The Crazy Cinematic World of Terry Gilliam Quiz

Answer: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"Holy Grail", released in 1975, was the first full-length film to be made by the Pythons, and was a humorous take on the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. As well as sharing the directing honours, Gilliam played a number of small supporting roles, including Patsy (Arthur's servant), the bridge-keeper, and Sir Bors (one of Arthur's knights).

The picture shows an illustration by Arthur Rackham, snappily entitled "How at the Castle of Corbin a Maiden Bare in the Sangreal and Foretold the Achievements of Galahad".

Answer: Michael Palin

"Jabberwocky" took for its inspiration the poem by Lewis Carroll which appears in "Alice Through the Looking Glass", purporting to fill in the background history of the unnamed boy in the poem, who slays the fearsome beast. It bears a number of stylistic similarities with the Python's previous TV and film work, and in America it was actually advertised as "Monty Python's Jabberwocky", against the director's wishes. For many years it was the forgotten work in his career, until DVD releases gave everyone a chance to reassess it in the light of his subsequent career.

The picture shows John Tenniel's depication of the Jabberwock, from the original 1871 publication of Carroll's book.

Answer: Six thieving dwarves

"Time Bandits", with its picaresque style and off-the-wall comedy, also bears many hallmarks of "Monty Python". Both John Cleese and Michael Palin have significant roles, and Palin is credited as co-writer. The six dwarves have stolen a map which enables them to travel through time and space, and during the film they encounter historical characters such as Napoleon Bonaparte and King Agamemnon, as well as arguably less well-documented ones like Robin Hood, a sorcerer named Evil, and the Supreme Being. They are accompanied during the film by a boy named Kevin, but he is only 11, and there is only one of him.

The picture is a painting by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1285-1348) of a lady holding an hour-glass, representing time.

Answer: It didn't like the downbeat ending

The film is often described as a comic re-imagining of Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four", with its vision of a corrupt and oppressive bureaucracy and dysfunctional society. At the end, the viewer is seduced into thinking that the hero has escaped from his tormenters, only to reveal in a shock twist that it is all in his mind, and he is still a prisoner.

Officials at Universal thought this was much too depressing, and demanded that Gilliam remove the final sequence, leaving the "dream ending" as the real one. When Gilliam refused, the company responded by choosing not to release it in the US at all, despite the director famously taking out a full-page ad in "Variety" magazine, asking when it was going to be shown. Eventually Universal gave in to pressure, and the film is now recognised as one of Gilliam's best works.

The picture shows the Brazilian city of "Rio de Janeiro", although the title of the film refers to the song "Aquarela do Brasil" (Watercolour of Brazil), which is used as a recurrent theme.

Answer: Radio disc-jockey

Jeff Bridges plays an American radio "shock jock" whose thoughtless statements during his show encourage a deranged listener to shoot dead a number of people at a restaurant. In turn, this drives Bridges' character off the rails, and his recovery only begins when he meets a man known only as Parry (played by Robin Williams), whose wife was shot dead during the restaurant massacre.

The story is entwined with the Arthurian legend of the Fisher King and the Holy Grail, and ends with both men coming to terms with the tragic event that united them. The film was seen as a major departure for Gilliam, being much more rooted in reality than his previous work, and was a critical success.

The picture shows a tapestry designed by William Morris and entitled "The Attainment: The Vision of the Holy Grail to Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Perceval", illustrating the Arthurian version of the "Fisher King" legend.

Answer: Brad Pitt

Pitt was cast before he really hit the Hollywood big time with movies such as "Interview With the Vampire" (1994) and "Se7en" (1995). By the time "12 Monkeys" was released, their success had boosted his box-office attractiveness considerably, which certainly did Gilliam's film no harm. The film itself is a serious and intelligent time-travel story in which the hero, played by Bruce Willis, is sent back in time to prevent the release of a virus which has wiped out much of humanity.

The photo shows a yellow baboon mother with her baby; ideally you need to imagine the picture multiplied six times.

Answer: Hunter S. Thompson

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" starred Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke (a fictionalised version of Thompson) and Benicio del Toro as his associate, Dr Gonzo. The film's representations of Duke's drug-fuelled hallucinations were generally regarded as effective, but it was also generally agreed that Gilliam treated the book's rambling, picaresque episodes with almost too much respect. Many critics came to the conclusion that only someone who was themselves stoned out of their mind would really enjoy it. The fact that Hunter S. Thompson himself liked the movie does tend to support that view.

The picture shows an aerial view of Las Vegas by night.

Answer: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The problems associated with the filming of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" became well known following the release of the documentary. The actor who was to have played the Quixote character, Jean Rochefort, suffered a double herniated disc and had to retire from the film. In addition, filming was regularly interrupted by low-flying jets from a nearby airbase, meaning all external scenes would have had to be re-dubbed later. It is arguable that Gilliam's career never fully recovered from the collapse of this film, which had been a pet project of his for many years.

Of the incorrect options, "Monsignor Quixote" is a 1982 novel by Graham Greene; "Man of La Mancha" is a 1965 musical based on "Don Quixote", and Rocinante is the name of the original Don's horse.

The picture is an 1863 illustration by Gustav Doré, showing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

Answer: The Brothers Grimm

"The Brothers Grimm" is a precursor of later re-imaginings of fairy-tales, such as the 2013 "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" and 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman", though blessed with occasional flashes of Gilliam's dark humour. As with so many of Gilliam's films, production was anything but smooth, and was marked by frequent clashes between the director and two of the film's producers, brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Gilliam has since admitted that this led to the film meeting the expectations of neither him nor the brothers Weinstein.

Of the other incorrect options, the Wright Brothers (Wilbur and Orville) were aviation pioneers, and the Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) are not really brothers at all, but a professional wrestling tag team.

The picture shows an 1855 painting of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann.

Answer: Its star, Heath Ledger, died

In the middle of work on Gilliam's film, Ledger was found dead, having apparently over-dosed on a cocktail of prescription medications. In a typically imaginative response to the tragic death of his star actor, Gilliam managed to re-cast the role with not one, but three other actors. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law (all friends of Ledger) played the role in different scenes, a conceit that worked perfectly in the context of the film's fantasy-based world.

The picture shows a 1821 painting by Edward Dodwell of the original Mount Parnassus in Greece.