'Robert De Niro prepared to play a plumber by watching a brain surgeon': Terry Gilliam and Jonathan Pryce on making Brazil

De Niro agreed because he was a Python fan, Gilliam cast his daughter but she cut her hair off in protest - and Pryce needed a wig as he'd just been playing a friar with a tonsure I had this vision of a radio playing exotic music on a beach covered in coal dust, inspired by a visit to the steel town of Port Talbot. Originally the song I had in mind was Ry Cooder's Maria Elena, but later I changed it to Aquarela do Brasil by Ary Barroso. The idea of someone in an ugly, despairing place dreaming o...