George Harrison Would’ve Been Happy Making Only Comedies With HandMade Films
George Harrison said he would’ve been happy making only comedies with his production company, HandMade Films. Comedy was the reason why he entered the film business in the first place. His friends in Monty Python needed financial help on their film Life of Brian after their producers backed out. So, George stepped in and never really stepped out.
George Harrison started HandMade Films when he decided to produce Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’
In the late 1970s, Eric Idle told George that EMI had dropped out of producing Monty Python’s new film, Life of Brian, because they thought it was blasphemous. George loved the idea of the film and disagreed with EMI. So, he thought of funding the project.
“I asked Denis O’Brien, who had been my business manager since the end of ’73,” George told Film Comment. “After thinking about it for a week, he came back and suggested that we produce it. I let out a laugh because one of my favorite films is ‘The Producers,’ and here we were about to become Bialystock and Bloom.
“Neither of us had any previous thought of going into the movie business, though Denis had a taste of it managing Peter Sellers and negotiating some of the later Pink Panther films. It was a bit risky, I guess, totally stepping out of line for me, but, as a big fan of Monty Python, my main motive was to see the film get made.”
Life of Brian was George’s initial step into the film business. Then, George said O’Brien “got a bug for it.”
George wanted to make only comedies with HandMade Films
Part of the reason George kept HandMade Films was that all his comedian friends kept coming to him with great scripts.
“Terry Gilliam presented us with this brilliant idea, which turned into Time Bandits,” George said. “Michael Palin had done a BBC-TV series, Ripping Yarns, a series of 30-minute films, and I once mentioned it to him that if he ever wanted to write a big Ripping Yarn it would be just great. So he did. He also made A Private Function, an hysterical little Alan Bennett film that did really well in England… Anyhow, one thing led to another, and our films just kept happening.”
So, it’s no wonder George only wanted to make comedies with HandMade Films. However, there was another reason why George wanted to stick with the genre. George didn’t want to get carried away with how many projects the production company did. To cut down, he wanted to stick with comedies only.
“The logistics of it all makes it very difficult to get all those movies going at the same time,” George said. “These plates you’re trying to spin are big, heavy things, you know. It’s good that he’s [O’Brien] going for it in some ways, though.
“I would have been content just to do Life of Brian and Time Bandits—much happier just doing comedies. But, then, if I was in charge of this company I don’t think it would have gone on as long or gone as far, really. I probably would have encouraged us to have made even crazier films than we’ve made.
“I know I wouldn’t have been as adventurous in some areas. But at the same time, I don’t want to get too adventurous. I like to be safe and sure, you know.”
George wanted to make a ‘silly comedy movie full of silly music’
One of George’s dreams was to make a “silly comedy movie full of silly music.” For the most part, George didn’t combine music and film in HandMade Films. He wrote songs for films like “Shanghai Surprise,” “Water,” and “Time Bandits,” but that was it.
However, George dreamed of combining his talents.
“Someday, I’d like to make a real silly comedy movie full of silly music,” George said. “I don’t really fancy my chances of being a scriptwriter or an actor, but I do have a lot of silly ideas in the back of my head. If we can make enough money so that it doesn’t matter if I blow a couple million on my own ideas, I’d like to follow some of them up. Maybe as my last fling, I’ll have this huge but very cheap flop with all my mates in it.”
Unfortunately, George didn’t get a chance to make his film or downsize HandMade Films. However, the production company did carry on making some good smaller films. Like everything else in George’s long career, they are part of his legacy.
