2005 Capitol restored and re-released it for the 25 bit re-mastered Cole album "The Christmas Song", which also contains tracks from his 1960 and 1963 holiday albums.

Third recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, August 24, 1953. This was the song,s first magnetic tape recording. Label credit: The King Cole Trio with String Choir (Actual artists: Nat King Cole, vocal; Nelson Riddle, orchestra conductor) Master #11726, take 11. Issued November 1953 as the "new" Capitol 90036(78rpm) / F90036(45rpm) (Capitol first issued 90036 in 1950 with the second recording). Correct label credit issued on October 18, 1954 as Capitol 2955(78rpm) / F2955(45rpm). Label credit: Nat "King" Cole with Orchestra Conducted by Nelson Riddle. This recording is available on the 1990 CD Cole, Christmas and Kids, as well as the various-artists compilation Casey Kasem Presents All Time Christmas Favorites. It was also included, along with both 1946 recordings, on the 1991 Mosaic Records box set The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio.

Fourth recording: Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City, March 30, 1961. This rendition, the first recorded in stereo, is widely played on radio stations during the Christmas season, and is probably the most famous version of this song. Label credit: Nat King Cole (Nat King Cole, vocal; Charles Grean and Pete Rugolo, orchestration; Ralph Carmichael, orchestra conductor). The instrumental arrangement is nearly identical with the 1953 version, but the vocals are much deeper and more focused. Originally done for The Nat King Cole Story (a 1961 LP devoted to stereo re-recordings of Cole's earlier hits), this recording was later appended to a reissue of Cole's 1960 holiday album The Magic of Christmas. Retitled The Christmas Song, the album was issued in 1963 as Capitol W-1967(mono) / SW-1967(stereo) and today is in print on compact disc. This recording of "The Christmas Song" is also available on numerous compilation albums. Some are Capitol pop standards Christmas compilations while others are broader-based. It's available on WCBS-FM's Ultimate Christmas Album Volume 3, for example.

There were several covers of Nat Cole's original record in the 1940s. The first of these was said to be by Dick Haymes on the Decca label, but his was released first – not recorded first. The first cover of "The Christmas Song" was performed by pop tenor and bandleader Eddy Howard on Majestic. Howard was a big Cole fan, and also covered Nat's versions of "I Want to Thank Your Folks" and "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons", among others.

Selective list of notable recordings[link]

	"The Christmas Song" by CeCe Peniston noicon Peniston recorded the composition for the Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas compilation in 1996.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"The Christmas Song" has been covered by numerous artists from a wide variety of genres, including:

