Director Terry Gilliam was deep into post-production on "Twelve Monkeys" when the time came for test screenings - which he loaths.
"We're now in the situation where we're going to the States to show the film to the public and let the public vote and see what happens," he says. "It's a thing that seems to be standard procedure. You gotta do it, so we'll do it."
His concern at the time was the test had to happen before the film was ready but he had hopes that picking the right place for a test would help: "Everybody says New York is, you know, they're ruthless, vicious there. In Washington we thought they would be nicer."
On the night, Gilliam, the film's producers, and studio representatives watched the screening with the test audience. Immediately afterwards, Gilliam left to wait outside while the studio people hovered inside to hear the results of the interview with a sample of the audience.
Outside, Gilliam was in a great mood: "I've never heard an audience quite that focused... The audience loved it. They go crazy. It was very nice to hear an audience just still, there wasn't anything at the end."
Inside, an interviewer was asking for a show of hands on different questions: "How many rated the film excellent? Nobody?"
The interviews went badly and the cards - the returned, completed questionnaires were no better. "I know we've got a good film. The numbers don't match what I saw that crowd do," Gilliam said afterwards. "And those cards are really low compared to what I'm used to - except the ones where they've walked out. "Munchausen", I got cards like that. But you could see 'em walking out."
Ultimately, "Twelve Monkeys" underwent extremely few changes - but it's not clear whether that was bravery on the part of the film makers or because no one could see how or where to make the changes, despite immense pressure because of the numbers.
Gilliam says in "The Hamster Factor" documentary that pressure is: "usually the result of people panicking and trying to make the film into something it isn't. It's a hippototamus and they wanna turn it into a giraffe because giraffes are popular this year. And it ain't gonna be a giraffe, it's only gonna be a really deformed hippopotamus at best."
For the record, the unchanged "Twelve Monkeys" was a global hit.
Go to Factory Line - Part 7: First Sight
Got to Factory Line Part 8: Coping With Your Test Scores
Sources:
"The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys" documentary, "Twelve Monkeys" DVD, Universal Pictures Video, 1999.
