Twelve Monkeys. Quarter of Century

On December 8, 1995, Terry Gilliam's sci-fi thriller "Twelve Monkeys" premiered in New York.

Terry Gilliam, as a rule, either writes the scripts of his films himself, or is a co-author of these scripts. "Twelve Monkeys" is one of three films to date that Gilliam was not involved in scripting.

The script for the picture was created by the married couple David and Janet Peoples. David Peoples was commissioned to write the screenplay thanks to the widespread fame he gained in the aftermath of "Unforgiven".

And the initiative to create the film "12 Monkeys" belonged to a certain Robert Kosberg, executive producer of the film company Universal Pictures. After watching the French short film "La Jetée (The Pier)" (1962), he got the idea to create a feature film based on this short film. To this end, he persuaded "La Jetée (The Pier)" director Chris Marker to submit a draft of a future feature-length film to the management of his film company. Universal Pictures, not without some hesitation, made the decision to buy the production rights for the remake from Marker, but commissioned David Peoples to write the script. And when the script was ready, Universal Pictures offered Terry Gilliam to direct the film.

Terry Gilliam had mixed feelings about the proposal from Universal Pictures to direct the film. On the one hand, he saw an opportunity to realize some ideas that were not realized or were not fully realized in the film "Brazil". But on the other hand, he remembered how the producers of the film company Universal Pictures constantly put a spoke in his wheels while working on "Brazil". But after finding out that the then-head of Universal Casey Silver was so strongly interested in the success of this project that none of the figures he encountered on "Brazil" would risk blocking or torpedoing him, he signed up for the director's role. By the way, before receiving the offer from the film company and getting to know the script, Terry Gilliam had no idea about the existence of Chris Marker's film "La Jetée (The Pier)".

Remembering that the final version of Brazil was edited by the film company without his approval, Terry Gilliam demanded that the contract include the condition that he alone has the right to edit the final version. The company agreed, but, in turn, set the condition that the main role should be played by Bruce Willis, who had gained enormous popularity by that time. And Gilliam intended to star in the title role of Nick Nolte or Jeff Bridges.

However, Gilliam had no objections to Bruce Willis. But there was a problem with Bruce Willis's royalties. He was by then already a world-class movie star, and his remuneration did not fit into the approved budget of $ 29.5 million. (By the way, for films of the sci-fi thriller genre, this amount was extremely minimal.) Gilliam managed to persuade Willis to act for free. Only after the film was released and earned more than 5 times more than it was worth - almost $ 169 million, Bruce Willis received his befitting reward.

The rigidity of the budget, approved by the film company at the minimum possible level for films of this type, made it necessary to save on everything, including the scenery. As a result, most of the filming was carried out not in specially created scenery, but in adapted real-life premises. For example, the "role of a mental hospital" was played by a prison, although by that time it had already ceased to be used for its original purpose.

In 1996, the film received and won one Golden Globe nomination. True, this was not the most important nomination - Best Supporting Actor, which was recognized by Brad Pitt. The film received 2 Oscar nominations, but did not win any.

In the same 1996 the film received a nomination for the main prize of the Berlin International Film Festival, but lost to Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility". A year later, the Japanese Film Academy nominated Terry Gilliam's film for Best Foreign Film. But here, too, preference was given to another film - the Italian film by Michael Radford "Il postino (The Postman)".

Critics' reviews for Gilliam's film were mostly positive, albeit with some reservations. The guru of American film critic Roger Ebert rated the film three out of four stars, but ended his review of the film with a review that is difficult to evaluate otherwise than a praise: "I've seen "12 Monkeys" described as a comedy. Any laughs that it inspires will be very hollow. It's more of a celebration of madness and doom, with a hero who tries to prevail against the chaos of his condition, and is inadequate. This vision is a cold, dark, damp one, and even the romance between Willis and Stowe feels desperate rather than joyous. All of this is done very well, and the more you know about movies (especially the technical side), the more you're likely to admire it. But a comedy it's not. And as an entertainment, it appeals more to the mind than to the senses."

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Ebert's review was written in January 1996. And today, when the coronavirus pandemic is raging on the planet, the main plot premise of the film - an attempt in 2035 to find out with the help of a time machine who in the past provoked a viral pandemic that caused the death of most of humanity, appears as a brilliant foresight.

A quarter of a century ago, the movie audiences' assessment of the film is evidenced by the above-mentioned box office data. The modern moviegoer, despite the past quarter of a century, appreciated the film no less highly. 70% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys" ratings from 8 to 10.

With that said, FilmGourmand rated Terry Gilliam's "12 Monkeys" at 8.046, placing it 653rd in the Golden Thousand.