Entertainment Weekly has announced the complete lineup for the upcoming EW CapeTown Film Festival, and it’s chock-full of great films and exciting guests.  Screenings include Shaun of the Dead, The Thing, Escape from New York, The Goonies, Twelve Monkeys, and Star Trek (2009), with a special “May the 4th Be With You” all-day marathon of Return of the Jedi.  More excitingly, though, is the fact that Edgar Wright, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Richard Donner, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Leonard Nemoy, and more will be onhand to introduce and discuss the various films.

Hit the jump to check out the full lineup, which also includes a special announcement that’s coming soon.  EW CapeTown Film Festival will run in Los Angeles from April 30th – May 6th.

Opening this weekend in limited release is director Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land.  The film stars Matt Damon and Frances McDormand as natural gas salesmen who try to prey on an economic town in decline only to have their mission complicated by the citizens they encounter and an environmentalist played by John Krasinski.  Damon and Krasinski wrote the screenplay, and the film deals heavily with the consequences of fracking.  The film also stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, and Titus Welliver.  For more on Promised Land, here are seven clips and the trailer.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Damon.  He talked about what surprised him when researching fracking, how the issue is very divisive, how lucky he’s been as an actor, and more.  Damon also spoke about his reaction to seeing a rough cut of Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, confirms he’s doing George Clooney’s Monuments Men, and says he was happy to work with Terry Gilliam again on The Zero Theorem, but he only has a very small part.  Hit the jump to watch.

The first images from the set of director Terry Gilliam’s upcoming sci-fi film The Zero Theorem have surfaced, and they’re unsurprisingly a little out there.  The film stars Christoph Waltz as Qohen Leth, a computer hacker who searches for the meaning of life while being distracted by Management, a shadowy figure from an Orwellian corporation.  We recently learned that Matt Damon would be reteaming with Gilliam for a small role in the pic, and these first set photos give us a look at Damon’s fantastically flamboyant character.  The actor recently revealed that he ran into a bit of trouble when he had to shave his head for Elysium reshoots, but Gilliam decided to take advantage of the look and present Damon in a way he’s never been seen before.

Hit the jump to check out the images, which also include a glimpse of Waltz’s bald lead character.  The film also stars Tilda Swinton.

We’re happy to debut the exclusive new trailer for the animated feature A Liar’s Autobiography.  Directed by Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, and Ben Timlett, the film centers on the life of late Monty Python actor Graham Chapman in true Python fashion.  The 3D animated pic uses Chapman’s recordings from his book A Liar’s Autobiography alongside the voices of fellow Pythons Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam to bring this wonderfully bizarre story to life.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  A Liar’s Autobiography will premiere on EPIX November 2nd at 10pm ET.

A few big names in today’s casting round-up:

• Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) is set to re-team with The Brothers Grimm director, Terry Gilliam, for a small role in his upcoming film, The Zero Theorem.
• Kevin Kline (The Ice Storm) is set as the lead of Errol Flynn in Quinceañera directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s indie, The Last of Robin Hood.  Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) will co-star.

Hit the jump for much more on both films. 

Of the six members of Monty Python, it looks like “the dead one” is the first to get an autobiography. Graham Chapman, who passed away from cancer in 1989, is at the center of A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman.   Chapman himself will be a feature in the film, along with John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.  The picture is a compilation of 17 different animation styles from 15 different animators and looks to be an absolute textbook lesson in absurdity.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer, images and official synopsis for A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman.

When we reported that Terry Gilliam’s new picture, The Zero Theorem, would star Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), we also got this heavy-sounding logline: Waltz will star as Qohen Leth, a computer hacker who searches for the meaning of life while being distracted by Management, a shadowy figure from an Orwellian corporation.  Gilliam himself said that the one-liner came across a bit dark and promises a lighter take that’s actually very funny.  He also commented on the presence of nudity in the film, people flying through space and getting sucked into black holes and the fact that the film has only four major roles.  Hit the jump for much more from Gilliam on The Zero Theorem.

With his long-in-development The Man Who Killed Don Quixote delayed yet again, director Terry Gilliam is lining up a different project to tackle as his follow-up to The Imaginarium of Doctor Panassus.  Deadline reports that Christoph Waltz is set to star in The Zero Theorem, which is slated as Gilliam’s next film.  The pic is characteristically odd, as Waltz will play a character named Qohen Leth who is an eccentric computer genius bent on discovering the purpose of existence, or lack therof, through a mysterious project.

The script by Pat Rushin takes place in “an Orwellian corporate world where ‘mancams’ serve as the eyes of a shadowy figure known only as Mangaement.”  Waltz’s character is distracted by a love interest pestering him with “virtual sex” propositions and the rebellious teenage son of Management.  As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Management is none too happy about Leth’s mysterious project.  Production is scheduled to get underway in Europe on October 22nd.

Those holding their breath for another Monty Python reunion can now rest easy, as it looks like many members from the comedy troupe are set to come together once again; for a sci-fi film, no less. Variety reports that members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus are reteaming for the sci-fi farce Absolutely Anything. The film will combine CGI and live-action, and the Pythons are set to voice key roles “as a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do ‘absolutely anything’ to see what a mess he’ll make of things.” Life of Brian director Terry Jones co-wrote the script with Gavin Scott and will helm the comedy.

