EXCLUSIVE

By: Theresa Shell

Amy Gilliam, the producer of “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus”, is amazing. This lovely young woman with the dark hair, blue eyes and ready smile is her own person, comfortable in her own skin. Amy is tenacious, determined, bright and very funny. She is generous and candid as she talks with us at The Dr. Parnassus Support Site about the making of the film. She shares the joys, the difficulties, the heart breaking losses and great rewards of seeing “Dr. Parnassus” move from written page to theaters around the world. We are pleased to be able to bring you these stories and memories of which you were not aware. What an extraordinary journey it has been.

Theresa Shell: You have an extensive resume in film making, working your way up by doing everything from being the clapboard loader, to being Angelina Jolie’s stand-in, to camera assistant, assistant director, executive producer and now producer. This is a very wise way to learn the ins and outs of the business. Are you paving the road to a career in directing?

Amy Gilliam: It’s too early in my career to even put that thought into people’s heads. When I started in the film industry…shall I tell you when I started in the film industry. Give you a background?

TS: Yes, please.

AG: Since I grew up in the film industry around film sets, what have you, I always said, I’m not going to work in the film industry because my parents did. I think many children say that they are always going to do the opposite of their parents just to prove them wrong or to prove that they can do other things.

I was on summer holiday from art school in London when dad was prepping “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas”. So, off I went to Los Angeles with my boyfriend at the time. I was very interested in the costumes and fashion and thought that might be the route I would go. I asked Julie Weiss, the costume designer, if I could come and work with her. Just visiting a film set as the director’s daughter is a very different experience than working on a movie. Of course, the minute I am working on one of my dad’s films he’s told everyone how they’re not to give me any special treatment and it made it harder on me than it would just anyone working on a film set (laughs). So, I start working with Julie White (she is truly the most incredible woman and a dear friend and just a wonderful, very talented costume designer). The first thing I had to do, for the first three weeks in wardrobe, was pinning blue ribbons on the costumes that were hired and green ribbons on the costumes she owned. This was not ever what I thought I’d really be doing on a film (both of us are laughing). I thought I would be designing and on the set. But, the thing was, that film was so incredible and the most fantastic summer holiday of my life. I mean Los Angeles, Vegas, we had this cast of incredible actors and an amazing crew, so I thought, I don’t want to go back to art school. I’ve had far too much fun. It was at that point that I realized that I was slightly hooked on this very unique industry. If someone could tell me a job I could do that was better than this or that I could do that wasn’t this, but was as exciting with every day being a challenge where you never know what’s going to happen, I’d love to know, because I was completely hooked. So, my career going in the other direction from my parents didn’t happen.

I knew that I didn’t want to be in an office job. I needed to find a job on a film set where I could be on the set. By now I was wanting to be in the middle of all the action. Of course it takes a while to get to that point, if you want to be an on-set director, perhaps, but as a wardrobe person, or starting out, you’re not really on-set. I’ve always loved photography and I’ve always been taking photos or what have you. Roger Pratt is Dad’s DOP (he did 12 Monkeys…if Dad didn’t work with Nicola Pecorini, it was Roger Pratt). I went to Roger and said pretty please may I be your camera trainee? I thought, camera…it’s right in the middle of the action, they can never be without a camera, so I’m always going to be on-set and I’m always going to get to see everything. Eventually, after some persuasion, I convinced him to take me on, on the camera as a trainee. I think Roger was uncomfortable with nepotism or whatever, which is actually rife in the film industry. It was pretty tough because there weren’t many women in camera at that time and I think guys…I don’t know…you had to become quite strong and deal with all these men going, “you can’t lift that” and you do lift it and you can lift it, but you have to take this from these guys.

The one thing I never did was go out as Terry Gilliam’s daughter. I would just try to be there as me. Many times people would come up to me and say, “Is your dad Terry Gilliam?’ And, I’d be like, no, no. I used to make up crap all the time. In the film industry I just wanted to show that I could do it myself; that it wasn’t about being Terry’s daughter or anything. It got difficult when I would be on a film set and someone who knew me from when I was younger would come over, pinch my cheek and go, “Hello, Amy, how are you? I remember when you were five years old.” It was like, Oh, God, bright red face, because now people realize I’ve been making up rubbish and I AM Terry’s daughter (we both laugh).

