Terry Gilliam is not a quitter. In fact, he’s rather obsessed and perhaps in ways – if we may be so bold to suggest – that might not be entirely healthy.
Good looking out to Paste magazine who hipped us to an interview with Empire magazine (got that?) with the usually down-and-out maverick/ loose-cannon filmmaker (“Brazil,” “12 Monkeys”).
You’ll remember several years ago, Gilliam unsuccessfully tried to make “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” The project was plagued by such insurmountable problems (sick actors, extreme weather, budget issues) that it was eventually shut down during production. So entertaining were Gilliam’s heartbreaking travails, that documentarians, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, made a film about them called, “Lost In La Mancha” (the production’s obstacle pile-up so high, the film is almost painful to watch – it was almost like God didn’t want him to make the film).
Despite the seeming hex on this film (Orson Welles also tried to unsuccessfully shoot “Don Quixote”), Gilliam apparently remains undeterred.
“[Producer] Jeremy Thomas is very close to getting all the pieces of paper signed from all the people who you gotta get signed,” Gilliam told Empire. “He’s been on it for a year now, and he’s come the closest to getting it untangled from the legal swamp it was in. And, um, I don’t see why, I don’t see anything that’s gonna stop it now. He’s just gotta get all the paperwork done and then I call [Johnny Depp] and see which pirate film he’s still on.”
Apparently he’s a glutton for punishment. ‘Who Killed’ was to be Gilliam’s strange take on the “Don Quixote” novel where Depp would play a character who accidentally gets sent back in time and becomes mistaken for the book’s protagonist Sancho Panza.
The old dude who was originally cast to play Quixote himself won’t be back though. “It’s a real tragedy, but he can’t. His arse is broken,” Gilliam said. To be honest, we’ll believe it when we see it and until then reserve the right to be as skeptical as fuck.
Gilliam’s luck has been for shit in the last couple years. First there was the aforementioned ‘Quixote’ debacle then his next two films, “The Brothers Grimm” and “Tideland” were DOA box-office turds that were critically savaged (the latter barely limped into theaters). Gilliam’s upcoming film, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” doesn’t sound much better.
According to the Empire article Gilliam is also circling an adaptation of the Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman novel “Good Omens” (there’s also loose talk he might be involved in a Gorillaz film). Like all of this nutty professor’s films and projects we say, best of luck to you, sir.
