Monty Python star's double comeback

Director and ex-Monty Python star Terry Gilliam is set to make a notable comeback with two films opening back to back, ending the longest dry spell of his 31-year career.

Gilliam has not had a film on screen since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was released in 1998.

But with Tideland and The Brothers Grimm he has achieved the unusual feat of having two films competing at two of Europe’s most revered autumn festivals.

Tideland will be released at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

The film, about a little girl who takes refuge from her drug-addicted father in a fantasy world, has also been touted for success at the upcoming San Sebastian Film Festival in Madrid.

The Brothers Grimm opens in the US next week, starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as the German philologists and fairy tale kings.

It has been selected to compete against 18 other international feature-length films at the Venice Film Festival next month.

Gilliam expects Tideland to get mixed reviews “because it pushes a lot of weird buttons.” He is even less certain about The Brothers Grimm, which was on hold for more than a year because of a dispute with Bob Weinstein, head of Dimension Films.

“He just had a different view of the film,” Gilliam told The New York Times.

All was resolved after Gilliam took a six-month break to make Tideland.

“I actually think we made it better without succumbing to other people’s idea about what would make it better,” Gilliam said, adding that there was both a good and bad side to working with the Weinsteins.

“They’re like old-fashioned studio heads, not bureaucrats,” he said.

“I told Harvey I really admire what they do. I like watching them work – from a long distance away.”