In the late 1970s Harrison formed a film production company , Handmade Films , which produced movies including Monty Python 's Life of Brian and Terry Gilliam 's Time Bandits . The first film started under the company was Time Bandits , equipped with a soundtrack by Harrison , in 1981 , a solo project by Python Terry Gilliam for whom HandMade originally also was to finance The Adventures of Baron Munchausen before several funding parties including HandMade dropped out of the project . Harrison produced twenty three films with HandMade , including Mona Lisa , Shanghai Surprise , and Withnail and I. He made several cameo appearances in these movies , including appearing as a nightclub singer in Shanghai Surprise and as Mr Papadopolous in Life of Brian .