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| Me and Terry Gilliam (Director) in Wardour Street, London on 13th March 1991 |
- This is the story of my passion for Terry Gilliam's Brazil from 1986 to the present day
- I've now visited all of its filming locations and met two thirds of the cast
- Many of them just walked into my life by complete coincidence, including the director, Terry Gilliam himself, at a crowded Gatwick Airport in 1991
- I later took Terry to lunch to discuss the film
My Brazil story is not only one of unwavering passion for a film, but it's also a string of mind-blowing coincidences that defy all odds. Since the film is now celebrating its 40th anniversary, I thought it was about time I shared my incredible story with the world.
Watching the film for the first time
It was 1986 and I had just seen John Cleese's Clockwise which I thought was OK, but a bit silly. Then I heard about Terry Gilliam's Brazil and, at first, I wasn't all that keen to go and see it because I assumed it probably would be just as silly. But then, as it was screening nearby (I was living in Amsterdam at the time), I thought I might as well go and check it out. I was working at a hotel and on shifts, so I decided to go to the 1am screening, straight after work.
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| The Brazil poster |
And when walking home at 3am, I remember saying to myself, "Shit! I have no idea what I just watched, but it was INCREDIBLE and I can't wait to see it again!" I can't remember how many times I did see it again - probably every day until they stopped showing it there, but what I do remember is telling everyone about it at work (the Golden Tulip Barbizon Centre - now the Hotel NH Amsterdam Leidseplein) and enthusing about it all the time. Then, I had bought the video of Brazil and had got hold of a small TV with built-in VCR player from somewhere, and I invited friends back to my place to watch it with them and answer any questions about any of it they didn't understand. I soon realised that the film didn't have the same impact on anyone else like it had on me. But that didn't deter me from continuing to tell everyone about it and encouraging them to watch it.
Writing to the cast and crew
I then thought, 'Now I've seen it a thousand times, what else can I do with it?'. I later hit upon the idea of writing to the agents of all the cast, and some of the crew, in the hope of meeting them and getting them to sign my Battle of Brazil book by Jack Matthews (which includes the screenplay) next to one of their lines or their credit. This was before the internet, so to get all their details, I must have bugged Spotlight again and again until I had the complete list, and then sent them all a letter.
Replies to my mailing whom, unfortunately, I didn't actually meet
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| Roger Ashton-Griffiths (Vicar) |
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| David Gant (Official E) |
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| Here's what Barry Norman thought of the film (not much). |
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| Bob Hoskins (Spoor) |
Meeting the cast and crew
The first person I actually met from the film, appropriately, was Jonathan Pryce (Sam Lowry) in May 1988 at the stage door of the Vaudeville Theatre in London where he was playing Astrov in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a photo with him then, but Gemma (my wife) and I did manage to remedy that when we met up with him on 4th June 2015 after his performance as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at The Globe Theatre. We also bumped into actor Charles Edwards there (who plays Michael Palin in Holy Flying Circus which is, sort of, a coincidence).
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| Jonathan Pryce (Sam Lowry) |
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Gemma Wood, John Wood and Jonathan Pryce at The Globe Theatre |
Conveniently, in December 1988, Kathryn Pogson (Shirley) was also in the West End in a Shakespeare production, so I managed to meet her too. We had a long chat about her memories of the filming and how relevant Brazil was with what was going on at the time.
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| Kathryn Pogson (Shirley) |
From this point on, things got weird! The only way I can explain it is that I think my passion for the film caused the physical universe to somehow start offering up cast members to me, as you will see, way beyond mere coincidence.
In the summer of 1989, I was in the Withies Inn (just outside Guildford) with my mother, talking about Brazil, when, to my utter astonishment, in comes Bryan Pringle (Spiro) with his family for lunch! What are the chances? I was flabbergasted, as you can imagine! He is probably best known for the Rain in Spain Heineken TV ad that he appeared in with Sylvestra Le Touzel ("It don't taste like what it ough'a"). So I asked Bryan if he wouldn't mind signing my book, explaining that I had to drive to Dorking where I was living at the time to get it. When I arrived back at the pub, luckily, he was still there.