The remaining members of Monty Python that could reunite for the pic include Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, and Eric Idle. Robin Williams is also in discussions to play a Frenchman in the pic, which Jones and Scott have been developing for two decades. There’s no word on when production will begin, but given the undeniably Python-esque nature of the story, count me wholeheartedly in. Hit the jump to relive some Python from years past.

No matter how the movie eventually turns out, you have to admire Terry Gilliam‘s tenacity in getting The Man Who Killed Don Quixote made.  The collapse of the production was told in painful detail in the documentary Lost in La Mancha.  In May 2010, it looked like the movie would finally get off the ground again with Robert Duvall playing Quixote and Ewan McGregor as a 21st century advertising executive who travels back in time to 17th century Spain and joins in Quixote in his adventures.  Then the project fell apart again when financing collapsed four months later.

But according to Italian site Altarimini [via The Playlist], Gilliam says he plans to start shooting in the spring with Duvall still attached to play Quixote (it’s unclear if McGregor is still on board).  While that’s far from a confirmation of a hard start date, Gilliam says the project has found new life.  He tells Empire: “There’s somebody new come along with a new bit of energy… a person who can get money.”  Hit the jump for more including what Gilliam had to say about adapting Paul Auster‘s Mr. Vertigo.

Twenty-six years later and with all of the controversy surrounding it’s release a distant memory of filmmakers-getting-fucked-over Hollywood lore, Brazil still stands as a masterpiece. The film isn’t perfect and it’s certainly not for everyone (no Terry Gilliam movie is), but Brazil remains one of those rare Hollywood creations: a large scale, spectacle-filled personal film. It’s weirdly appropriate that Gilliam had to fight so hard to get Brazil released given that the movie itself is about how easily dreams and imagination can be crushed in an unforgiving modern world.  In a weird way, it’s almost as if the director looked into the future and made a film about his career long struggle to create bizarre and bracingly original movies.  My review of the Blu-ray after the jump:

Terry Gilliam is one of the most undeniable directors to ever work in the medium. I say that in the sense that when you watch his films you feel the master’s fingerprints all over, and sometimes that makes the film a bit blurry. Gilliam is one of those directors that it is often hard to relax into because he’s so there; it’s hard to ignore what he is doing. Which is why The Fisher King strikes as one of his strongest works in the sense that it is accomplished without shoving itself down your throat. He was brought in last minute to direct an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and took the project up only to have stars Johnny Depp and Benecio Del Toro already locked in as his leads, had to rewrite everything that came before, and do it (perhaps as it should be done) as a no-holds barred, gonzo, “let’s shoot this fucker” kind of film. My review of the Criterion edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on Blu-ray after the jump.

Last September, we reported the sad news that financing had once again fallen apart on Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and that the director was considering a 3D version of Time Bandits.  At the time, it sounded like he was going to do a post-converted version, but now it sounds like the 1981 cult classic is being remade as family-friendly action film.  Variety reports that producers Guy Collins and Michael Ryan are in talks with an unnamed Hollywood co-producer to reboot Time Bandits into an action franchise.  It’s unknown if Gilliam would be involved with this reboot or if his plans for Time Bandits is to simply give it a 3D post-conversion.

While I think Time Bandits could work as a kids action franchise, it sounds like it will lose all the delightful strangeness that made the original movie work so well.  For those unfamiliar with Time Bandits, hit the jump to check out a trailer and the synopsis.

With Terry Gilliam’s new short film, The Legend of Hallowdega, premiering on LegendofHallowdega.com tomorrow after the AMP Energy Juice 500 race (the first chapter will be sneaked on ESPN just prior to the race at 1pm), I was able to get on the phone with David Arquette the other day.  In the short film, Arquette plays a techno-geek paranormal expert who teams up with an investigative news show (Justin Kirk) to explore the mysteries around the Talladega Superspeedway.  They’re trying to figure out if the race track was built on  an old Indian burial ground and that’s the reason for the spectacular car crashes.

During the interview we talked about how happy he was to work with Terry Gilliam and how he’s been a fan his entire life.  Of course with Arquette also starring in Wes Craven’s Scream 4, we also talked about what it was like to return to Woodsboro and what can fans expect. In addition, Arquette talked about how he’s going to be directing an episode of CSI: Miami and Cougar Town and some of his other films projects.  Hit the jump to either read the transcript or listen to the audio:

We’re pleased to bring you an exclusive first look at the poster and footage from Terry Gilliam’s upcoming short film The Legend of Hallowdega.  Here’s the official synopsis:

The comedy, THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA, explores the mysteries around Talladega Superspeedway as the host of an investigative news show (Justin Kirk) joins forces with a techno-geek paranormal expert (David Arquette) to dodge close-calls and chase crazy leads to get to the bottom of THE LEGEND OF HALLOWDEGA.

While I wouldn’t immediately associate Terry Gilliam with anything pertaining to NASCAR, this looks like it could be interesting.  The short film is set to air will premiere on Halloween Sunday with the first chapter to debut on ESPN just prior to the start of the AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.  The full film will be available to watch that night at www.LegendofHallowdega.com.  Hit the jump to check out an exclusive sneak peek and the poster: