The rest of the castles are actually Doune Castle (located about 30 miles north of Glasgow) shot from different angles. The running joke of the knights riding around on invisible horses with the sound of the horses’ hooves clopping coming from their squires’ clapping coconuts together came from the fact that the group didn’t have enough money in the budget to afford actual horses. THE NAME “MONTY PYTHON” DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING. On the first take of the first shot during the very first day of filming in Glen Coe, Scotland for the Bridge of Death sequence over the Gorge of Eternal Peril, their camera broke. Ni! Castle Aaargh is actually Castle Stalker, which is located on the west coast of Scotland. Video: Could Robert Pattinson be the Next James Bond? According to a casting call sent to the school by the production, each student was paid £2, and got free transportation, food, and “an abundance of crazy antics” for a single day’s work. The group came up with the coconut idea from an old BBC radio practice of using coconut halves as sound effects for horses. Cleese had the idea for the taunting French soldiers after something he read in a history book about medieval troops whose sole purpose was to taunt opposing enemies before battle. During pre-production, Gilliam and Jones had scouted and secured a series of authentic medieval shooting locations throughout Scotland. The Pythons originally wanted to play every role in the movie until they realized that wasn’t feasible. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Monty Python’s quest for the Holy Grail, here are a few facts you may not have known about the legendary comedy. Gilliam and Jones suggested keeping the movie in the Middle Ages because Jones was interested in the time period (he would go on to write several books on the subject) and Gilliam was inspired by a trilogy of movies by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini that took place in medieval times. People were expecting hijinks from the Pythons, and some audience members even reportedly thought the evacuation was part of the movie. Beginning on Monday, May 18, we will begin offering curbside delivery at each branch Read more…. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Monty Python’s quest for the Holy Grail, here are a few facts you may not have known about the legendary comedy. It was a 12-foot high cutout of a castle, and Gilliam and Jones used forced perspective as a quick cheat during wide-angle shots to make it seem like an actual location. The fingers turning the pages belong to Gilliam’s wife, Maggie Weston, a makeup artist who worked on Flying Circus and would go on to work on some of her husband’s films like Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 1990). The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons. During pre-production, Gilliam and Jones had scouted and secured a series of authentic medieval shooting locations throughout Scotland. The group ran out of money for an opening title sequence, and could only afford simple white text title cards over black backgrounds. I’m not sure if I’ll get into hot water for saying this but I never liked Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Never for one minute did I ever laugh nor think one scene was even remotely funny.  While I have tremendous respect for guys like Michael Palin and John Cleese I just never thought it was funny.   The thing is, I even like slapstick and absurd situational comedy like the kind of stuff you’d see from Mr. Bean but when it came to Holy Grail I just thought it was stupid and way too over the top. Gilliam and Jones, the two rookie directors, had a rude awakening when they showed up to work on the movie. If it's anything Shawshank Redemption, Seinfeld, or Kevin Bacon game related he's way more interested. The film’s initial budget of approximately £200,000 was raised by convincing 10 separate investors to pitch in £20,000 apiece. Forced to scramble to find a place to shoot the movie, the two Terrys secured two privately owned castles to shoot all of castle interiors and most of the exteriors. The fingers turning the pages belong to Gilliam’s wife, Maggie Weston, a makeup artist who worked on Flying Circus and would go on to work on some of her husband’s films like Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 1990).