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| Bryan Pringle (Spiro) |
Next mind-blowing coincidence coming up! It was now mid to late 1989 and I had been invited to the set of the TV series called Chancer which was written by a school friend, Guy Andrews. They were filming in Birmingham and it was now lunch break. The caterers used an old London double-decker bus as the dining area for cast and crew. I was sitting at one of the tables upstairs when suddenly, up the stairs came Peter Vaughan (Mr Helpmann) who sat right next to me! He's probably best known for Porridge and he is also in Straw Dogs and Gilliam's Time Bandits. I was flabbergasted again! But unfortunately, I didn't have my Brazil book with me, so I couldn't get him to sign it.
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| Peter Vaughan (Mr Helpmann) |
But then, about 16 years later, now living in East Grinstead, a second unbelievable coincidence happened. In 2005, I was working at a business centre where several firms were renting office space which had a central switchboard. Previously, one of the companies there had sent out an invitation to a forthcoming event. I was at reception when the phone rang. There was no one else there at that moment, so I answered it. The caller told me he had received the invitation but wasn't able to attend the event. As he was speaking, I remember thinking how similar his voice was to Peter Vaughan's. He asked me to pass on the message to the person who sent the letter, so I asked his name and it actually was... believe it or not, Peter Vaughan! I didn't know that he happened to live very nearby, in the Crawley area!
I told him about meeting him on the bus 16 years previously and asked if I could now visit him so he could sign my book. He said, unfortunately, he was just moving house to somewhere far away (I can't remember where exacly) so it wasn't possible to meet, but he did send me two signed photos!
By far the easiest way to get signatures was when members of the cast happened to be in a theatre production, as was the case for Gordon Kaye. He was in 'Allo 'Allo at the Palladium when he signed my book in November 1989.
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| Gordon Kaye (Porter) |
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| Anne Way (Old Woman) |
Next came Ian Holm in January 1990. I had somehow learned he was going to be at a certain address in London at a certain time, and that's how I got him to sign my book.
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| Ian Holm (Mr Kurtzman) |
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| Don Henderson (Guard A) |
Then, in April 1990, I received another reply to my mailing, this one also somewhat of a coincidence. It was from actor, Oscar Quitak (Interview Official) who I just happened to know because he also owned the bakery in Cranleigh where I went to school! I bought many an apple turnover from him, back in the 70s.
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| Oscar Quitak (Official A) |
And now, yet another coincidence that is almost too incredible to believe. I was walking down the street in my home town of Dorking, Surrey when I recognised the person that just walked past me in the opposite direction... It was none other than Ian Richardson (Warrenn) who was perhaps best know for House of Cards, on his way to France to buy some antiques and only stopped in Dorking for a break!
What are the chances for him not only stopping in my hometown, but also that I would be on his side of the street at exactly the same time? And all that on top of all the previous coincidences? But hold on to your hat because there are even more coincidences to come!
This time, my book was only a few minutes walk away, so he agreed to meet me in five minutes at an agreed spot, and he signed it. I also had a chance to ask him about his scenes and he told me that all the staff wanting him to sign documents as they were walking through the corridors were actually dancers, and the scene was choreographed as if it were a kind of dance!
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| Ian Richardson (Warrenn) |
Then, on 12 May 1990, a semi-coincidence was that Jack Purvis (Dr. Chapman) and Kenny Baker (who played R2-D2 in Star Wars) did a show in my hometown of Dorking.
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| Jack Purvis (Dr. Chapman) |
I managed to reach Michael Kamen (Original Music) and he kindly invited me to his home in London. We met in his recording studio which had a large screen on the wall with time code along the bottom of it. I told him how wonderful it was that you hear the Brazil theme throughout the film, but in many different styles. He told me he usually takes six weeks to write and record the soundtrack of a film, but he spent six months on Brazil! For some reason, despite meeting Michael, his signature is not in my book - I have no idea why!
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| Michael Kamen (Original Music) |
Around this pre-internet time, I was regularly in touch with the Monty Python office in Regents Park, asking about any forthcoming Python events coming up. When I heard that Micheal Palin (Jack Lint) of Monty Python was filming his American Friends at Oxford University, I asked if I could visit the set to ask Michael to sign my book. That was on 3rd July 1990 and it was yet another coincidence in that, unbeknown to me, two other Brazil cast members were there that day too! Charles McKeown (Lime) and Simon Jones (Arrest Official) of Hitchhiker's Guide fame. Yes, Alfred Molina was there too!
