It’s a project he has tried to make twice before, once with a catastrophic shoot that went down in history alongside Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW and the second time with a star cast in place but no funding. Now director and ex-Python Terry Gilliam has revealed he is meeting with actors this week for the latest attempt to nail THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE.
The story concerns a director who is drawn into the fantasy world of Quixote, a deluded figure obsessed with the age of chivalry who roamed Spain getting into adventures with his assistant Sancho Panza. The source is 17th century Cervantes but the modern treatment was pure Gilliam. The original production became the subject of a documentary, LOST IN LA MANCHA (2002), which chronicled the troubled weeks that saw the cast and crew beset by ill health, freak weather conditions and the military. Gilliam is used to overcoming great obstacles to complete his projects (as anyone who’s read about the making of BRAZIL and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN will know), but on that occasion he was unable to complete filming, despite the presence of a certain Johnny Depp in the lead. He tried to rework the movie between 2008 – 10, but backers failed to bite and the script has been rewritten again according to reports.
Although the financing has yet to be secured, the signs for this version look promising, with Nostromo Pictures (Adrian Guerra, RED LIGHTS) and Recorded Picture Company (Jeremy Thomas, ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE) co-producing. The team are hoping to shoot in the Canary Islands early next year, which brings us to the small matter of the cast. His last QUIXOTE teaming was Robert Duvall and Ewan McGregor, both of whom would presumably still be interested. It’s been 14 years since the ever-youthful Depp’s involvement but it’s safe to assume Gilliam is at least mulling over the opportunity to work with an actor to whom his sensibilities are highly suited. They collaborated successfully on 1998’s FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and Depp stepped in to help Gilliam on THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS after Heath Ledger’s death in 2009. Gilliam is said to favour John Hurt for the title role and with the whopping moustache he has has been sporting of late I can certainly see that working.
Looking further into the director’s back catalogue Robin Williams from THE FISHER KING could make a splendid Quixote, or Matt Damon (THE BROTHERS GRIMM) would provide a suitably perplexed modern man out of his depth. Crucially, will Gilliam manage to make the movie fly this time round? GRIMM was the last example of a film where he was at odds with his producers and he has ploughed a quieter furrow over the past few years. Will his QUIXOTE dreams be dashed again, or will he and a powerhouse cast finally resurrect the MAN OF LA MANCHA for a new generation?
Source: Variety
