Terry Gilliam, The Accidental Animator (Animators of Film and Television)

Calling all Terry Gilliam animation fans. Author Noell Wolfgram Evans has written a new book you will most definitely find of interest, titled ANIMATORS OF FILM AND TELEVISION. The book examines a number of animators, directors and writers who have affected animation and in turn, popular culture. Some of the figures profiled include Frank Tashlin, Ed Benedict, Michael Maltese, George Newall, Bill Scott, and our very own Terry Gilliam.

In a chapter titled "The Accidental Animator," Noell Wolfgram Evans focuses on Gilliam's work strictly from an animation perspective — where his style came from, what its influence was, and why it worked so well. These are just some of the points discussed. Released in April by Mcfarland, ANIMATORS OF FILM AND TELEVISION is a must-read for you, my fellow Gilliamites <--- (did I just coin that?)

Noell Wolfgram Evans is a two-time Thurber Treat Award for Humor Writing winner, the Theatre Editor for Umbrella Publishing and an adviser for Group Creativity Improv Projects. He has worked on the award-winning web series Aidan 5 and has had his plays produced in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, New York City and Palm Springs.

 With special thanks to the author, the following are excerpts taken from the book:

"When asked his thoughts on why so many famous paintings appear in his animations, Gilliam had this to say: 'I only started off with paintings of famous artists because everybody knew them and understood them; and then I turned them into something stupid.' It’s an understated way of categorizing his ability to take something known and understood and get inside of it and show it from the looking glass side and making it funny and shocking at the same time."


"His short works are seemingly free-association collections of ideas that build on, but more often subvert, both the animated image and the medium’s form; his work is as rich in detail as they are crude in composition, the work is hilarious, influential, unique and perfect for what it needs to be.  The animation in a Gilliam short is very organic, things don’t follow a predetermined path as much as they happen. The short animated sequences are filled with more satiric subversion and surprise than most filmmakers can cram into a full-length feature."


"His shorts are an essay in exploration, watching them you feel as if you are watching the creative process unfold before you. It’s as if all of the crazy ideas and thoughts one has were poured from their head and allowed to run free on paper.  It was all a form of controlled chaos but it was perfect and exactly right."