I’m always about knowing enough about the job. I always wanted to learn as much as I could. I have no memory. People tell me, “I remember when you told me you wanted to produce movies.” And, I’m like, I don’t remember ever saying that. So, I suppose I have reached my first big goal. I’m not ready to suggest that there is another one like what you’re asking.

TS: Do you think that you’ll stick with producing for a while?

AG: I don’t know. I’m obviously going to say yes.

TS: The reason that I ask is that I know how much work you put into “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus” and it had to be an incredible learning experience. I just wondered if you were going to continue in this direction for a bit or if you chose to be part of so many facets of the business so if you want to, you can move into other areas. I think it’s an invaluable education. I’ve done everything there is to be done on my productions outside of acting. There’s nothing I wouldn’t go back to. It’s part of the dedication to your craft.

AG: I think it’s important. I remember making a short film with my boyfriend and at those times you do everything, you know. You edit, you do the music. Everything. It’s the best, most valuable time because you are learning to do all the phases of the work and you can understand.

TS: It puts so much heart in the project.

AG: Yes.

TS: That’s what shows in “Doctor Parnassus”. I have been so touched by the camaraderie between everyone I’ve spoken to. It really shows in this film. It makes it stand out in a way with which other films simply cannot compete. It’s not just that you all dealt with a horrible tragedy, that camaraderie and dedication was there before Heath passed away.

AG: Yeah. I’ve worked on films where it’s just a job, you know. Film making is hard. However easy the film is, it’s always hard. You’ve got long hours. You’re away from your family. Whatever job you’re in there are these things, but if it’s just like “going to work”, “just a job” every day, it can show in a movie. Having a team of people, where from day 1, on “Parnassus” everyone was coming onboard and being a part of it, even before the tragedy, it was amazing. We were all there because we love Terry and we all know that we can be creative. It’s such an incredibly creative journey. Everyone that is coming on board is doing so because they are excited about the project, so to me, that’s real film making and that makes a great movie. The feeling from everyone from the T-boy, to the grips, to the electricians…everyone has belief in the project and it starts showing in the film and then, obviously, when the tragedy happened, the belief in the film and the love between everyone…it was amazing to see the way it all came together. It was so hard after we got ourselves back on track.

TS: I can’t imagine. Trying to move forward to do this for Heath when all of you were in the throes of early grief, had to be so difficult.

AG: I remember, the actors weren’t even in Vancouver yet. Some of the crew wasn’t even there yet. Then the news came about Heath. I remember getting everyone back on track and to Vancouver. When we actually began shooting again, it was really hard because all of us had been there with Heath and now we weren’t. It took everyone their own time and way to deal with it, but everyone could come back and know that we were all there for each other and for the film and for many things. It was pretty amazing.

TS: Going back to you being Terry’s daughter, one cannot help but notice, that even though Terry may be your dad, you stand on your own with this project and your passion for it is for many more reasons than that. You produced this film because you loved IT.

AG: I am truly so passionate about this project and care so much for it, but not just because it’s my dad. It’s an amazing project and we all want to see Terry Gilliam films because they’re so creative and so radical. That, to me, is the kind of movie I want to go and see. As much as it was incredibly emotional and not just because of the tragedy, I am also dealing with a director who happens to be my father. All those worlds are very entangled and can be very difficult. At the same time, it was great because you are all believing in and wanting the same thing. You’re fighting for the same thing, but any relationship or situation where you are close to that person can cause other problems.

TS: I work with my daughter frequently in producing and I know how very separate the relationship between both of us is as to producing partner/actor/director and mother/daughter must be kept. How has this worked between you and Terry?

