History Trivia / MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian

** Cleese originally campaigned for the part of Brian, eager to expand his range with his first sustained film role. The rest of the group favored Creator/GrahamChapman, and felt that Cleese would be missed if he didn't play several of the ensemble roles. Cleese soon agreed that Chapman was better suited, and stepped aside.

** Whilst filming the last scene, the actors were all bored and hot sitting up on their crucifixes. So Eric Idle started singing a little ditty. Everyone (but Eric) liked it so much that they decided to use it.

** The Pythons practically begged Creator/GeorgeLazenby to make a cameo as Jesus, for the sole purpose of advertising, "[[ActorIsTheTitleCharacter George Lazenby IS Jesus Christ!]]"

%% * AccidentallyCorrectWriting: The whole shtick about the different anti-Roman groups and their infighting is clearly intended as a TakeThat against then current leftist groups in the UK, but incidentally the real life anti-Roman groups at the time did more infighting than fighting against the Romans. Ultimately this meant that all three Jewish uprisings against the Romans failed precisely because of that WeAreStrugglingTogether, though the immense military strength of the Roman Empire didn't help either.
* ActorAllusion: the "Latin grammar graffiti correction" scene reflects Creator/JohnCleese's former job as a Latin teacher.

%%** Whilst filming the last scene, the actors were all bored and hot sitting up on their crucifixes. So Eric Idle started singing a little ditty. Everyone (but Eric) liked it so much that they decided to use it.%%

** The concept of the film came when Creator/EricIdle said in a post-''Holy Grail'' interview that their next film would be "Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory." Needless to say, the concept went through numerous revisions, including one where Brian was the unknown 13th Apostle, who was always slightly late to important moments of Jesus' life.

* ExecutiveMeddling
** A rare positive example. The original production company canned this movie at the last minute, fearful that the religious subject matter would offend people. So [[Music/TheBeatles ex-Beatle]] Music/GeorgeHarrison [[BigDamnHeroes stepped in]], paid a few million pounds, and more or less let the Pythons do whatever they wanted... for the sole reason that he was a huge Python fan and wanted to see their next movie. Creator/EricIdle later described it as "the most expensive movie ticket ever purchased."
** The one thing they did cut to avoid offending people was a Jewish Nazi-esque character named Otto, who wore a combination Star of David/swastika and wanted to make Israel a racially pure Jewish nation. He shows up at the end as the leader of the "suicide squad" that tries to help the crucified convicts by [[StupidSacrifice pointlessly killing themselves]] on the ground under the crosses.

* BannedInChina: The film still remains banned in nations including but not limited to: Bhutan, Oman, Singapore, and South Africa. It used to be banned in Ireland and Norway. Swedish theatres advertised it as "The film so funny they banned it in Norway."

** A rare positive example. The original production company canned this movie at the last minute, fearful that the religious subject matter would offend people. So [[Music/TheBeatles ex-Beatle]] Music/GeorgeHarrison stepped in, paid a few million pounds, and more or less let the Pythons do whatever they wanted... for the sole reason that he was a huge Python fan and wanted to see their next movie. Creator/EricIdle later described it as "the most expensive movie ticket ever purchased."

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: The whole shtick about the different anti-Roman groups and their infighting is clearly intended as a TakeThat against then current leftist groups in the UK, but incidentally the real life anti-Roman groups at the time did more infighting than fighting against the Romans. Ultimately this meant that all three Jewish uprisings against the Romans failed precisely because of that WeAreStrugglingTogether, though the immense military strength of the Roman Empire didn't help either.

** A scene introducing hardline Zionist Otto, leader of the Judean People's Front and his men who practice a suicide run in the courtyard. ** A brief scene in which Judith releases some birds into the air in an attempt to summon help.

* ActorAllusion: the "Latin grammar graffiti correction" scene reflects John Cleese's former job as a Latin teacher.

** The role of the "blood and thunder" prophet was originally offered to The Who's drummer Keith Moon, whom the Pythons had met while writing the script in Barbados. Moon was excited to play the part, but died of a drug overdose before filming began, and Terry Gilliam was cast in his place.

* AccidentallyAccurate: The whole shtick about the different anti-Roman groups and their infighting is clearly intended as a TakeThat against then current leftist groups in the UK, but incidentally the real life anti-Roman groups at the time did more infighting than fighting against the Romans. Ultimately this meant that all three Jewish uprisings against the Romans failed precisely because of that WeAreStrugglingTogether, though the immense military strength of the Roman Empire didn't help either.

** Whilst filming the last scene, the actors were all bored and hot sitting up on their crucifixes. So Eric Idle started singing a little ditty. Everyone (but Eric) liked it so much that they decided to use it.

