News for
"Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969)

photos

board

trailer

details

IMDbPro offers the latest entertainment industry news from the Hollywood Reporter. Sign-up for a two-week free trial today. Click here for a free trial!

BBC Execs Were "Disgusted" With Python, Documents Disclose
11 December 2006 (StudioBriefing)
BBC executives came close to dropping Monty Python's Flying Circus at the height of its popularity in the early 1970s, according to documents disclosed by Britain's Sunday Telegraph. The newspaper published excerpts of minutes of the BBC's program review board, which quoted one BBC executive as saying that he regarded parts of one episode as "disgusting" and another executive complaining that the program "was continually going over the edge of what was acceptable." Yet another executive reportedly complained that the Python team "seemed to wallow in the sadism of their humor." One other executive, the head of BBC Light Entertainment, reportedly remarked that "it would be sad if the BBC lost the program; the team seemed to have some sort of death wish."

Python Star Jones Undergoes Cancer Surgery
24 October 2006 (WENN)
Monty Python star Terry Jones has undergone surgery for colon cancer. The 64 year old was "in good spirits and the operation went very well" according to his agent Jodi Shields. She says, "Terry's doctors are very cheered with an early diagnosis of possible colon cancer for which he has now had routine surgery in a London private hospital. He is in high spirits and very pleased that the doctors say they have caught it early." The comedian was told he had cancer only days before the opening of the Spamalot musical in London last Tuesday, which is based on the classic Monty Python And The Holy Grail film. Despite the diagnosis, Jones was able to attend the premiere with the original cast, which included Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam.

Palin's Book Set To Hook Kids on Geography
3 April 2006 (WENN)
Actor Michael Palin is sending his travel book Himalaya to every high school in the UK in a bid to make children enthusiastic about geography. The 62-year-old former Monty Python star is horrified by falling interest in the traditional subject and has agreed to ambassador a plan to revive interest among 11 to 18-year-olds. Schools minister Andrew Adonis says, "I can't imagine a more relevant subject. We'd all be lost without it. Geography matters to all. It is the gateway to understanding the rich variety of landscapes and cultures around the world. Our investment will give teachers support... to make geography teaching more inspirational and relevant. We want pupils to enjoy geography and to develop their analytical skills by exploring the world around them." Himalaya follows Palin's six-month trip across the 1,550 mile Asian mountain range, and was also filmed and made into a TV miniseries.

Idle Saves Broadway Show
27 December 2005 (WENN)
Funnyman Eric Idle leapt to the rescue of a New York City performance of Spamalot on Wednesday, when traffic congestion held up the play's stars. Idle, who created Broadway hit based on the Monty Python movie The Holy Grail, rushed on stage to deliver an impromptu stand-up performance when he heard two of the show's actors were running late. He joked to the crowd, "I'm Eric Idle, not Billy Idol, and if you're expecting Billy Idol, then f**k off." The tardy actors blamed the New York subway strike for their unpunctuality, according to the New York Daily News.

Cleese To Undergo Colon Surgery
15 August 2005 (WENN)
Comic legend John Cleese is to undergo surgery on his colon to alleviate diverticulitis - and he plans to auction the parts of his anatomy surgeons remove on his personal website. The Monty Python funnyman and actor, 65, jokes with fans in a statement released on the internet that he developed the condition, which is prevalent in older people with a low fiber diet, because of his "gluttony". He even takes the joke so far as to suggest parts of his digestive system will shortly be available for his most dedicated fans to purchase. The statement continues: "The cure is to have the bit of the gut that has all the little pockets cut out. A very nice surgeon will be doing this. The infected bit which has been cut out by the surgeon will be offered for sale on the website in the next few days. Proceeds from the sale will be divided between JC (John Cleese) and the very nice surgeon."

Gilliam's Rage at Weinstein Takeover
10 August 2005 (WENN)
Twelve Monkeys director Terry Gilliam is furious with movie moguls Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein for scrapping his ideas and undermining his authority during filming of his new Matt Damon movie The Brothers Grimm. The powerful pair first ditched Gilliam's plans to cast Samantha Morton in the lead role in favor of lesser known actress Lena Headey, and then further enraged the former Monty Python star by sacking his cinematographer Nicola Pecorini for working too slowly. Tensions escalated to the extent that Gilliam refused to shoot for two weeks as he was so staggered by what he viewed as the Weinsteins' constant interference. He fumes, "I'm used to riding roughshod over executives, but the Weinsteins rode roughshod over me." But Bob Weinstein insists, "Any film involves the making of 10,000 decisions. If you only concentrate on the few we had issues with, you ignore the 9,997 we left to totally to Terry."

