Dreams: The Zero Theorem

Terry Gilliam completed principal photography on his new picture, The Zero Theorem in December 2012. Postproduction finished in August 2013, in time for its world premiere at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, at the start of September. It has subsequently had many premieres around the world, and opened on general release in the UK on Friday 14 March 2014.

Gilliam has a terrific cast: he secured Christoph Waltz, David Thewlis, Tilda Swinton and Matt Damon for the film. The picture also has Lucas Hedges, Peter Stormare, Ben Whishaw, Sanjeev Bhaskar, and Mélanie Thierry.


Features on The Zero Theorem within Dreams:

Gilliam interview with Dreams August 2012	Terry Gilliam interviewed in August 2012, just as preproduction on The Zero Theorem had started
Gilliam interview with Dreams November 2012	A further interview with Gilliam from November 2012, when the Bucharest-based production was more than half-way through principal photography.
Terry Gilliam - A Born-Again Filmmaker	Terry Gilliam discusses his new picture The Zero Theorem in depth
Meet Bainsley	Mélanie Thierry writes about her time on the set of The Zero Theorem
Inventing The Zero Theorem	Scriptwriter Pat Rushin talks to Dreams about seeing his vision turned into a Gilliam film
Producing The Zero Theorem	Producers Dean Zanuck and Nicolas Chartier talk to Dreams about The Zero Theorem
Sanjeev Bhaskar as Doctor One	The writer and actor talks to Dreams about his performance in The Zero Theorem
Spreading Milk Over the Infinite Table-top	Dave Warren talks about the design of The Zero Theorem - featuring artwork examples
Bubblegum Dystopia	A second interview with Dave Warren - about postproduction design work
The Truth of the Picture	George Fenton talks about composing the score for The Zero Theorem
Assembling The Zero Theorem	Mick Audsley discusses the editing challenges
Qohen in Wonderland	Carlo Poggioli on designing the costumes for The Zero Theorem
Being Bob	Lucas Hedges on The Zero Theorem
Send in the Clones	Emil Hostina talks about being Slim Clone
Official Production Notes	Here is the full Production Notes document, telling the story of how the picture was made. Includes full cast and credits.
Dreams interview June 2009	Gilliam talks about The Zero Theorem back in June 2009

The picture will be released theatrically in the USA on September 19 2014, with an on-demand release one month earlier on August 19 2014. In June 2014, the MPAA censored the teaser poster below due to the sight of a bare bottom.




The project was first linked to Gilliam back in Spring 2009, and at the time, the director told Dreams that it was a very smart script, and easy to shoot. Yet Gilliam turned it down in order to concentrate on both the publicity for The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, and also development work on his Quixote project. Several years passed by, and Gilliam turned to The Zero Theorem again early in 2012. His agent called producer Nicolas Chartier, and having gained the participation of Christoph Waltz, the project was greenlit.

Bucharest was chosen for both studio and location work. Nicola Pecorini is the Director of Photography, Dave Warren is the Art Director, and Carlo Poggioli is in charge of costumes.

Gilliam spoke to Dreams during preproduction in August 2012: "It's actually very containable. I've always liked the script, and it's always been an interesting project. Two-thirds of it - if not more - take place in a ruined chapel... and we're also doing it for half the budget that we were talking about four years ago - so it fitted into the new climate perfectly. And that was also why we are in Bucharest - apparently it's the best, cheapest place in Europe right now to work."

The main cast is as follows, alongside a poster released in August 2013:

Qohen Leth Christoph Waltz Bainsley Mélanie Thierry Joby David Thewlis Bob Lucas Hedges Management Matt Damon Dr Shrink-Rom Tilda Swinton Doctor 1 Sanjeev Bhaskar Doctor 2 Peter Stormare Doctor 3 Ben Whishaw Clone 1 Emil Hostina Clone 2 Pavlic Nemes

Shooting took place around Bucharest and also at the MediaPro studios in Buftea, 20 miles outside the city. Scheduled as a 36 day shoot, cast & crew actually took 37 days to complete. Postproduction took place in London, and is due to complete in August 2013. The picture is in competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.

Some clips from the movie were presented at San Diego Comic Con in July 2013. Producers Dean Zanuck, Zev Foreman and Terry Gilliam's daughter Amy were present. The director himself was unable to attend, but sent the following video:


Dreams spent a week on set in November 2012, and has also been following the work on the project very closely. Many reports, interviews and behind-the-scenes information will appear here in the run-up to the picture's release.

Here is an image from Gilliam's facebook page (July 2013)



And early concept art from the Voltage Pictures website is below: