The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 film, directed by Terry Gilliam.
This film was supposed to be released in November 2004 in theaters, but it was delayed, with the new release date being August 26, 2005. The film was in the competition at the Venice Film Festival 2005.
Tagline: Eliminating Evil Since 1812.Plot
The film begins with Wilhelm and Jakob's sister dying. Jakob has gone to sell the cow so they would have the money to get a doctor. Jakob comes in, but instead of money, he has traded the cow for "magic" beans. Will flies into a frenzy, beating Jakob up. It is implied that their sister died.
Will and Jake ride into a town, and supposedly "kill" a banshee. But the banshee turns out to be a fake, orchestrated by them and their friends. Then, at the inn they are staying at, a French General, Delatombe, forces them to fight a real evil, the beautiful yet horridly dangerous Mirror Queen, who is stealing young girls for their youth. They are accompanied by Cavaldi, a sadistic overseer of the General's torture chamber.Main cast
Delayed?
Despite initial fears by some critics and film fans (based on the fact that the release date was rescheduled several times), The Brothers Grimm was released August 26th 2005 after final arrangements made by the Weinstein brothers and the Walt Disney Company concerning how to divide the catalog of Miramax films currently in production. MGM and Miramax's Dimension Films produced the film, MGM has international rights and Dimension/Miramax has US distribution rights. MGM backed out of its deal to co-distribute in the US, and that also caused a delay in its release.DVD Release
The DVD version of The Brothers Grimm was released on December 20, 2005. special features included deleted scenes and commentary.Trivia
- Jonathan Pryce has already worked with Terry Gilliam. He played The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Sam Lowry in Brazil.
- Both Terry Gilliam and Matt Damon wanted to hire Samantha Morton for the female lead, but Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein vetoed her out of the film. Morton has said that this was due to the impression that "the tops of her arms were too big."
- Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins were cast originally, but both had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts.
- Goran Bregovic was Terry Gilliam's original choice for composer. When Gilliam decided to go with a more traditional score, Bregovic was replaced by Dario Marianelli.
- Robin Williams was originally cast in the film, but pulled out of the project.
- Johnny Depp was originally set to star as Will Grimm.
- Cinematographer Nicola Pecorini was personally fired by Bob Weinstein.
- According to Terry Gilliam, Matt Damon took tango lessons in preparation for this film.
- The Weinstein brothers (Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein) came on board in 2004 in the last minute when MGM suddenly pulled out the funding.
- In June 2004, a problem occurred on the set and director Terry Gilliam decided to place the film on hold for six months. He went on to do Tideland (2005) and came back to this feature in January 2005.
- The most expensive scene in the movie was cut because it occurred quite early on in the story and nothing would have been able to top it. Director Terry Gilliam said that this scene will be placed on the DVD as an extra.
- The "hand forest" sequence in this film is an idea Terry Gilliam has had for almost 25 years. It was originally written for Time Bandits (1981) and almost used in Brazil (1985).
- Matt Damon and Heath Ledger were originally cast in opposite roles. They petitioned and switched their roles.
- Because of problems with the Writers Guild of America, Terry Gilliam and Tony Grisoni were not able to credit themselves as writers of the screenplay, despite the many changes they had made to Ehren Kruger's original script. They invented a credit for themselves as "Dress Pattern Makers" and thus were quoted as saying that the film was not necessarily made from a "screenplay" but from a "dress pattern".
- For the scene in the torture chamber, Matt Damon was strung up by his waist but he could only stay up there for about a minute and a half because the rope was crushing his ribs which cut off his air supply.
- Many references to fairy tales (most recorded by the Grimms) are made, but they are slightly different from the actual tales:
- *Little Red Riding Hood is referred only by her Red Riding Cape, which follows her name in the original German, Rotkäppchen.
- *The heroic woodsman from "Little Red Riding Hood" is now an evil henchman.
- *Rapunzel is now an evil queen who locks herself in a tower to escape a plague rather than a princess imprisoned.
- *The Big Bad Wolf is now a large wolf rather than a diabolical personification.
- *The Gingerbread Man is now an incarnation of a mud monster.
- *Jack from Jack and The Beanstalk is changed to Jake to follow along with the brother's names.
- *Hanzel and Gretel refer to them selves as "Hanz" and "Greta", which are abbreviations of their own names.
- *Cinderella or the German form Aschenputtel is really the Grimm Brothers as they scrub the floors. The deleted scene in the DVD shows this better.
- *The evil queen is also the queen from Snow White in her chant about who's the fairest of them all.
- *All the girls' fingers are pricked as they fall into a deep sleep just like Sleeping Beauty.
- At least two references to modern stories are made:
- *A ring is thrown into water, and then the water is turned to ice, much like in Legend.
- *A girl taps her slippers together in the same manner, however when laying down, as does Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
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