Palin Wants To Bring 'The Life of Brian' to the Stage
18 January 2005 (WENN)
Monty Python star Michael Palin is urging theatre bosses to resurrect the comedy collective's controversial film The Life Of Brian on the live stage - following the success of Jerry Springer: The Opera. The biblical satire had religious leaders calling for it to be banned upon its release in 1979, but having witnessed the outrage targeted at the BBC's TV broadcast of Jerry Springer: The Opera - which was littered with expletives and sexual innuendos - Palin is adamant the time is right to spark further fury by launching a stage version of The Life Of Brian. The 61-year-old says, "I don't see why Life Of Brian couldn't come to stage now. That would really get people talking. In fact, we could do it alongside Jerry Springer." BBC bosses received a staggering 47,000 complaints before the British network's adaptation of Jerry Springer: The Opera was even aired, which Palin labels "ridiculous". He adds, "I don't find it offensive at all. The fact that only a few hundred people complained afterwards shows that all the fuss is ridiculous. It sounded to me to be an orchestrated campaign. How can people be offended? Even if someone did a send-up of Michael Palin, I'd probably go and see it."

Cleese "A Second" Away from Fatal Car Crash
24 December 2004 (WENN)
Veteran actor John Cleese is relishing being alive - after his chauffeur fell asleep and narrowly avoided a fatal crash "by about a second". The Monty Python comic, 65, is now enjoying life to the full after he almost died when his sleeping driver almost crashed into another vehicle at high speed. Cleese says, "I nearly died the other day. I was in a car traveling at 75 or 80 miles per hour and I realized my driver had fallen asleep. So I shouted at him and I think we avoided being killed by about a second. So it just shows that life's all a little more fragile than you think."

Diaz's Flirting Annoys Timberlake
18 May 2004 (WENN)
Hollywood star Cameron Diaz reportedly angered her pop star boyfriend Justin Timberlake by drunkenly flirting with movie director Terry Gilliam last week. The Shrek 2 beauty was at a star-studded party at the Hotel Du Cap for the current Cannes Film Festival when she started enthusiastically talking to the former Monty Python star - much to her young lover's annoyance. A source tells Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, "On Thursday night Cameron got really drunk and was all over Terry Gilliam in the bar at the Hotel Du Cap. She was throwing her arms around him and flirting - and as the night went on she got progressively more sloshed. At one point she seemed to be falling over every five minutes - it all looked like harmless fun but Justin was decidedly unimpressed."

'The Passion' Spurs on Monty Python Re-Release
25 March 2004 (WENN)
Movie distributors are planning to re-release Monty Python classic Life Of Brian as a light-hearted alternative to Mel Gibson's harrowing epic The Passion Of The Christ. To mark the 25th anniversary of the biblical satire, the film will be shown in cinemas in Los Angeles, New York and other US cities. Distributor Rainbow says it hopes the film will "serve as an antidote to all the hysteria about Mel's movie", which has caused outrage for it's graphically violent portrayal of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life and has been accused of promoting anti-Semitism. Adverts are cheekily advertising Life Of Brian with the tag lines "Mel or Monty" and "The Passion of the Python?" The movie follows a Jewish character from Nazareth who is worshipped as the Messiah than crucified by Romans. The Monty Python team always maintained the film was a spoof on Bible films and intolerance rather than Christianity. It was only completed when former Beatle George Harrison stepped in to finance it after EMI Films ceased funding the project, fearing it would spark controversy. Rainbow president Henry Jaglom says, "We decided this is an important time to re-release this film, to provide some counter-programming to The Passion."

