Daily Dialogue — April 10, 2015

“Don’t fight it, son. Confess quickly. If you hold out too long, you could jeopardize your credit rating.”

— Brazil (1985), screenplay by Terry Gilliam & Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation.

Trivia: Terry Gilliam was asked to do a film class during the battle of this film at USC. Terry agreed, and took advantage of the situation by preparing to bring an “audio visual aid”, which was his cut of the film, which would have been allowed. Unfortunately, two days before the event, students advertised a free screening of the film. When he arrived it was announced that Universal would not allow him to show the film. During his speech to the class, he was interrupted by studio executives’ phone calls. They eventually allowed him to show a clip of the film. He showed the entire film, and repeated the screenings for over two weeks. It was during one of these screenings that Los Angeles film critics saw the film, and awarded it the Best Picture of the Year award, which was responsible for getting the film released the way Gilliam wanted it.

Dialogue On Dialogue: In a wonderfully bizarre movie, this interrogation may take the bizarro cake.