NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET LIKE ITS GILLIAM PREDECESSORS, `THE BROTHERS GRIMM' IS HOPING FOR A HAPPY ENDING.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

``The Brothers Grimm'' has all the makings of another troubled Terry Gilliam movie. Like ``Brazil,'' ``The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' and the never-completed ``The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'' before it.

``Grimm'' has certainly had its share of difficulties - not the least of which is Gilliam's own reputation as a combative, sometimes self-sabotaging and just plain unlucky movie artist. But the filmmaker, stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger and producer Charles Roven claim to be happy with the $80 million production and its delayed late-summer release date.

``I seem to be good copy because I can't keep my mouth shut,'' the 64-year-old, ponytailed Monty Python alum notes with one of many self-amused cackles. ``I keep reading about the out-of-control beast, and I don't know how to get out of that story. But there's one terrible side of me that kind of enjoys it because it keeps things interesting.''

``Grimm's'' Czech Republic production and its aftermath did not need extra points of interest. Originally backed by the now-departed MGM, the tall tale of the famous German fairy tale compilers - set up here as Napoleon Era con men who find themselves battling the forces of a real enchanted forest - wound up being financed by Miramax Films' Dimension label.

Run by the notoriously interfering brother act of Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Dimension demanded several creative concessions from Gilliam. These included changing his choice of leading lady, Samantha Morton, to the supposedly more attractive Lena Headey, and replacing his favorite cinematographer, Nicola Pecorini, with Newton Thomas Sigel weeks into shooting.

But the really serious conflict began after production wrapped in November 2003.

``It often happens with films,'' Gilliam says about Dimension head Bob Weinstein's unhappy reaction to his first cut. ``You get to the end of production and you find that the film I was making is not necessarily the film that the financiers thought they were getting. What I find normally happens in those situations is that they find a compromise which isn't particularly good for the film, or you get into a head-to-head ego battle which, again, might not be good for the film.''

For several reasons, though, Gilliam and Weinstein called a timeout. That made ``Grimm's'' original holiday 2004 release date impossible to achieve. But it was necessary, according to producer Roven, because of more than creative differences between auteur and studio.

``There was a major, practical production problem,'' says Roven, who produced the trouble-free Gilliam hit ``Twelve Monkeys'' and this year's successful ``Batman Begins.'' ``That problem was so big that, even if there had been total agreement on the cut, we never could have released the movie at the end of last year.

``During the production of the movie, we did the trees and the wolf in animatronics. The fact of the matter is, those animatronics looked like s---. When we arrived at the realization that we needed to make the trees and the wolf CGI, we were basically starting those effects from scratch and we knew that that was going to take a significant number of months to accomplish.''

Months in which Gilliam went off to Canada to shoot a whole other film, the small-scale psychological thriller ``Tideland.'' During the same time frame, the Weinsteins were negotiating their departure from the Disney-owned Miramax companies and trying to set up financing for a new, independent production entity. That split becomes effective at the end of September, and in the interim, Miramax and Dimension are releasing a flurry of long-delayed features, including ``Grimm'' and the recent, big-budget box-office disaster ``The Great Raid.''

``My suspicion would be that it would've been released sooner, but they had so much else going on with their own deals and starting this new company,'' guesses Damon, who's been close to the Weinsteins since they backed his star-making, Oscar-winning ``Good Will Hunting.'' ``Then there are all the legalities of who owned what and the library and this and that, that all of the production slate kind of took a back seat while all that stuff was getting worked out. Those issues were, in fact, bigger and more pressing for both Disney and Harvey and Bob than the movies that they had in the can.''

Whatever, Gilliam says that coming back to the editing room after months of head-clearing proved ideal - especially after Bob Weinstein told him to cut the movie the way he wanted to.

``I had always dreamed about being able to make a film, put it away and come back a few months later and look at it,'' the director says. ``When you're finishing a film, you're so monomaniacal that you don't necessarily have a clear vision. I always thought this would be a better way of making a film, and that's what happened. I came back and we made a few changes. Small changes, but they're good changes.''

Well, one change wasn't so minor.

``We cut out the most expensive scene in the film!'' Gilliam says, giggling. ``A scene in the middle where the brothers are attacked by a huge tree in the woods. We had to build this monstrous tree that was on a crane and could tip and do things, and all these CG branches and a lot of green-screen shooting. I hate wasting things like that, yet after the break, from a distance, I tried cutting it out and the film benefited from it. It was too climactic.

