If you’re a fan of Monty Python and their classic The Life of Brian, it’ll probably come as no surprise that the comedy, about a reluctant messiah named Brian, was controversial. The controversy started even before the cameras rolled on the now-legendary film, which you can watch with a Prime subscription. EMI Films, which had distributed Monty Python and the Holy Grail, got spooked by the subject matter (essentially spoofing Jesus) and backed out at the last minute. The troupe’s savior (no pun intended) ended up being the one and only George Harrison.
So how did a Beatle end up mortgaging his house to raise the money to make the movie? Here’s the whole story.
When One Door Closes, Another One Opens
The guys in Monty Python were always popular among English musicians. The Holy Grail was partially funded by the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. This came in especially helpful when EMI pulled out of Life of Brian. The movie was well into pre-production, according to Python member Eric Idle in a recent interview. They had started building sets with their own money when EMI pulled the plug on funding, despite knowing how funny The Holy Grail was. Without the money to make the movie, Idle and his compatriots started calling everyone they knew.
Idle told Harrison the story, and the guitarist came up with the money. As Idle told The BBC:
We had to go to New York and try and raise the money for this film, that had just now been banned. Nobody wanted to. And George was saying, I found you the money. I've got it.
The film’s budget ended up being about $4 million, but even for a Beatle, that was big bucks. Harrison was undeterred, as Idle explained:
He’d mortgaged his house. And he’d mortgaged his offices, and he raised the cash from the bank and put it all on The Life of Brian. It's astonishing, because it would never have been made, I think.
It worked out, of course, as The Life of Brian made back Harrison’s investment and more, taking in almost $21 million at the box office. Harrison was also rewarded with a tiny cameo in a chaotic scene where his character (who has no lines) is introduced to Brian.
It Also Led To Harrison Forming A Film Production Company
To finance the production, Harrison and his business partner, American Denis O’Brien, formed HandMade Films. With the success of Life of Brian, they continued producing films, including another involving the Pythons’ Idle and Terry Gilliam, Time Bandits. HandMade also produced The Long Good Friday with Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, and Mona Lisa, for which the late Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar.
Sadly, the success didn’t last, and after a string of box office bombs, including the notorious Shanghai Surprise starring Sean Penn and Madonna (who were married at the time) and, Nuns on the Run starring Idle, the company folded. Harrison later sued O’Brien shortly before the guitarist died in 2001 of lung cancer.
It just goes to show that the Beatles, who are the subject of four upcoming biopics in 2028 where Harrison will be played by Harris Dickinson, had a bigger impact on the arts than just their music and their own movies, like A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Without George Harrison getting involved with Monty Python, we might have missed out on one of the funniest movies of the 1970s.
