Poster For The Mad World Of Harvey Kurtzman Movie

Posted in: Comics, Movies | Tagged: Art Spiegelman, Edinburgh Film Festival, harvey kurtzman, john cleese, Little Annie Fanny, Mad Magazine, matt groening, robert crumb, terry gilliam

Exclusive: Poster for The Mad World Of Harvey Kurtzman documentary movie, with Terry Gilliam, Matt Groening, Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman

Here’s a Bleeding Cool poster exclusive for the new documentary movie, The Mad World Of Harvey Kurtzman, directed by Bart Simpson (I know, I know) and executive-produced by Terry Gilliam. Harvey Kurtzman was the formative writer/editor of EC Comics, creator of Mad Magazine, writer of Little Annie Fannie for Playboy, and teacher at New York’s School of Visual Arts. The poster is below; you can watch a clip here.

The film looks at his life around the time of Mad Magazine and when Terry Gilliam and John Cleese first met at Kurtzman’s offices, with Cleese appearing in Gilliam’s comic-book photo strips for Kurtzman’s magazine Help! The film’s focus, however, is on Harvey Kurtzman and examines how Mad Magazine changed American comics, satire, and culture, and includes Gilliam, Matt Groening, Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. The film gets its World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on the 16th of August, where it is in competition for The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence.

The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman from Intuitive Pictures and Aconite Productions is directed by Bart Simpson (The Corporation, Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures, Brasília: Life After Design), especially apt as Matt Groening was such a fan of Kurtzman, EC Comics and Mad Magazine. Terry Gilliam, executive producer of the film, says, “When Mad Comics came out, it completely changed my view of the world. Because it was the first time I was dealing with humour in a way I’d never experienced before, and the idea of parody was something I didn’t even know of. It was the beginning of my fascination with Harvey Kurtzman. He was the god, ultimately, for me by the time I got to college. I would practically worship him. It was all because of Harvey that I learned to work at a certain level, a certain seriousness about what I’m doing, no matter how silly it may be. My films have always been about what my version of reality is, or what it seems to be, and I keep wanting them all to be grounded in reality. They may become surreal, they may become silly, but the reality is central to it, and that all comes from Harvey. I am his creation (and you are my audience, so Harvey is still alive and with us folks).”

Director Bart Simpson said, “Harvey Kurtzman’s comics scared me when I was young. His warping of the idealised life I saw on TV and in magazines felt funny but forbidden at the same time. I wanted Harvey to tell his own story as much as possible, and diving deep into the rich textures of his archives allowed us to build the visual and musical environment that captured the awkward, cheeky and daring attitude that leaps from his pages. We are challenged every day by the threats of unchecked power, and endless media distractions. The fact that Harvey’s work invites us to step back and laugh at the world we’ve created for ourselves is a gift…and the start of a conversation.”

“Bursting from the immigrant streets of 1920s Brooklyn, Harvey Kurtzman ignited a creative revolution reshaping comics, satire, and popular culture. Through rare archives, unseen interviews, handcrafted animation, and an original jazz score, the documentary reveals the man who created MAD Magazine and helped redefine American humour and visual storytelling. As the chaotic, disposable comic-book industry is born in wartime America, the obsessive cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman unknowingly starts a revolution. His relentless perfectionism and singular vision quickly set him apart, earning the respect of bosses like Marvel’s Stan Lee, while putting himself at odds with the industry and the money behind it. Investigated by the FBI for anti-war comic books, he responds by creating MAD, a comic that exposes the absurdity of the new pop culture medium emerging around him: film, television, celebrity. The film features rare and unseen interviews with Kurtzman and those closest to him, alongside insights from cultural figures shaped by his legacy, including Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Terry Gilliam, Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. The MAD World of Harvey Kurtzman combines exclusive material drawn from his private archives with specially crafted animation that bring his artwork vividly to life. Behind the laughter lies the story of a restless genius whose battles, triumphs and contradictions helped reshape modern popular culture—sparking a creative revolution that continues to inspire generations of artists, writers, and satirists.

The film is supported by Telefilm Canada, Screen Scotland and BFI/UK Global Screen Fund. Sales are handled by B.IN Media.

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