A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
A Liar's Autobiography
Liar's Autobiography Monty Python.jpg
TIFF poster
Directed by Bill Jones
Jeff Simpson
Ben Timlett
Produced by Bill Jones
Ben Timlett
Written by David Sherlock
Based on A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI
by Graham Chapman
and David Sherlock
Starring Graham Chapman
Terry Gilliam
John Cleese
Michael Palin
Terry Jones
Music by John Greswell
Christopher Murphy Taylor
Edited by Bill Jones
Production
company
Bill and Ben Productions
Distributed by Trinity Filmed Entertainment (UK)
Brainstorm Media (US)
Release dates
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • 8 September 2012 (2012-09-08) (TIFF)
  • 8 February 2013 (2013-02-08) (U.K.)
Running time
85 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Box office $5,102[2]

A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman is a 2012 British adult animated comedy film that is a completely inaccurate portrayal of the life of Monty Python alumnus Graham Chapman. The film is loosely based on A Liar's Autobiography, a book written by Chapman and David Sherlock. It received a limited theatrical release on 2 November 2012 in the United States, and aired on the Epix TV channel on the same day.

Cast

Various characters voiced by Palin, Jones, Cleese, Carol Cleveland, Stephen Fry.

Production

In June 2011, it was announced that Bill and Ben Productions were making A Liar's Autobiography, an animated 3D film based on the memoir.[3] The full name is A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman. Although not a Monty Python film, all but one of the remaining Pythons are involved in the project. Asked what was true in a deliberately fanciful account by Chapman of his life, Terry Jones joked: "Nothing… it’s all a downright, absolute, blackguardly lie."

The film uses Chapman's own voice—from a reading of his autobiography shortly before he died of cancer—and entertainment channel EPIX has announced that the film is in both 2D and 3D formats. Produced and directed by London-based Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, and Ben Timlett, the film used 14 animation companies, each working on chapters that range from 3 to 12 minutes in length, with each chapter in a different style similar to Opéra imaginaire.

John Cleese recorded dialogue which was matched with Chapman’s voice. Michael Palin voiced Chapman’s father and Terry Jones voiced his mother. Terry Gilliam voiced Graham's psychiatrist. They all play various other roles. Among the original Python group, only Eric Idle was not involved.[3]

Release

A Liar's Autobiography was first screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012 and premiered in the UK on 16 October 2012 as part of the BFI London Film Festival. The film's official trailer claims that Chapman said, "This is the best film I've been in since I died."[3]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics; it currently holds a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] On Metacritic, the film has a 45/100 rating, signifying "mixed or average reviews".[5]

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman at Box Office Mojo Retrieved 13 July 2013
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved 15 July 2013
  5. A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman at Metacritic Retrieved 15 July 2013

External links