When it comes to Terry Gilliam‘s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” we’ve long learned never to get our hopes up. Despite constant announcements, promises, hopes, and dreams, Terry Gilliam‘s forever cursed, continually delayed dream project has failed to get made over the years for a variety of reasons. But give the man credit — his Sisyphean struggle to see the project through has been admirable, and it looks like (with all caveats in place) it could be finally happening.
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Screen Daily reports that Adam Driver and Michael Palin have signed on in the lead roles for the movie, replacing the previously attached Jack O’Connell and John Hurt. Production is now aiming to begin this fall, and if you need a recap on the plot, Flick Reel has posted a supposed synopsis of the movie:
There was a time when Toby was a young film student full of ideals. So he decided to shoot a film adapted from the story of Don Quixote in a pretty Spanish village.
But those days are gone and now Toby is an arrogant publicist, libidinous and jaded. Money and glitter have corrupted him, and while he is in Spain where he finishes filming an ad, he has to juggle with his boss’s wife – Jacqui – a calamitous weather, and his own ego. This is when a mysterious gypsy comes to find him with an old copy of his student film: Toby is upset and decides to go in search of a little village where he had made his first work a long time ago. He discovers with horror that his little film has had terrible effects on this quiet place. Angelica, the girl full of innocence, became a high-class call girl; and the old man who played Don Quixote lost his mind, convinced in his delusion of being the real “Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.”
A series of incidents lead to a fire that threatens to destroy the village. Wanted by the police, Toby is “saved” by the old fool who takes him for his faithful squire Sancho, and drives on the roads in search of his perfect wife, Dulcinea.
During this journey, Toby will face demons, real and imaginary, modern and medieval. Damsels will be saved, jousts will be completed, and giants will be killed! Reality and fantasy merge in this strange journey, until a spooky ending.
So let’s light a candle, say our prayers, and send all the goodwill possible to Gilliam so this can get made. And really, Driver and Palin might be the most promising iteration of casting for this one yet.
Meanwhile, Driver is keeping his non-“Star Wars” dance card busy by replacing another actor, in a different auteur movie. Deadline reveals he’ll step in for Michael Shannon in Steven Soderbergh‘s brewing “Logan Lucky.” Joining Channing Tatum, Riley Keough and uh, Seth MacFarlane, the story revolves around a pair of brothers who attempt to pull off a heist at a NASCAR race. Production gets underway this summer, and Shannon has exited because the schedule clashes with his role in Guillermo del Toro‘s upcoming supernatural romance.