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| Simon Jones (Arrest Official) |
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| Charles McKeown (Lime) |
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| Michael Palin (Jack Lint) |
I also got Harold Innocent's signature (Official B) in my book at the stage door of the London theatre where he was performing on 14th July 1990, but I seem to remember we never actually met because he wasn't feeling very well. But he signed my book for me anyway while I waited outside.
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| Harold Innocent (Official B) |
I have totally forgotten where and how I met Jim Broadbent (Dr. Jaffe). It was probably at a London stage door somewhere.
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| Jim Broadbent (Dr. Jaffe) |
I also managed to catch Nigel Planer (Charlie - Dept. of Works) at another London stage door somewhere. When he came out of the theatre, he was with some of his famous mates!
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| Nigel Planer (Charlie - Dept. of Works) |
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| Unexpected bonus: Nigel with Gordon Kennedy, Ade Edmondson and Ben Elton |
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| Barbara Hicks (Mrs Terrain) |
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| Barbara kindly gave me a continuity Polaroid that includes Kathryn Pogson reading the newspaper |
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| She also kindly gave me this photo, used as the backdrop for Mrs Terrain's funeral |
Myrtle Devenish (Myrtle) also replied to my letter at length. She gave me her phone number so I asked if I could pop down to see her and get her to sign my book. Again, I drove there and back in the same day, this time Paignton which was also about 4 hours there and 4 hours back (190 miles each way). She was so kind! She had made cucumber sandwiches specially and we sat in her living room having tea, and she told me how wonderful it was to be in a film, directed by Terry Gilliam. As well as Brazil, she was also in Terry's Time Bandits and The Crimson Permanent Assurance (Monty Python's Meaning of Life). She also very kindly gave me her continuity Polaroid.
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| Myrtle Devenish (Myrtle) |
I also got a response from Julian Doyle, the film's editor, and he agreed to meet up with me at a London pub on 2nd December 1990. He surprised me by bringing with him John Flanagan (TV Interviewer/Salesman) who opens the film in a TV ad for ducts.
Julian took great delight in seeing my album of Brazilphernalia (photos of filming locations I had visited, stills from the film, letters from cast members etc) and said, "You know, I'm sure Terry Gilliam would love to meet you to talk about Brazil as you love it so much and in such detail. Why don't you take him to lunch?" I replied, "Me, take him to lunch?? He's a celebrity but I am a mere mortal!" Little did Julian know that he had set in motion the next billion-to-one coincidence of this story...
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| John Flanagan (TV Interviewer/Salesman) |
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| Julian Doyle (Editor) |
I got a reply from Patrick Connor (Guard) too, who also kindly invited me to his home to sign my book.
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| Patrick Connor (Guard) |
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As soon as I found out that Sheila Reid (Mrs Buttle), well known for Benidorm, was in the West End, I waiting at the stage door and she very kindly invited me into her dressing room to sign my book. I told her what an incredibly moving performance she gave in the scene where she cries over the death of her husband. I asked her how she managed to make those tears well up in her eyes. She explained that during the take, she just imagined being in Mrs Buttle's desperately sad situation, for real.
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| Sheila Reid (Mrs Buttle) |
Here comes the next unbelievable coincidence! I was welcoming back my father at Gatwick Airport from his trip to South America. I was walking with him through the airport when I spotted someone at a check-in desk with his back to me, wearing a brown leather jacket and he had longish hair. I just got the idea that he could be famous. I've always enjoyed meeting celebrities. It's exciting! I used to collect autographs in my teens, so maybe I had developed a knack for spotting celebs. Because this potential celeb had his back to me, I couldn't tell if my hunch was correct until I saw at least his profile. I fixed my eyes on him so as not to miss the moment he might look left or right, while my father was telling me something, but I wasn't listening to a word! A moment later, my hunch was proved right, because it was... Terry Gilliam himself!
Doubly in shock, having been a Monty Python fan all my life and now a Brazil devotee, I told my dad to hang on a moment while I went up to Terry and said, "Hi Terry, er.... I'm a massive Python fan and a huge Brazil fan. I met up with your editor just two weeks ago and because he could see how much I love Brazil, he said I should take you to lunch to talk about the film," or words to that effect.
