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Story by: Jack Foley
MONTY Python’s The Life of Brian is to return to US cinemas,
next month, as an antidote to the hysteria surrounding Mel Gibson’s
The Passion of the Christ.
The popular British Biblical satire is to be re-released in Los
Angeles, New York and other US cities to mark its 25th anniversary,
with adverts challenging Gibson’s runaway blockbuster with
the lines, ‘Mel or Monty?’, ‘The Passion or the
Python?’
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The film’s distributor, Rainbow, said the timing seemed
appropriate and hoped the film would ‘serve as an antidote
to all the hysteria about Mel's movie’.
The Life of Brian follows a Jewish character, from Nazareth,
who is worshipped as the Messiah, then crucified by Romans.
Ironically, it was just as controversial as Gibson’s epic,
being condemned as blasphemous at the time of its release, even
though Monty Python maintained it was intended as a spoof on Biblical
movies and intolerance, rather than Christianity.
And just as Gibson relied on his own personal fortune to complete
his movie, the Python team only succeeded in getting it made,
thanks to a donation from former Beatle, George Harrison, who
stepped in to finance it after EMI Films withdrew.
Henry Jaglom, Rainbow president, commented: "We decided
this is an important time to re-release this film, to provide
some counter-programming to The Passion."
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