Monty Python Virtually Reteam for Odd Photo Shoot
13 February 2004 (WENN)
The members of Monty Python have been brought back together for a macabre Vanity Fair photo shoot - even though the comedy clan snubbed a reunion for the magazine. The existing members of the British comedy troupe, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and John Cleese, are pictured lying in coffins as part of a Hollywood Portfolio spread. The shot even features animator-turned-director Gilliam sweeping up what he claims are the ashes of dead Python star Graham Chapman. The quintet - who posed for the pictures individually and were "stuck together by computer" - all appear as their favorite Python characters, with funnyman Jones dressed as an old lady, groping a sexy young model's breast. The Portfolio spread, which appears in the March issue of the style magazine, also features quirky photos of comedian Jack Black as Evel Knievel, Janet Jackson as Lena Horne, Sir Michael Caine and Jude Law together as 'The Rakes', Irish director Jim Sheridan as a horse jockey and family portraits of Sir John Mills, Hayley Mills and Juliet Mills and Anjelica Huston's clan.

Pythons Snub Reunion
5 December 2003 (WENN)
An attempt by Vanity Fair magazine to reunite the five surviving members of Monty Python has failed. After repeated efforts to tempt the comedy team back to the stage or screen had stumbled, the American magazine hoped it could at least reunite Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones for a Photo shoot to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the British comedy team's conception. But, as Idle explains, even that was too much for the busy quintet, "I thought there was zero chance we'd all get together for it. Instead we are to be photographed in different parts of the world and stuck together by computer."

Monty Python Star Faces Costly Broadway Wrangle
12 November 2003 (WENN)
Eric Idle's stage version of Monty Python movie The Holy Grail has hit a major snag - a fellow Broadway, New York-bound production has asked him to change the musical's title. The comic has been contacted by a "disappointed" attorney representing a forthcoming stage version of Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner's classic Camelot, urging the Brit to axe the proposed title for his show, Spamalot - a word Idle lifted from a Monty Python song. Production chiefs for Camelot are concerned the theatre-going public will be confused by the similarity of the titles. In a fax, the attorney writes, "I was disappointed to learn of the possibility that it might be called Spamalot. It is anticipated that there will be a Broadway production of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot opening in the same season as the anticipated Spamalot, and the presence of these two shows together, we believe, can lead only to confusion in the minds of the public. Since Lerner and Loewe's Camelot has been in existence since 1961, we suggest that you consider changing the title of your musical." But 60-year-old Idle - whose musical is expected to hit Broadway in 2005 - is unimpressed, and has launched a scathing attack on the "idiots" the lawyer is describing. He spits, "Surely only an idiot could confuse Camelot and Spamalot. But idiots are how lawyers make their money."

Cleese Awarded Damages
7 February 2003 (WENN)
Monty Python funnyman John Cleese has been awarded $21,000 damages against a London newspaper that branded his move to American a "humiliated failure." The decision by a London High Court judge followed a hearing during which Cleese, 63, gave evidence against the Evening Standard via a video link from his California home. Jonathan Caplan QC, representing Cleese, told the court that the article published in April last year had "struck at the core of his lifetime achievement." At the time Cleese said, "I found in the past that when there is a nasty attack like this, one's first reaction is to feel bewildered and disorientated and, to a certain extent, scared. It may seem a rather childlike response but that's certainly what happens with me." The comedy actor initially rejected an offer of $15,000 from the newspaper because he felt an apology it had published was not sufficient.

Why John Cleese Isn't Writing Movies Any More
13 June 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Monty Python alum John Cleese turned his back on Hollywood following the failure of 1997's Fierce Creatures, he told today's Toronto Globe and Mail. Cleese, who co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the movie, told the newspaper, "Fierce Creatures got good reviews but we were killed right after it opened because they re-released Star Wars. I won't spend three years on something, knowing a quirk of fate can destroy it."  The movie, which also starred Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin, grossed only $9.2 million at the domestic box office. Cleese said that following its failure he vowed "to live on the basis that I might at any given moment fall under a bus."

Gilliam Slams Modern Movie Makers
2 April 2002 (WENN)
Veteran Hollywood director Terry Gilliam has laid into the modern cult of making movies which are all style and no content. The former Monty Python man and Time Bandits and Twelve Monkeys movie-maker says the industry needs to focus more on ideas and less on cute camera angles. He says, "The guys who are shooting films now are technically brilliant. But there's no content in their films. I marvel at what I see and say: 'God, I wish I could have done a shot like that.' But the shots are secondary for my films, and with some of these films, it's all about the shots. I watched Tomb Raider last night. Technically, it's brilliant, but it's just crap! Every shot is beautifully composed, the lighting is great, the sets are great. But what's the point? I'm not sure people know what points to make. I'm not sure how in touch with reality anybody is, everybody's too busy phoning each other."