Believe it or not, he said, "OK"! He told me that he was just leaving for New York for the post production of The Fisher King, but he wrote his office number on the back of one of my business cards and told me to call the number and his PA would arrange it for us to meet at a restaurant in about two weeks when he would be back!
The meal was at Italian Graffiti in Wardour Street and we were chatting for about 3 hours! Terry surprised me by getting Ray Cooper (Technician), best known as Elton John's percussionist, to join us an hour into the meal (probably to rescue him, in case I was a lunatic)! It was Ray who took the photo of Terry and me in Wardour Street.
I accompanied Terry as he walked back to his office in Dean Street. And then, yet another sort of coincidence happened! Just before arriving at Terry's office, we bumped into Barry Humphries, in character as Sir Les Patterson, complete with platform shoes, a fat belly and food stains all over his jacket and tie. He was being snapped by a photographer as he walked down the street to get shots for use in a forthcoming ITV show. It just so happens that Barry's wife, Elizabeth Spender, is in Brazil! She plays Alison/Barbara, Jack Lint's wife. I had written to her in the hope of getting her to sign my book but had not had a reply. So I said to Barry (who stayed in character the whole time), "Please tell her I won't hurt her - I just want to meet her to get her to sign my book." He replied, "If you're not going to hurt her, she won't be interested!"
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| Terry Gilliam (Director) |
Here's the incomplete story (it's all I can find!) of my meeting with Terry that I wrote up shortly afterwards. It's enough to show how much I was bricking it!:
In the same pub where I met Julian Doyle, still reeling from having recently had lunch with Terry, I met up on 19th March 1991 with Margarita Doyle, Julian's daughter, who was Terry's PA throughout the production of the film and is Central Services' telephone voice (uncredited) that "has not been a recording". She told me that when they were doing the casting, it was her insistence that Jonathan Pryce was the right man to play Sam Lowry (I think Terry wasn't so sure) that finally got him the part.
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| Margarita Doyle (Central Servives telephone voice) |
Another response to my letter was from Stunt Arranger Bill Weston. It was Bill who fell forwards from the roof of Jill's truck when she braked hard, and he also arranged the stunt where Robert De Niro and others descend on ropes from the top of the cooling tower at Croydon Power Station (now Ikea Croydon) to rescue Sam Lowry from Jack Lint. Bill agreed to meet me in Oxford Street, London and he signed my book on 5th April 1992. My favourite film pre-Brazil was Stanley Kubrick's 2001 - A Space Odyssey. Bill told me that it was him inside the space suits in several scenes that were supposedly Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood.
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| Bill Weston (Stunt Arranger) |
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| The stunt arranged by Bill Weston |
Yet another coincidence: when Ray Cooper joined Terry and myself when we were having lunch in 1991, he took the photo of Terry and me, but I never got a photo with Ray. Fast forward 20 years to 8th May 2011. I was just going up the stairs to find my seat at the ENO for a performance of Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust, directed by Terry Gilliam when I bumped into Ray Cooper! We were both amazed that our previous meeting was already 20 years ago! After the very moving operatic performance, I finally got a photo with Ray.
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| Ray Cooper (Technician) |
And yet another coincidence: On 16th December 2013, I attended the world premiere of Julian Doyle's film, Chemical Wedding. To my surprise, I bumped into Terrance Baylor (TV Commercial Presenter) there. He was also Gregory in Monty Python's Life of Brian in which he delivered the immortal line, in response to "Blessed are the cheesemakers": "Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products."
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| Terrence Bayler (TV Commercial Presenter) |
On Gemma's 33rd birthday (5th February 2017), I proposed to her in front of Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin at the Roundhouse in London, during the after party of their show, An Englishman, an American and an Indian Walk Into A Bar. She said "Yes"!
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| Sanjeev Bhaskar, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, me and Gemma |
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| Holly Gilliam (Holly) |
I think I finally made contact with Diana Martin (Singing Telegram Girl) on Facebook having failed to reach her via her agent. We met at a hotel in Crawley on 28th June 2017 and she signed my book.
Diana Martin (Singing Telegram Girl)
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I had managed to contact John Pearce Jones (Basement Guard) on Twitter and he agreed to meet me at a service station near Bristol on 31st March 2022. He kindly recreated for me the scene where he catches Sam Lowry in the Deputy Minister's lift which I videoed. Great fun! I then bumped into Dermot O'Leary who just happened to also be at that service station!