AG: I’m not scared to go to the director and say, hey, you can’t afford that or we can’t afford that. As a producer it is your job to protect your director…to give the director what he wants. When you can’t afford it, you have to be able to say to your director, we can’t do that and we have to think of another solution, because you don’t want your film to be over budget and your director doesn’t want the film to be over budget. So, you go to your director and say we have to go another way. Sure, he might get a bit pissed off or go ballistic, but creatively he’s being asked to reconsider his vision. So, any artist is going to get pissed off or upset. Under the circumstances, sometimes he gets better visions or ideas, it’s just that the initial thing is to be angry. I’ve been with him for so long and I’ve watched people be scared to go to Terry Gilliam, but to me he’s just the director so I’m not in awe of this person. I’m not scared of this person, so I’m not scared to say things. That fear can be the worst thing because you can get into bigger problems, bigger difficulties because of it. It’s great that I protect this person, but obviously there were days when he wasn’t too happy with it. There were days he was screaming down the phone at me. Producers aren’t people you love all the time.

TS: Timmy would like to ask you has the process of getting “Doctor Parnassus” out to as many countries and fans as possible affected your business relationship with Terry and would you like to continue working with him?

AG: I’m not really involved in the publicity. That’s what’s so crazy about movies is that it’s such a long process for the director and often, producer. In the director/producer team my dad and I have had on this film, I’m not going to walk away just because he’s doing publicity. It’s just as important for me as well because I want to be sure the film is marketed and is put out and is successful.

We’ve been a team all the way through, you know. Starting this movie, this child is growing and growing and growing and the hard thing is when you start handing your child to the distributors. Then it’s in their hands, although, thankfully we’ve been involved and tried to push thoughts and ideas. So, I think, my relationship with my dad…My dad is my dad and he will always be my dad. We have ups and downs, as anyone does in business, but the relationship will always be amazing, I think. I’m very lucky that is how it is and I wouldn’t let business or anything ever make our relationship bad. I don’t think that will ever happen.

I think that it’s great for both of us to have each other when doing publicity. I get to go with him and end up doing things that maybe producers wouldn’t be used to doing.. Things like making sure that things are in place for him to make his time comfortable because he’s the one doing all the talking and being in one room hours and hours, all day long answering the same questions. I think it’s important for him to have a family member and his producer caring as much about the film as he is and making sure that it is getting dealt with thoughtfully.

It will never affect my relationship with my dad, no. I think if our relationship was going to be affected it would have happened during the making of the movie.

TS: I would think, if anything, it would make the relationship stronger.

AG: Yeah. Now you are getting to…well, it’s a different pressure. It’s more enjoyable. When you get to walk down that red carpet and listening to people talk about your movie and saying how great it is and you’re getting fans cheering…This is an amazing and emotional feeling and it’s great to be there with your dad. After what we went through, to have that together is just wonderful.

TS: I think that feeling has translated to the fans as well. Your approach, as the producer of this film, has been to embrace the fans, the importance of the internet. The fans reached out to you and instead of pulling away and just taking their support for granted, you and Terry, the cast and crew, reached back to them. I think this has formed a wonderful and rare relationship between you guys and the fans who were so used to being held at arms length by the industry. You have made them see and feel that this is “our” film.

AG: It is, you know. “Our” film. I just recently watched the video with my brother and sister that we made to the fans on the support site at the London premier. It’s true what I said there, we made the movie, but now we need our fans and we need to embrace everyone and these are the people who are going to help us. Now, it is us needing to support you guys. It’s fun and it’s enjoyable. You get the most honesty from the fans and such great support. It’s a great feeling because you know you’re not doing it on your own and you’re embracing them and it helps you. It truly is a great, great thing. What can I say…It’s all about that.

TS: What is your favorite memory from day 1 of starting Dr. Parnassus?

AG: This is hard. (We both laugh) I have a lot of great memories. There’s a great memory when we were trying to put the money together. I was in Vancouver and we still hadn’t got our lead, our “A List” actor to play Tony. I wake up one morning in Vancouver with a phone call from Heath and he said to me, “Amy…Amy the producer, I’m going to play Tony!” I remember thinking, Oh, my God, this is amazing!” It was amazing. It was one of the most exciting moments. I remember running into the office going, we’ve got our lead…it’s going to be easy…we’re going to get our money. It was all quite moving. That was the greatest start. That was the first thing that started the wheels turning in a really big way. There are a lot of good memories.