Live Next Door To John Cleese For $5.5 Million
25 March 2002 (WENN)
John Cleese will be able to pick his own neighbors after buying the house next door to his and selling it off. The British funnyman, who has lived in the sea-front paradise of Montecito, California since 1994, bought the property next door to his last year when it came on the market. And now he plans to sell it on to willing buyers - if they can match the $5.5 million price tag, and Cleese's own criteria. The former Monty Python star explains, "I'm not just selling a house, I'm buying a neighbor. I said to my wife that we were too old to move again. We're looking for a film director or maybe a scriptwriter - someone who doesn't have loud parties. The house has a big, wide front and no garden behind, so it's not so good for kids."

British Comic Spike Milligan Dies
28 February 2002 (WENN)
British comedy legend Sir Spike Milligan, one of the founding fathers of 20th century comedy, has died at the age of 83. Along with fellow Goon stars Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe, Milligan influenced a whole generation of comedians, including the likes of the Monty Python team, with his surreal antics. He was the last of the comic trio, who delighted millions with their cult fifties radio show, to die. Milligan's agent, Norma Farnes, says, "He died this morning (February 27th). I believe it was from kidney failure." In addition to his television and radio projects, Milligan starred in several movies, including one based on the first volume of his autobiography, Adolf Hitler - My Part In His Downfall, in which he played his own father. His greatest fan was heir-to-the-British-throne Prince Charles, once famously labelled "a grovelling little bastard" on live television by Milligan. Milligan made it up with Charles after his remark by sending him a telegram saying, "I suppose a knighthood is out of the question now?" But it wasn't - Milligan was given an honorary knighthood two years ago. Charles was among the first to react after Milligan's death. A spokesman says, "The Prince of Wales is deeply saddened to hear the news. He knew Spike Milligan over many years and had a great affection for him."

Cleese Forgets The Dead Parrot
24 October 2001 (WENN)
Monty Python comedian John Cleese may be well known for his classic dead parrot sketch, but the British funnyman has trouble remembering the jokes these days. When Cleese and Monty Python co-star Michael Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live to perform the sketch in 1997, between them they couldn't remember the words. John recalls, "I don't really keep them the sketches in my head. When Michael and I did the parrot sketch to publicize Fierce Creatures, we sat in a restaurant beforehand trying to remember the lines. I said to Michael, 'Why don't we just ask somebody?'."

John Cleese Thought Monty Python Would Flop
15 March 2001 (WENN)
Comedy legend John Cleese was scared that Monty Python's Flying Circus would be a failure. The tall Python star and five colleagues first appeared on television on 5 October 1969 having been brought together at the suggestion of British Broadcasting Corporation scriptwriter Barry Took. Cleese remembers, "We knew we wanted to do something different. But I remember before one of the first shows I said to Michael Palin: 'Do you realise that we could be the first people in history to do a whole comedy show to complete silence?'"

Cleese Calls BBC Project A "Total Nightmare"
28 February 2001 (StudioBriefing)
One week before a BBC series, The Human Face, is due to premiere, former Monty Python/Fawlty Towers star John Cleese, who co-wrote and hosts the series, has accused BBC executives of being "control freaks" who put him through a "total nightmare" during the production. In an interview appearing in the London Daily Telegraph, "All the way through the BBC there are very nice people making the most fundamental management errors. ... I didn't expect this project to go smoothly, but I didn't think the ride would be as rough as this." A spokesman for the BBC responded: "Everyone at the BBC is really delighted with the series and thinks John is a great presenter [host]. We're sorry to hear he's had some unpleasantness along the way."

Python Play Opens In Atlanta
25 September 2000 (StudioBriefing)
A stage play, written by the late Monty Python star Graham Chapman while he was working on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), was performed for the first time in Atlanta Friday night, 11 years after Chapman's death. The comedy, O Happy Day!, about a bride who's pregnant with a child that's not the groom's, debuted in a comedy club, Dad's Garage Theatre. Chapman's archivist Jim Yoakum was quoted on Chapman's official Web site (http://www.gcarchives.com/archives.html) as saying that he was stunned when he was first shown the script. "Here was this incredibly funny script, written by a genius of modern comedy. Not only was it totally unknown -- it was a play! Not a medium normally associated with Graham. It's like discovering a Christmas pantomime written by Oscar Wilde."