* BreakawayPopHit: Not a pop hit, per se, but the popularity "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" has long surpassed that of the film is was from. [[note]]This arguably takes away from the original joke of such a cheery sing-along song being sung [[SoundtrackDissonance while the singers literally are being crucified]], though there does exist a minority of devout Christians who have a direct hatred of the song because they know it's from that scene (not that this movie was made for them anyway).[[/note]]

* UnclePennybags: [[Music/TheBeatles "St. George of Harrison"]] saved ''Life of Brian'' after EMI decided it was too sacrilegious and refused to finance it (he said he did it because he wanted to see the film). Eric Idle called it "The most expensive film ticket ever purchased."

** A rare positive example. The original production company canned this movie at the last minute, fearful that the religious subject matter would offend people. So [[Music/TheBeatles ex-Beatle]] GeorgeHarrison stepped in, paid a few million pounds, and more or less let the Pythons do whatever they wanted... for the sole reason that he was a huge Python fan and wanted to see their next movie. Creator/EricIdle later described it as "the most expensive movie ticket ever purchased."

* BreakawayPopHit: Not a pop hit, per se, but the popularity "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" has long surpassed that of the film is was from. [[note]]This arguably takes away from the original joke of such a cheery sing-along song being sung [[SoundtrackDissonance while the singers literally are being crucified]], though there does exist a minority of devout Christians who have a direct hatred of the song ''[[DudeNotFunny because]]'' [[DudeNotFunny it's from this movie]], which was obviously never made for them to begin with.[[/note]]

* BreakawayPopHit: Not a pop hit, per se, but the popularity "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" has long surpassed that of the film is was from. [[note]]This arguably takes away from the original joke of such a cheery sing-along song being sung [[SoundtrackDissonance while the singers literally are being crucified]]. There is, however, a minority of devout Christians who have a direct hatred of the song ''[[DudeNotFunny because]]'' [[DudeNotFunny it's from this movie]], which was obviously never made for them to begin with.[[/note]]

** The lone man in the "We are all individuals" scene, who plaintively comments "I'm not!"? Yeah, that was this trope. He ended up getting a pay raise to speaking actor for his improv.

* UnclePennybags: [[Music/TheBeatles "St. George of Harrison"]] saved ''Life of Brian'' after EMI decided it was too sacrilegious and refused to finance it (he said he did it because he wanted to see the film).

** The extras playing the guards in the Biggus Dickus scene were told not to laugh while filming. Thus their desperate attempts to keep a straight face are genuine.

** A small one, but in the scene where the crosses are being carried up the hill, the guard (apparently named Parvus) hits Eric Idle's annoying character. It was supposed to be only a tap and not meant to hurt, but the actor was annoyed with him that day and whacked him instead. Eric's brief look of surprise is genuine.

** A rare positive example. The original production company canned this movie at the last minute, fearful that the religious subject matter would offend people. So [[Music/TheBeatles ex-Beatle]] GeorgeHarrison stepped in, paid a few million pounds, and more or less let the Pythons do whatever they wanted... for the sole reason that he was a huge Python fan and wanted to see their next movie. Eric Idle later described it as "the most expensive movie ticket ever purchased."

* PropRecycling: The film reused the sets from ''Series/JesusOfNazareth''.

** The scene of all the people trudging uphill to listen to the Sermon on the Mount. It was getting late in the day and the extras all started to leave during a lull in filming and had to be herded back, and it was Eric Idle who noticed that it looked really good and said to turn the cameras on.

** The Pythons practically begged Creator/GeorgeLazenb to make a cameo as Jesus, for the sole purpose of advertising, "[[ActorIsTheTitleCharacter George Lazenby IS Jesus Christ!]]"

* OffTheShelfFX: The spaceship prop's "exploding" mechanism was powered by exploding cigars and a lightbulb filament.

* ShoutOut: A 'Judith' is an impressively dense patch of pubic hair, according to the 'Roger's Profanisaurus' section of ''Viz'' magazine.
** The title song is, stylistically, quite similar to the title song of ''{{Film/Goldfinger}}''.

** The concept of the film came when Eric Idle said in a post-''Holy Grail'' interview that their next film would be "Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory." Needless to say, the concept went through numerous revisions, including one where Brian was the unknown 13th Apostle, who was always slightly late to important moments of Jesus' life.
** The Pythons practically begged [[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService George Lazenby]] to make a cameo as Jesus, for the sole purpose of advertising, "[[ActorIsTheTitleCharacter George Lazenby IS Jesus Christ!]]"

* DeletedScene: A few well-known ones, in fact.

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Mr Papadopoulos (who's "letting us have the mount this Sunday") is GeorgeHarrison, not even trying to get the accent right.
** One of those poor bastard guards who can't help but laugh would later be [[TheThickOfIt Hugh Abbott]].