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Prophecy from the Past? Terry Gilliam's Brazil
What
Sheinberg wanted gone, then, were the very things that Gilliam felt were central
to the the film he envisioned -- namely, the pointed material about the
dehumanizing causes and effects of government bureaucracy, Michael Kamen's dark
orchestral score {which Sheinberg wanted to replace with some rock in order to
"attract teens"}, and the ample material about terrorism gone
rampant. But not least, Sheinberg felt the dark and dour ending had to go.
In his mind, the film would end a little earlier, when things looked like they
might still all work out for the best. ... With the provisions of the contract in hand, Sheinberg had Gilliam over something of a barrel. The contract required that Gilliam turn in a 132-minute version of the film, which he had, working with his own editor, Julian Doyle. But both considered that original 132-minute version a 'rough cut', so Gilliam went back to work on a second 132-minute version. Meanwhile, since Universal had also retained the right to edit the film in whatever manner they saw fit, Sheinberg set two of his own editors to work on a separate 132-minute cut. And when he reviewed the two different versions, Sheinberg, predictably, intended to 'test' his own editors' version, not Gilliam's.
In a first effort to get Universal to release Gilliam's version, the film's producer, Arnon Milchen, went public, saying that Universal was being obstinate because the film ran a few minutes over. He also urged critics to see it in England, where it had already been released by Fox. Gilliam then weighed in by demanding that, if Universal was going to release their version, he wanted his name removed from the credits. But Sheinberg stood firm and insisted that the studio would not succumb to any pressure, nor even to whatever critical acclaim Gilliam's version might receive. At this point, Milchen wanted to call in the lawyers. But Gilliam didn't agree. According to his own account, he said to Milchen, "'Nah, can't get lawyers in. They've got all the lawyers in the world. T hey've got all the money. They don't have to release the film, it's not going to kill them. They can sit on it." But Gilliam had no intention of giving up. He simply wanted to approach matters, as he put it, "in a much more personalized way." His first step was to take out a full-page ad in Variety. The ad ran. The entire page was blank, except for a black border, in the middle of which it read:
After the ad ran, a somewhat impromptu collection of local critics in Hollywood began to set up clandestine screenings, including screenings in people's homes. {With Universal holding the U.S. distribution rights, the screenings were illegal.} And when the end of the year rolled around and it was time to cast their votes for the best in the industry, a number of them realized that the by-laws made no mention that a film had to have been released in order to be eligible for voting. As a result, they took a vote on whether, given the by-laws, they could vote for an unreleased film, and decided they could.
In a somewhat curious twist, the awards were announced the same night that Universal, partly hoping to capitalize on the aura of the awards, was premiering its big ticket film -- Out of Africa. But in the meanwhile, the as-yet-unreleased-in-the-U.S. film Brazil -- the great bone of contention between Gilliam and the giant studio, walked away with a few awards ... including Best Picture, Best Direction, and Best Screenplay. Finally, on Christmas Day 1985, Universal half-heartedly released Brazil in L.A. and New York, then, afterward, without much fanfare and even less of an advertising budget, they slowly dragged it to limited engagements around the country. Gilliam, of course, was pleased. But he did not become deluded. According to him, "I was getting all these phone calls from people saying 'Oh well done, maybe now the flood gates will open we'll get films out, blahblahblah'. Of course it didn't, just like Brazil, the system doesn't change, you just escape in your madness, that's all." If you haven't seen Brazil yourself, yet, you really ought to. ...
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