PLUME: Have you just never considered yourself to be a director-for-hire?
JONES: Not really. I did a film called Personal Services about 15 years ago, which kind of was director-for-hire, but it’s not something that I really see myself doing. I’m more interested in doing me own things – if I can write something. That’s the key! That’s the difficult thing, is actually writing something.
PLUME: Someone on the internet had been wondering about the possibility of an eventual DVD release of the animated series you created, Blazing Dragons…
JONES: Oh bugger me! Oh dear… I’ve never really watched that. Blazing Dragons was… I came up with the idea during a drunken lunch, I think…
PLUME: Aren’t those the best?
JONES: Oh yes, maybe, but I was never able to develop the idea because I was too involved doing something else.
PLUME: Will Ripping Yarns ever make it to DVD?
JONES: Well, funnily enough, yesterday Mike and I were in a studio making a commentary track for the Ripping Yarns shows, which they’re putting out all the Ripping Yarns on DVD over here. So “Yes!†is my answer to that.
PLUME: I know they’re also about to release Wind in the Willows on DVD here, which has been retitled to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride by Disney…
JONES: Oh really? That’s good… I hope they’ve got a decent cover for it. I hated the poster they used. It’s a classy piece of filmmaking – it really ought to be done as a classy kind of a feel to it instead of being this… I don’t know what it was they were doing.
PLUME: Well, no one equates Disney with class nowadays…
JONES: No. But at least they’re releasing it. The video, they managed to hide pretty well. They never released it on – well actually, there’s a story about how they didn’t release it on film, but I was over in New York actually filming something at the time, and my producer rang me up and said, “Hey Terry! Wind in the Willows is in the cinemas in New York!†It turned out that what had happened was that Disney was going straight to video, but they had a court case with Columbia – Columbia had the rest of the world – and some of the Columbia deals rested on having an American release. So Disney gave, as part of the settlement, they gave Columbia the Wind in the Willows theatrical rights – which they weren’t really interested in anyway. So Columbia hurriedly released it in a couple of cinemas in LA and a couple of cinemas in New York, just so they could fulfill their contractual thing. And then it got fantastic reviews! I mean, in America, it got the best reviews of anything I’ve ever done, I think. A whole page in the New York Times about this wonderful film – of course it didn’t do anything, because they got no plans to keep it in cinemas! And then what happened was my producer rang me in New York, and then I went to this tiny cinema in Times Square – it was one of those little sort of cinemas that shows sex films – but there was a little marquee and in that kind of funny lettering it just said “Wind in the Willows.†You know, that lettering you put up on the marquee. I didn’t have a camera, so I went on to get a camera to take a photograph with – and this is the absolute gospel truth – by the time I came back, it was off! I only went down the road for maybe a half-an-hour to buy an instant camera.
PLUME: Is the process of getting projects off the ground frustrating for you?
JONES: Well, I haven’t actually written anything in awhile, so I can’t say I’m frustrated by it! I was really disappointed with Wind in the Willows because I thought it was a really nice movie. It won a lot of awards in children’s film festivals – it won the Chicago children’s film festival, and I think the Wisconsin children’s film festival… in a very sort of strange world. And I feel that it wasn’t just a kid’s film – it was a film that adults could enjoy as well. But alas, it got sunk.
PLUME: What is your view on doing children’s entertainment? Because it’s something you’ve done consistently over the course of your career…
JONES: I don’t really think of myself as writing children’s books, particularly… I kind of write for myself, really. So that’s my mental age, really… maybe I’m more compatible with 12-up.
PLUME: What was the children’s TV series you collaborated with Neil Innes on in the 80’s?
JONES: That was sort of reworking my children’s fairy tales… I think it was called East of the Moon or something. I was quite happy to see somebody sort of doing those things and making them come alive.
PLUME: You just enjoyed putting Neil in make-up…
JONES: Yeah…
PLUME: Back to the documentaries, is there a certain fascination with returning to the middle ages, or is just the way the dice have rolled…
JONES: Well, it hasn’t always been the middle ages. I did a couple for Discovery recently… well, last year or something…
PLUME: Was this Ancient Inventions?
JONES: It was Ancient Inventions, which was more sort of general, and then there was one called The Hidden History of Ancient Rome and The Hidden History of Ancient Egypt – which were really interesting for me because I didn’t know anything about those periods at all. The thing I do enjoy with doing these things is actually learning something. It’s a great privilege, you know – you get all these experts who give you their latest research and bring you up to date. It’s wonderful. It’s like having an intense sort of university course with all the latest materials.
PLUME: The frustrating thing, as a viewer, is that once you get into it, you realize it’s a finite series – and you’re left wondering, “When is he going to tackle this? Or this?†If someone were to step forward and fund it, has the thought ever crossed your mind of doing these sort of investigations as a regular series? JONES: Oh, I dunno… I’ll tell you why… Just doing those 8 shows last year, it was such hard work, I tell you. I’ve never worked harder in me life! That and the release of the book, they just sort of totally consumed the year. So as far as doing a weekly, gwaahhhoorrrhhhrrr!
PLUME: Maybe even a quarterly thing…
JONES: Well, maybe. I don’t know…
PLUME: Like I said, watching Medieval Lives certainly prompted thoughts of, “Well, what did happen during the Renaissance? 
JONES: Yeah… Actually, I did do a radio show called The Anti-Renaissance Show either last year or the year before last, which would answer your questions!
PLUME: Who has the rights to that? Was that a BBC production?
JONES: I think it was, yes…
PLUME: So maybe we can get that as an audio supplement on the eventual DVD release of Medieval Lives?
JONES: What a very interesting idea… Yes… What an excellent idea. I’ll put that to them, yes… A very good idea! You don’t charge for these, do you, Ken?
PLUME: No, not at all. They’re given freely…As long as I can eventually hear it…
JONES: Okay!
PLUME: So what is currently on the docket right now as far as your immediate future?
JONES: I’m just finishing this treatment for this film for this American company, then I’ve got a novel I’m going to write – a series called The Squire Books. The first one is called The Knight and the Squire, the second one would be The Lady and the Squire, and I’m just about to write the third one. So I’m going to do that, and actually I do hope I’ll write myself a film this year, which is what I’d really like to do.
PLUME: I certainly hope you do…
JONES: Good…
PLUME: And then you’re doing that cruise ship tour with Python…
JONES: (laughing) Oh yes!
PLUME: Playing in the Blue Room…
JONES: Yes, I can see that…
PLUME: At 11 and 1 nightly…
JONES: Oh dear, what an awful idea…
Comments: 1 Comment
One Response to “FROM THE VAULT: Terry Jones Interviews”Leave a Reply |
March 12th, 2021 at 12:50 pm
Man, I wish you had audio of these interviews. I LOVE listening to Terry Jones speak. He was a magnificent gem of a man, and I was greatly sorry when he lost the ability to speak, and even more sorry when he passed away. But also a little bit relieved for him, knowing how distressed he was at the end.
I’ve found a couple of his history series over the years, and thoroughly enjoyed them.