Matt Damon’s Long-Forgotten Film Becomes a Hit Two Decades Later
Nearly two decades after its release, the 2005 fantasy film The Brothers Grimm is gaining fresh attention.
The movie, starring Matt Damon and the late Heath Ledger, climbed into Netflix’s global top 10 on November 16 and repeated the achievement the following day. Directed by Terry Gilliam, the film imagines the famous Brothers Grimm as con artists traveling through early 19th-century Europe.
Their fake exorcisms and scams take a turn when they face a real magical curse, forcing them to act with courage. Lena Headey, Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce, and Monica Bellucci appear in supporting roles. The movie was a British-Czech co-production and was filmed in the Czech Republic.
The story behind the film’s production was full of challenges. Ehren Kruger initially sold his script to MGM in 2001. When Gilliam came on board, he and Tony Grisoni rewrote the screenplay, but the Writers Guild of America did not give them official credit.
MGM later stepped back from distributing the movie, though it co-financed the project alongside Dimension Films and Summit Entertainment, with Dimension handling distribution.
Gilliam frequently clashed with producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, creating tension during filming. The director said, “I’m used to riding roughshod over studio executives, but the Weinsteins rode roughshod over me.” The disputes were serious enough to halt production for almost two weeks. Matt Damon commented on the situation, saying, “I’ve never been in a situation like that. Terry was spitting rage at the system, at the Weinsteins. You can’t try and impose big compromises on a visionary director like him. If you try to force him to do what you want creatively, he’ll go nuclear.”
The original cinematographer, Nicola Pecorini, was replaced by Newton Thomas Sigel after six weeks of filming.
The Brothers Grimm finally premiered on August 26, 2005. It earned $105.3 million worldwide but received mixed reviews. Reflecting on the experience years later, Gilliam admitted, “[I]t’s not the film they wanted and it’s not quite the film I wanted. It’s the film that is a result of […] two groups of people, who aren’t working well together.”
He also compared the struggles to what Martin Scorsese faced on Gangs of New York, saying, “They took the joy out of filmmaking.”
Despite the production troubles and modest reception at the box office, The Brothers Grimm has found a new audience on Netflix. Its sudden resurgence shows that sometimes movies can connect with viewers long after their initial release.
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