• Aaliyah
• Trace Adkins
• Christina Aguilera (#18 in US, #22 in Canada)
• Clay Aiken
• Herb Alpert
• Thomas Anders
• India.Arie and Stevie Wonder (winner of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2003)
• Aska
• Babyface
• Tony Bennett
• Polly Bergen (who sang the song on the December 14, 1957 airing of her NBC variety show, The Polly Bergen Show)^[3]
• Justin Bieber and Usher (#58 in US, #59 in Canada)
• Michael Bolton
• Toni Braxton
• Garth Brooks
• James Brown
• Les Brown and his Orchestra (with Doris Day on lead vocal)
• Michael Bublé (his version, bearing close similarities to Celine Dion's recording of the song, reached #6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in December 2003.)
• Kenny Burrell
• The Canadian Brass (from their 1985 Christmas album A Canadian Brass Christmas)
• The Carpenters (from their 1978 Christmas album Christmas Portrait)
• Celtic Woman
• Charice
• Chicago
• Christmas Who? (a SpongeBob Christmas special. SpongeBob and Patrick in a Christmas song sing as a lyric "...chestnuts roasting and burns in the third degree" before the ending of their song.)
• Charlotte Church
• Rosemary Clooney
• Natalie Cole
• Bing Crosby
• Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass (1970)
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Doris Day (from her 1964 Christmas album The Doris Day Christmas Album)
• Gavin DeGraw
• Celine Dion
• Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (voiced by Olivia Olson on the album Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites)
• Bob Dylan
• Gloria Estefan
• Connie Francis
• Aretha Franklin
• Judy Garland, who sang the song in a duet with its composer, Mel Torme, on a Christmas-themed episode of her television show in December 1963.
• Amy Grant (from her 1983 Christmas album A Christmas Album)
• Josh Groban (from his 2007 holiday album, Noël)
• Robert Goulet
• Hampton String Quartet
• Eddie Higgins
• Hootie and the Blowfish
• Whitney Houston
• Ramon "RJ" Jacinto (from his 1988 Christmas album Pasko Na Naman)
• The Jackson 5
• Alan Jackson (from his 2007 Christmas album Let It Be Christmas)
• Joni James (from her 1956 Merry Christmas from Joni). Joni's version alters the lyric: "I'm offering this simple phrase, for kids from one to ninety-two" to "... kids from one to ninety-one".
• Al Jarreau
• Joe
• Wynonna Judd
• Peggy Lee
• Damien Leith (from a special limited Christmas edition of his 2007 album Where We Land)
• The Lettermen
• Lovedrug
• Aimee Mann (from her 2006 album One More Drifter in the Snow)
• Johnny Mathis
• Martina McBride
• Reba McEntire
• Brian McKnight
• *NSYNC
• Ricky Nelson (on the episode of TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet titled "A Busy Christmas")
• Aaron Neville
• New Kids on the Block
• Des O'Connor (from a Tesco Christmas advert)
• Alexander O'Neal
• Olivia Olson (from a 2010 Christmas album Phineas and Ferb: Holiday Favourites)
• The Partridge Family (from their 1971 Christmas album A Partridge Family Christmas Card)
• Les Paul
• CeCe Peniston (from the 1996 Christmas album Merry Arizona II: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas)
• LeAnn Rimes (on her first holiday album What a Wonderful World)
• Raven-Symoné
• Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (from their 1963 Christmas album Christmas with The Miracles)
• Linda Ronstadt (from her 2000 Christmas album A Merry Little Christmas)
• SWV
• Diane Schuur (nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female in 1990)
• Neil Sedaka (from his 2008 first-ever holiday album, The Miracle of Christmas)
• Jessica Simpson
• Frank Sinatra (including two recordings: a virtual duet with Nat King Cole, and an actual duet with Bing Crosby)
• Tom Smith (of the Editors) and Agnes Obel (on the 2011 Smith and Burrows album, Funny Looking Angels)
• George Strait
• Donna Summer
• Demi Lovato
• The Supremes (remained unreleased until their 1965 Christmas album, Merry Christmas, was re-released in 1999 with additional tracks)
• Kim Taeyeon (of the South Korean pop group Girls' Generation)
• Take 6
• James Taylor
• Team Rocket (voiced by Rachael Lillis, Eric Stewart and Maddie Blaustein on the album Pokémon Christmas Bash)
• The Temptations
• Mel Tormé – recorded by the writer four times (1954, 1961, 1966 and finally in 1992 as part of his album "Christmas Songs")
• Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
• Luther Vandross
• Andy Williams
• Stevie Wonder (from his 1967 Christmas album Someday at Christmas)
• Dwight Yoakam
• Ascap entry for song showing numerous other covers

Parodies[link]

• The title of The Simpsons episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is a parody of the song.
• Bob Rivers parodied the song with his 2000 album, and the title track from said album, "Chipmunks Roasting On an Open Fire".
• Stan Freberg's "Green Chri$tma$" includes several snippets of holiday songs. One segment begins with a sincere-sounding "Chestnuts roasting..." and quickly segués into a mock 1950s radio or TV ad, for a brand of chestnuts, being described as if they were toothpaste or cigarettes.
• Twisted Sister parodied the song in his 2006 album A Twisted Christmas.

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Mark Evanier on Tormé and "The Christmas Song"