LONDON -- In direct response to the American uproar over Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," the Monty Python team is planning a 25th anniversary Stateside re-release of its comedy "Life of Brian."
The 1979 movie, about the hapless Brian of Nazareth who spends his life (and death) being mistaken for the Messiah, will be distributed by Rainbow Releasing, which previously handled the U.S. re-release of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Plan is to open the pic at the end of April in New York and Los Angeles. Columbia TriStar, which owns the international distribution rights, may also consider a re-release in selected foreign territories.
"A lot of people in America have said that they couldn't figure out a way to deal with the public reaction to Mel's movie," producer John Goldstone told
Daily Variety. "This is a kind of antidote to Mel."
"Brian" caused controversy on its original theatrical release, with some Christian leaders accusing it of blasphemy. But the pic's defenders have always argued that its satirical targets are zealotry and intolerance rather than faith itself, with Brian clearly differentiated from the real Christ in the movie.
The Pythons -- John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and the late Graham Chapman -- won back the worldwide rights to "Life of Brian" in a 1996 court case against Paragon Entertainment, which had acquired the movie as part of the HandMade library.
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