In the annals of great filmmaker-versus-studio battles, Terry Gilliam’s fight to release his 1985 dystopian satire Brazil stands among the most intense and unlikely. The visionary director behind films like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys found himself at direct odds with Universal Pictures over the fiercely original and uncommercial nature of his latest work. With the $15 million production on the verge of being permanently shelved, an unexpected ally emerged – none other than Brazil’s own star Robert De Niro.
As Gilliam recounts in vivid detail on The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood podcast, the feud with Universal chief Sid Sheinberg reached a boiling point immediately after previewing the completed film. “The studio did not like the movie at all,” Gilliam said, with Sheinberg directly telling him “I hate it” and demanding the director radically re-cut and change the ending.
When Gilliam refused to compromise his uncompromising vision, Sheinberg made clear Brazil would never be released theatrically, even if it meant eating the entire $15 million budget as a loss. Undeterred, Gilliam took the unprecedented step of taking out a full-page ad in Variety publicly asking “When are you going to release my film, Brazil?”
This brazen move ignited what Gilliam called outright “warfare” with Sheinberg and Universal, who he alleges embarked on a campaign to sabotage and bury the film at all costs. Unable to make headway through traditional avenues, Gilliam got creative – arranging private screenings for critics by bussing them into Mexico where Brazil was already being exhibited.
As buzz around the brilliance of the film’s satire coalesced, critics groups began awarding Brazil top honors, most shockingly when the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named it the Best Picture of 1985 over Universal’s own presumed front-runner Out of Africa. With critics firmly on his side, Gilliam still needed to win over the public to get Brazil into theaters.
Enter the unlikely savior – Robert De Niro, the superstar actor known for his intense privacy. Despite his aversion to promotional publicity, De Niro agreed to an appearance on Good Morning America to plead Brazil’s case, bringing Gilliam along for an instantly iconic ambush.
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“Maria Shriver was running that show Good Morning America. They had wanted to interview De Niro for a very long time,” Gilliam recalled. When Shriver asked about his “problem with the studio,” Gilliam audaciously stated “I’m not having a problem with the studio. I’m having a problem with one man. His name is Sid Sheinberg and he looks like this.” He then brazenly held up a photo of the Universal chief for the live national audience.
De Niro’s surprise participation and Gilliam’s guerilla tactics proved to be the tipping point. Shortly after, Brazil finally secured a U.S. theatrical release on December 18, 1985 to widespread critical acclaim.
The ordeal dramatically exemplified the neverending struggle between creativity and corporate interests. But it also highlighted how a passionate artist and an unexpectedly outspoken superstar were able to join forces to rescue a visionary work of art from a quiet demise. Gilliam’s dystopian fable about fighting dehumanizing bureaucracy may have hit too close to home for Universal at the time, but thanks to De Niro, his vision was simply too potent to remain unseen.
