IT'S the morning - well, late afternoon - after the first night before and Terry Giliam is on a high as he declares, "There's nothing more exhilarating than success."

His sense of relief indicates that all has gone well with the opening of his second English National Opera (ENO) production: a revival of Berlioz's rarely performed opera Benvenuto Cellini, based on the life of the renowned 16th-century Italian sculptor and seen only sporadically since flopping on its Paris premiere in 1838.

No wonder Gilliam – forever associated with Monty Python as the artistic American one who did the animations – is relieved that such a massive undertaking has paid off. The results can be seen on Tuesday when ENO's production is broadcast live from the London Coliseum to City Screen, York, York Reel, Vue York, Curzon Ripon and Harrogate Odeon.

"It was a killer last night. I was so anxious that during the show I wasn't sure what I saw or heard," says Gilliam. "But there was a big party afterwards and I was being told how wonderful the show is, so I'm even more exhilarated. At the end of the evening I was carted home in a body bag."

The reviews must have cheered him up too. "Against all the odds, Gilliam and ENO have tamed the beast," wrote one enthusiastic critic. "The production is a triumph – exuberantly colourful and inventive but never merely gimmicky or excessive. The stagecraft is up to the highest West End standards."

Perhaps the reviewer didn't know that the first night was actually the second dress rehearsal. "Normally you get two before opening but we, for a variety of reasons, ran out of time. So the opening was a dress rehearsal but the cast and chorus rose to the occasion, so whatever technical faults were there weren't noticed," says Gilliam.

He had found directing his first ENO opera, Faust, the most stressful thing he'd done, giving him many sleepless nights. "I hadn't done this kind of work before. But for years, ever since I directed Time Bandits in the cinema, people have been pushing me and saying 'let's do opera'. I've been offered different jobs during the years and I'd say no because I want to make movies and not opera," says the 73-year-old Gilliam.

"It was only a couple of years ago when ENO got me interested. It was kind of a low point in my life. I was thinking 'maybe movies are getting too difficult to finance'."

Despite success on screen with the Python gang, his solo directorial career has seen both successes - such as Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys - and disappointments, especially when blighted by films having difficulty raising finance or going over budget. One film, Don Quixote, had to be abandoned after the leading man injured himself and brought filming to a halt.

Gilliam has good cause to feel bitter but accepts this as part of the movie business. "It's really hard if you chose not to work in the Hollywood system, especially if you do the things I do, which are more than two people in a room talking. Having said that, the three films I did in Hollywood were the easiest I've ever done," he says.

When he says he's beginning "to wonder if I have been foolish" in his approach to movie-making, I'm not convinced he means it. I suspect he wouldn't have done it any other way than taking on the movie industry at its own game and not compromise his beliefs. He was certainly ready to take on the rather enclosed opera world.

"What I like is my chance to shake it up a bit and do things differently to people who make a living doing it because I come in with a very different approach," he says. "With Faust and this new one we seem to have pulled off a critical success and full houses. Maybe we invigorate."

One word that will doubtless be applied to the production is Pythonesque. He can't escape, although the reviews he'd read hadn't mentioned the P-word. "In one song you can see a very big foot," he says, reminding you of the giant stamping foot in the Python opening titles. "But the point is it was drawn by Cellini."

What he brings to opera is humour and "probably disrespect". If he can find comedy in it, he will. "Humour is always part of it but has to be there for a reason - and it's certainly in this production."

Tuesday's cinema screenings of Benvenuto Cellini will bring in an audience usually unable to see an ENO show. There's an on-going debate over whether satellite screenings of theatre and opera actually prompt people to go and see "the real thing". Gilliam doesn't feel able to join the discussion. "I've never seen any opera in cinemas so I can't really comment but I have talked to a lot of people who have seen it and they enjoy it because the sound is so good," he says.

"There are other people doing it for the cinema but I want to make sure that cameras are from the point of view of people in the audience and not looking from the wings. I've told them what I don't want and they've lied and will go off and do it.

"Screenings are much less expensive than going to the opera. You should be able to enjoy the music and the image is as good as it can be. It's not the real thing but then sometimes at the opera I want to turn the volume up."

There will be another screening of a stage show coming to a cinema near you: the Monty Python reunion show from London's O2. Gilliam had just returned from a costume fitting when we spoke but hasn't been thinking about the forthcoming show at all. Now he's off to Russia and France to promote his most recent movie Zero Theorem, then returns for a week of Python show rehearsals before the curtain goes up and the big foot comes down.

"It's scripted but I think once we get into rehearsal there will be some interesting developments," he says mysteriously.

He now has time to look forward to the reunion. "It has been bothering me because of the opera and the issues overcrowding with the Python show, so I've been moaning about the show being the straw that broke my back. Now I'm a bit more relaxed about it. We'll go and have a good time," he says.

Steve Pratt

English National Opera's ENO Screen presentation of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini will be shown live from 7pm on Tuesday at City Screen, York, York Reel, Vue York, Curzon Ripon and Harrogate Odeon. Last Night Of The Pythons Live will be screened to 450 British cinemas and a further 1,500 worldwide on July 20.