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| John Pearce Jones (Basement Guard) |
Another member of the cast I had been trying to reach for a long time was Russell Grant (Young Man) but we finally met up on 4th April 2022 in a cafe in London where he kindly signed my book.
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| Russell Grant (Young Man) |
Another cast member I had been trying to reach was Dominic Ffytche (Clerk) who agreed to meet me to sign my book in a restaurant in Docklands, London on the same day that I met Russell Grant.
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| Dominic Ffytche (Clerk) |
I went to see the West End version of Fawlty Towers whose cast included John Hasler (Kid) who I had been trying to meet for such a long time.
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A few more signatures in my book
Visiting Brazil's filming locations
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| The Liberal Club, London where Ida Lowry lived |
I visited the location where the funeral scene was filmed in Kensington High Street - formerly the fashion store, Biba, but when I visited it, it was an event space for weddings etc. I spoke to one of the waiting staff there and he told me he was there during the filming of the funeral scene. He told me where the black doors with white crosses on them were constructed and he told me that he remembered how the coffin filled with bones, meat and gelatin was wheeled into the kitchen fridge overnight, and how it started to stink after a few days!
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| Formerly Biba where the funeral scene was filmed |
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| Mrs Terrain's coffin |
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| Kim Greist in the funeral scene |
Kathryn Pogson (Shirley) and Jack Purvis (Dr. Chapman) in the funeral scene
Even though Gemma and I married in 2019, covid interrupted the Paris part of our honeymoon, so we finally made it there in September 2022, and we went to see Sam Lowry's apartment - Palacio d'Abraxas in Noisy-le-Grand, designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofil, on 10th September 2022. It's not a very nice part of Paris and we didn't feel safe walking around there. We took these photo and got out of there as soon as we could:
Life imitating art: I couldn't resist taking this photo of a discarded shopping trolley, just like in the film!
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Leighton House Museum in London was where the plastic surgery scene was filmed |
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| Gemma and I visited Leighton House Museum on 20th January 2017 |
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| I visited Mentmore Towers, Bucks, where the restaurant scene was filmed |
Gemma and me at at the Ministry of Information (Croydon Power Station - now Ikea Croydon)
My Brazilphernalia
I have amassed quite a collection of Brazilphernalia over the years that includes a photo of the "Happiness - we're all in it together" poster (inspired by the original 1937 US poster) and a Central Services sticker (just like the one on Bob Hoskins' clipboard).
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| One of the posters seen in the film |
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| The original 1937 poster |
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| A Central Services sticker |
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| Behind-the-scenes shot of Terry Gilliam giving direction to Winston Dennis (Samurai Warrior) who also appears in Nuns on the Run. He sadly passed away before I could reach him. |
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| Sam Lowry's first dream sequence |
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| Mr Kurtzman doesn't want Sam to take that promotion! |
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| Kim Greist (Jill Layton) |
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| Winston Dennis (Samurai Warrior) |
A replica of the mask worn by Jack Lint is now on our wall.
Intrigued by the below photo which you can see on the wall in Sam Lowry's apartment in the film, I did some research to find out what train this was, specifically. I found out it was the famous Twentieth Century Limited. Full details below.
The train and Robert De Niro (Harry Tuttle)
What a journey it's been!
Those cast members I never met - RIP
I would love to have met Winston Dennis (Samurai Warrior), but as I said, he had passed away before I even started this project. I was also, sadly, too late for Bob Hoskins (Spoor), Derrick O'Connor (Dowser), Derek Deadman (Bill - Dept. of Works) and Howard Lew Lewis (Guard B).
Those cast members (and one crew member) I would still like to meet
Robert De Niro (Archibald Tuttle), Kim Greist (Jill Layton), Elizabeth Spender (Alison/Barbara Lint), Brian Miller (Mr Buttle), Simon Nash (Boy Buttle), Prudence Oliver (Girl Buttle), Arnon Milchan (Producer) and anyone else who had anything to do with the film - I would LOVE to meet you, get your signature in my book and hear any memories you have of being in Brazil!
Please do get in touch: John Wood, johnalexwood@gmail.com, +44 7771 520001
You can watch Brazil here:
https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/watch/movie/brazil-1985
https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/watch/movie/brazil-1985
