Terry Gilliam to Tackle Grimm

Ex-Monty Python member and noted director Terry Gilliam has signed on to direct “Brothers Grimm”:

Terry Gilliam is returning to the fantastical world of fairy tales and adventure that he explored in “Time Bandits” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” signing on to develop with an eye to direct “Brothers Grimm” for MGM and Mosaic Media Group.

A spring production start is being targeted.

“Grimm” — in development for nearly two years at MGM — is a fictional action-adventure tale about folklore collectors and brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, called Jake and Will in this version. While traveling from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures, they encounter a real sorceress with terrifying powers and are put to the test. The project is described as mixing the adventure of the Indiana Jones films with the humor of “Shrek.”

The deal reteams Gilliam with Mosaic’s Charles Roven, who produced the director’s 1995 “Twelve Monkeys,” starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe. Roven is producing “Grimm” along with producer Daniel Bobker.

Scribe Ehren Kruger, who is teaming with Bobker and helmer Iain Softley on “Skeleton Key” for Universal Pictures, penned the “Grimm” screenplay. At MGM, the project is being overseen by senior vp production Elizabeth Cantillon. “It’s a great script, and Gilliam is the right director for it,” MGM’s Chris McGurk said. “He has a unique vision, and we’re looking forward to developing it with him.”

The only potential snag in the deal to direct “Grimm” could be “Blue Ribbon Operation,” a project that Gilliam is attached to direct for Imagemovers that was formerly set up at DreamWorks Pictures.

Gilliam last wrote and directed 1998’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” His credits also include “The Fisher King” and “Brazil.”

I love Gilliam’s vision – his only film that didn’t really work for me was Fear and Loathing, but Hunter S. Thompson’s word fantasias have never translated to the screen. Although it isn’t really “forgotten,” Twelve Monkeys is one of the creepier and more believable fantasies ever filmed. Why couldn’t it happen that way? Fisher King, Time Bandits and Munchausen are also personal favorites of cinematic magical realism.