There is a moment in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard where a servant says to the clown of the play: “Yephihodov, you a genius. A terrifying genius.” This comes right before he strikes out with the girl of his dreams for the upteenth time and makes a complete and utter fool of himself in pretty much every way possible. I bring up Chekhov because I love him and I’m always on the lookout for my life to imitate his art. And I think I might have found a real life Chekhovian character at long last.
Director and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam is a pretty amazing person. His dystopian reimagining of 1984, Brazil, is a landmark film, and his animation work for Monty Python perfectly set the tone for their greatest works (especially Holy Grail.) This is made all the more amazing by the fact that Terry Gilliam is quite possibly the most frustrating person to work with. Ever. He was also probably cursed by an angry gypsy. No lie. Seriously.
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Lillian Lemoning 