``So it goes on the DVD. The most expensive extra ever!'' he chortles.

Gilliam can laugh, for the moment. Compared to earlier filmmaking disasters, ``Grimm'' has a happy ending.

Now considered the highly visual fantasist's masterpiece, ``Brazil'' was only released after the Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave it their best picture of 1985 award - sight unseen - and Gilliam fought a very public battle with Universal over the issue. ``Munchausen,'' his next film, went so far over budget that the insurance company took it over.

Things stabilized with his next three releases - ``The Fisher King,'' ``Monkeys'' and ``Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.'' But as recorded in the documentary ``Lost in La Mancha,'' everything from severe weather problems to the failing health of star Jean Rochefort forced Gilliam to abandon his beloved ``Quixote'' project.

``I thought it would be impossible for somebody to get that unlucky again,'' Damon reveals. ``I mean, so much went wrong; they had everything but locusts on 'Quixote,' it was really, really bad luck.''

``If anything, it made us do anything and everything in our power to make this work,'' adds Ledger. ``And, y'know, finish it.''

Now that it is finished, ``Grimm'' is coming out at the end of a disappointing summer season, as part of what looks like a Miramax fire sale. Prerelease surveys, however, indicate a high degree of audience interest.

So, will ``Grimm'' enhance Gilliam's reputation as a visionary genius, or his other reputation?

``Everybody automatically assumes the negative when a film is delayed, notwithstanding the fact that, particularly with this company, `Gangs of New York' was delayed and that movie was successful, `Finding Neverland' was delayed and that movie was successful,'' Roven notes. ``Reporters just figure, `Oh, Terry Gilliam has a reputation for being difficult, the Weinsteins have a reputation for being difficult, the movie must have trouble.' ''

``You get trapped by stories,'' says Gilliam, like the subject of one of the the Grimms' darker tales. ``Though I've got this reputation for being out of control, it's not true, it just happens to be a more interesting story than the truth.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

DAMON AND LEDGER: THE BROTHERS GRIN

Matt Damon may be better-known for his attachment to childhood Boston friend Ben Affleck. But he and Australian Heath Ledger present a credible pair of ``likethis'' buddies after making ``The Brothers Grimm,'' Terry Gilliam's very fictionalized account of Germany's most beloved folklorists.

``We had a month of rehearsal time, which is rare in the movie business,'' notes Damon. ``So we were stuck in Prague, which is a great place to be stuck for a month, learning accents and riding horses together.''

``It was a very organic thing,'' adds Ledger. ``We just had so much time together, and the space kind of catered to closeness and friendship.''

Though not as close, the manly fellows are quick to point out, as Ledger's next movie, the gay cowboy saga ``Brokeback Mountain.''

``I haven't had the honor and privilege of kissing Matt,'' Ledger says in a relieved tone.

``But he has had the honor and privilege of kissing Jake Gyllenhaal,'' Damon says with a laugh, referring to the ``Brokeback'' co-star.

``Look, it's kind of like kissing your grandma, or kissing sandpaper,'' recalls Ledger, who is expecting his first child with actress Michelle Williams later this year.

``He had to go through deep hypnosis to even remember,'' Damon continues without mercy.

Wearing a conspicuous Red Sox cap, Damon went on to wax truly romantic about his hometown team finally winning the World Series last year.

``There's been such a psychic blanket lifted from the town,'' he says to a laughing reporter and eye-rolling co-star. ``No, honestly ...''

Asked if anyone from Perth, Australia, can relate to such baseball passion, Ledger judiciously admits, ``No, but I pretend to. We've got Aussie rules football and cricket.''

OK, so maybe they'll never be as close as Ben and Matt. Still, we had to ask Damon: Is his old buddy the least bit jealous of Ledger taking up so much of his friend's time?

``Ben's jealous, but I think it's because he wanted to kiss Jake,'' Damon replies.

- B.S.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Heath Ledger, left, as Jacob Grimm and Matt Damon as Wilhem Grimm.

(2) no caption (Matt Damon and Wilhem Grimm)

(3) Terry Gilliam

(4) Heath Ledger and Matt Damon

(5) Lena Headey replaced Samantha Morton as Angelika

Box:

DAMON AND LEDGER: THE BROTHERS GRIN (see text)