'Transparency' Used to Hide Truths, Says Terry Gilliam

We had a treat on Tuesday night. Fast Company's Le Rooftop party played host to a short evening panel featuring American Express, Arcade Fire and Terry Gilliam, best known for his Monty Python work (and maybe also for Lost in La Mancha, because that was bloody magnificent).

Gilliam didn't speak much, but when he did it was with a kind but long-suffering smile -- the sort you give when you're tired of a topic but understand others' persistent curiosity. Of the things he said that one can easily scale from advertising to life, he half-jokingly observed that "transparency is a word used to cover the truth in most instances."

With regard to his own industry, he said animated features are important political vehicles. (In case you wondered, this year he quite liked Rango.)

"Wall-E was probably the most politically important film that we had all year. And that's how sad the world has become!" he quipped.

And he finally answered that age-old question: why coconuts for horses?

"We didn't have the budget," Gilliam said frankly. "Things usually do come down to money in the end."