Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd And Jethro Tull Helped Fund The Holy Grail
Despite being a hit on British television, the British film industry wasn’t lining up to fund Monty Python’s first movie. Instead, it was members of the music industry that came to the rescue and helped bring this quest for the Holy Grail to the big screen.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, with additional details later added on Twitter, Eric Idle explained bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, as well as other record companies, ponied up a good chunk of the budget.
Per Idle, Led Zeppelin contributed £31,500; Pink Floyd gave £21,000 and Ian Anderson added £6,300. Alone, that amounted to just about a quarter of the £229,575 budget (per IMDb).
Musicians coming to the rescue of early Monty Python films was something of a trend. The Beatles’ George Harrison was a major contributor for the group’s follow-up film, Life of Brian.