Director Terry Gilliam has stated, “when I made Brazil in 1984, I was trying to paint a picture of the world I thought we were living in then. The Zero Theorem is a glimpse of the world I think we are living in now”. A spiritual companion in more than one way, to his 1984 dystopian classic, The Zero Theorem is set in a world of endless contentment, where people go around their daily lives thinking they have achieved happiness. All of course, except for one, an eccentric computer programmer called Qohen Leth (played by Christoph Waltz) who has developed something akin to existential angst. As he tries to find the meaning of life, Qohen has to battle bureaucrats (played by Matt Damon and Ben Whishaw among others), falls in love with a mysterious woman (Mélanie Thierry) and befriends a teenage boy (Lucas Hedges) who seems to know more about life than almost anyone else around.

The ingenious, charming Gilliam, and Hedges, attended an intimate press conference in New York City where they discussed the themes and making of the film. “I’m obsessed about offending people” explained Gilliam in regards to the politically correct times we live in, “because you get a discussion maybe, instead of ducking and diving”. He also had candid thoughts on film distribution, technology and working with actors.

On using affordable technology like Google Maps, Shutterstock and GoPro cameras to make up for the film’s small budget.

Terry Gilliam: Anything quick and efficient that’s what we go for. There were also many dialogues on the film that were recorded with iPhones. Modern technology makes the process easier, we mixed a lot of these technologies together, we used Shutterstock pictures as sets for example, GoPros were used to represent surveillance. Of course we cheat and lie, that’s how you make a film, and some shots that looked like GoPros were done with our regular cameras. The cheaper you can make a film the more you can say exactly what you wanna say, the way you wanna say it and not have to listen to a lot of corporate dickheads.

On using the web.

Terry Gilliam: Everything you need is on the web. It’s infinite, you just have to do the work but it’s all there. Thing always bothers me is how few people use it for the knowledge, most people use it for gossip, what I’m eating, who I’m sitting with and porn sites.

On the screenplay:

Terry Gilliam: I liked the script, thought it had a lot of good ideas. I really didn’t do much fiddling with the script, we did more fiddling in post, rearranging stuff.

Lucas Hedges: Pat and Terry were very diligent about changing words and lines.

Terry Gilliam: The script is not the whole thing, it’s the first part of the process and changing things around is the fun of it.

On dystopias:

Terry Gilliam: [The world in The Zero Theorem] isn’t a dystopia, it’s a utopia! Everyone is happy, they dress smart, they’re bouncing around the place. Cars are zipping up all over, shopping is twenty four hours a day! What more do you want? The workplace is fun too, rollerblades. There’s only one guy who doesn’t like it and he needs a kick in the ass. This is a dystopia, only if you think the world we’re living in is a dystopia.

On VOD and modern distribution strategies:

Terry Gilliam: This is what the world has become. Small distributors don’t have the kind of money big studios have. It’s a way of making the grass roots work, I use Facebook to promote. So there I see people going “I’m waiting to see it in a theater”. My films are made for a big screen but the reality is that most people see them in DVD.

Lucas Hedges: Growing up I went to DVD stores with my dad. I don’t feel comfortable watching movies on demand. I’ll get to theater when I get to the theater.

On casting Lucas:

On opting for a “Gilliam” ending, as opposed to a “happy ending”:

Terry Gilliam: We had to end the film on a note where the protagonist has dignity. I had a lot of arguments with the producer but it was very important to me to give him dignity, to me the film’s ending is sad, but it’s also honest. Investors want “safety”, but there is no safety in filmmaking, but people believe their is, so if you put a nice happy ending that Hollywood will be comfortable with, that’s safer.

On the status of Don Quixote:

Terry Gilliam: I knew where we were two days ago but I don’t know anymore. I got an email the other night. (Laughs) We shall see, but it’s something for me to think about when I’m not on the job. A man has got to keep his mind occupied and pretending is the best way to go through life.

On choosing to make his film in a one-size-fits-all format:

Terry Gilliam: I’m just greedy. I’ll do whatever it takes to make people see the film. I’ve always hated when you make a film that you have to scan and pan, so I wanted to make a film that would look the same for everyone. We were getting a lot of pressure from the “quality control” people to make it in 1:85:1 but we were losing information and I said no, let’s try 1:69, but for some of the shots we were using the camera’s full gate, so I said “let’s do all the shots like this” and no one has seen that since silent movies because now there’s a safety area but I said “no, we’re not using this”.

On the dichotomy between the film’s vintage look and its thoughts on the future:

Terry Gilliam: (Laughs) It’s both looking backward and forwards at the same time. Schizophrenia is wonderful!

Looking back at his career:

Terry Gilliam: All you need it to look back and not feel ashamed or that you were compromised. I’m very proud of what we pulled off [with The Zero Theorem].

The Zero Theorem is in theaters on September 19.