Halfway To Hollywood: Diaries 1980-1988 (Volume Two) (2 page)

 

Anne James
, formerly Henshaw, manager. Married to Jonathan James, a barrister

 

Steve Abbott
, accountant/management, also film producer (
A Fish Called Wanda
)

 

 

At EuroAtlantic/HandMade
:

 

Denis O’Brien
, Chief Executive, Executive Producer (
Time Bandits
,
The Missionary
,
A Private Function
)

 

Mark Vere Nicoll
, legal expert

Richard Loncraine
, Director. First wife Judy. Married Felice 1985.

 

Neville Thompson
, Producer

 

Mark Shivas
, Producer

 

Julian Doyle
. Editor, cameraman, who could turn his hand to any part of the film-making process. Indispensable part of both Python and Gilliam films.

 

John Goldstone
, Producer of Monty Python films –
Holy Grail
,
Life of Brian
and
Meaning of Life

 

Sandy Lieberson
, Producer and sounding board for many projects, including Terry Gilliam’s
Jabberwocky

 

Patrick Cassavetti
, Producer

Al Levinson
. After wife Eve’s death, married Claudie Calvez in 1979. Gwenola is their daughter.

 

Nancy Lewis
. Publicist for Python in the USA, deserves much credit for getting them on US TV in the first place. Married actor Simon Jones in 1983.

 

 

Writing and acting in
Time Bandits

Filming ‘Confessions of a Trainspotter’, one-hour episode for BBC
Great Railway Journeys
series

Acting and filming
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
.

Writing
The Missionary
and
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life Time Bandits
released

First One-Man Show at Belfast Festival

Writing and acting in
The Missionary
and
The Meaning of Life The Missionary
released in USA

The Missionary
released in UK and Australia

The Meaning of Life
released in US and UK. Wins Special Jury Prize at Cannes

Film Festival

Film
Comic Roots
, one hour autobiographical documentary for BBC

Second Belfast Festival Show

Begin filming
Brazil

Complete
Brazil
filming

Filming
A Private Function

Shoot short film
The Dress

A Private Function
has Royal Premiere in London and opens in UK

A Private Function
opens in USA

British Film Year

Dr Fegg’s Encyclopeadia of
All
World Knowledge
published

Write
East of Ipswich
film screenplay for BBC

Third Belfast Festival Show

Limericks
published

Become Chair of Transport 2000

Brazil
released.

East of Ipswich
filmed in Southwold, Suffolk

Begin writing ‘The Victorian screenplay’ (later to become
American Friends
)

The Mirrorstone
published

Ripping Yarns
premieres on US TV

East of Ipswich
shown on BBC2

Start filming ‘Troubles’ for LWT (cancelled after one week due to union dispute)

Write
American Friends
, first draft

Write
Number 27
film screenplay for BBC

Filming as Ken Pile in
A Fish Called Wanda

First discussions for
Around the World in 80 Days

Fourth Belfast Festival Show

Resign Chair of Transport 2000

Rewriting, financing and casting trips for
American Friends

Filming of
Number 27

A Fish Called Wanda
opens in America

Begin London filming on
Around the World in 80 Days

Leave London to circumnavigate the world

These diaries cover a period of my life when, briefly, the prospect of international stardom shimmered on the horizon. As the decade began the Monty Python brand was resurgent.
The Life of Brian
was causing a stir, our stage show was about to be revived at the Hollywood Bowl and there was unprecedented financial interest in any new film we cared to write. By the time these extracts end it was all very different. Python, after many premature obituaries, had, in effect ceased to be. So, to all intents and purposes, had my chances of a Hollywood career. The last entry records my anxiety, not about films, but about an eighty-day journey around the world.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t given a film career a try. Between 1980 and 1988 I either wrote, or appeared in, seven movies. In varying degrees, all of them received support and interest from the major studios. Universal picked up
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
and, together with 20th Century Fox, picked up Terry Gilliam’s
Brazil
, Columbia took
The Missionary
,
A Fish Called Wanda
was made for MGM. The doors of Hollywood were open. Nor was I reluctant to look inside. As the diaries show I was spending more time on the West Coast than the East. I was hobnobbing with studio executives and being flown by Concorde to casting sessions. And yet, in the end, my feet remained firmly on this side of the Atlantic.