Another splendid memory…Well, all the way through filming, it’s hard, and lots of good things are happening but that first day of photography, Wow. When you’re actually on that set, after being through hell and back to get to that point, and you are rolling film…now THAT is a great memory. For the producer and director, as a team, to get to that point is so hard, so to be there for that is incredible.

TS: Raychella would like to ask you, “What was your favorite scene to watch being shot, or when viewing the final movie?”

AG: All of it. Seeing the film when it was finished is a great memory because on this movie we were up against a lot. There wasn’t a moment when anyone could breathe. There was constant pressure from everyone, all the way out through post-production. There were huge, huge, huge things to deal with; insurance claims with the losses of Bill (Vince) and Heath and the never ending pressure of money and sorting things out. So, when you have to deliver a movie by a certain date the pressure is on. We were having to do things back to front in post-production. Normally, you mix a film once your visual effects are in place and everything’s ready, but because we didn’t have the money from the insurance company yet, we couldn’t pay the visual effects so they were delayed. So, we mixed the movie and recorded the score for the film without the visual effects and we were putting sound effects in places where we THOUGHT the visual effects would be, so that’s where the sound would be. There are just so many things about how production had to deal with incredibly difficult situations and how our director had to think fast, on the ball…everyone had such pressure on them. We were ripping out sets without looking at the dailies because we had to move off that stage and start re-building. It was constant and went through post-production as well.

Then we finally, by the skin of our teeth, delivered a movie (we’re checking prints in Vancouver 24 hours before we ship it to America because there are all these deadlines you have to meet) and we’d already decided we were going to Cannes. You’re so stressed, getting everything ready and all of a sudden you are on a plane to Cannes. You get there and you are having these beautiful dresses and diamonds lent to you and for the first time you are going to show this film to the public.

Cannes is the most incredible red carpet you can imagine. Just, that moment, when we’ve got some of our cast, dad, family and friends and everyone. You’re standing on the red carpet, they’re announcing your name and playing the soundtrack to your movie and you’re walking up there… you’re just like, Oh, my gosh. It’s the start of a crazy journey. Then, when it finishes, you have a fifteen minute standing ovation…it was just…WOW! It is the first time you watch the film with the audience and to feel the reaction…

Another wonderful memory of seeing the film was when I went to show the film to the actors. I went and showed it to Colin and I went and took it to Tom Waits, then I traveled around a bit of America with the film showing it to the other actors. To see the joy on their faces…that is a pretty incredible time. It’s scary because you never know what people will think. To have such a wonderful reaction from everyone was like, Wow! It’s such a roller coaster of emotions and you’re always hoping you’re going to be ok as a result of your work.

TS: Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law should be so proud of what they did when they took over for Heath. All three of them were amazing.

AG: Absolutely. What they brought when they came…see what I mean, I could talk about this for hours and days, because it brings back so many memories.

TS: Wonderful memories. Isn’t it nice to be talking sweet memories?

AG: Yeah, exactly. You know, Johnny, Jude and Colin…when they all came to the set, it was amazing. Obviously, we had known Johnny and I had worked with Jude Law before on “Sky Captain – The World Of Tomorrow” (Amy was Angelina Jolie’s stand-in on this film), not that he would actually remember (she laughs). But, Colin, none of us knew. Colin was the first person to come to film. To me and for everyone it was like, Oh my God, it’s just incredible that these people have stepped into these shoes, put themselves in this position and we are so honored.

The day that Colin walked on the set, I’d never met him before – hadn’t even spoken to him, I literally went over to him and gave him this massive hug. Then I was like, oh hi, I’m the producer. (both laugh). It was just so overwhelming that he had come and he was going to do it. It was amazing. Those three guys. Wow.

TS: These are just some of the many things that make this movie so amazing and so very special. I’m really glad that we have the opportunity here to let the fans know more about this. I feel there has been such a waste of breath on the so-called, beaten to death horse, of the so called Gilliam curse, when there was such pertinent and wonderful stuff happening here. I’m like – Hello, let’s tell it like it really is and stop with the drummed up BS.

AG: The Gilliam curse thing drives me mad. It’s such a load of crap. It’s like they can’t help to keep from saying it, but no one knows why they’re saying it. I’m like, what is this?

TS: Yeah, exactly. (laughing)

AG: I just saw a director achieve something incredible under the most horrendous circumstances, on a daily basis. I’d like to know another director who could come up with solutions as quickly and as ingenious and still keep the film on budget, you know.

TS: THANK YOU! Exactly.

AG: There were so many people involved. There’s Canada which was such a big help, the insurance, the distributors, the bank…all these people had to agree to keep going. It wasn’t easy to have all these different parties agree. And, obviously having a producing partner who wasn’t well (Bill Vince who passed away of cancer shortly after the filming was complete). Him and his Canadian team, it was always like, the challenges are great, but I think it kept Bill alive. I don’t know if you know when he died, but it was quite amazing.

TS: It was right before the film was actually in the can wasn’t it?

AG: It was in the can. He always told me once it’s in the can, you’ll be fine. We’ve just got to finish shooting this movie. And, it’s true. If you have that movie in the can, if there’s a problem, at least you’ve made your movie. He died just after we completed the model shoot which was the last bit of film that we shot. It was just incredible. Even though he wasn’t there for the model shoot, the fact that he stayed around to know that it was completed was amazing. I wish he had seen the film because he was such a huge, huge supporter and I couldn’t have done it without him at all.

TS: I’ve heard he was just a wonderful man. I think it was such a blessing that he was there.

AG: Absolutely. The day that I got my dad’s script he could see that I was going to make this movie. He was like a bull-dog; once he got hold of something he didn’t let go. He knew that was what I was going to do with the film and because he believed in me and he believed in the project, he was like, “Ok, let’s do it.”

TS: I’m like that with my own scripts. I’m like that about this site and film. I’ve been called everything from a Gilliam fanatic to a psychotic (both laugh). Many of us have. The fans are undeterred in their support of the film and Terry. Personally, I I’m passionate about film and Terry’s work and I’m determined to support it. (both laughing).

AG: It’s incredible to meet someone like yourself, that truly understands what it’s like to be so passionate that you won’t let anyone tell you no. And, if they try, you’re going to find another way to keep going. I don’t know many people like that and it’s such an amazing quality. However hard it is, fun and depressing, happy and sad; it is an emotional roller coaster, it’s incredible to have another one of us and you’re wonderful to have traveled with us.

TS: Oh, thank you so much. It’s a journey I intend to continue to make for many years to come.

AG: It’s an incredibly brave thing to do. It’s been like making our movie. You started alone then these wonderful people came on with you and all of you made something extraordinary.

TS: The fans are just incredible.

AG: Because it’s like jumping off a cliff. The more you jump off that cliff, the more things you see to make you scared of jumping again.

TS: True, but you have to be tenacious. That’s something I see in you. I admire tenacity. I hear you had a wonderful role model in your mom (Maggie Weston). Everyone says she’s just wonderful. Daniel Auber says she’s just amazing. He asked me, “Have you met Maggie? Amy’s just like Maggie.” (Both laugh).

AG: Yeah, I am. My mom’s kept us all grounded and sane and she’s an amazingly wonderful woman. We’re very lucky to have her.

TS: Lastly, Jodelle wanted to ask you, “ What is the significance of the name “Poo Poo Productions”?

AG: Poo Poo Pictures Productions, Ltd. is a Terry name choice and a name it has had for a long time. Another Terry amusement.

TS: Thank you so much for spending some time with us and sharing all these stories and memories. And, thank you so much for everything you’ve done to bring us “Doctor Parnassus”.

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