It’s been a few days since we’ve had an update about Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” You know what that means! It’s time for yet another entry into the rights saga that surrounds the film, and surprise, surprise – it appears that Gilliam’s producer thinks Branco is exaggerating his court victory.
And since none of the people involved feel like they should talk about this situation to the English-speaking press, it’s time to bust out the good ol’ translations and try to figure out where the rights to Gilliam’s passion project really do lie.
Mariela Busuievsky and partner Gerardo Herrero are two producers that were crucial to actually bringing the almost three-decades-long troubled production to fruition. And since ex-producer Paulo Branco, who has been fighting Gilliam’s team for months now, claims to have won the rights back in court, Busuievsky has gone to the Spanish press to clarify just what is going on. Once and for all.
According to Busuievsky, who spoke with El Español, Gilliam didn’t do everything he was supposed to do in regards to Paulo Branco’s contract, however the rights to the film are in the hands of the production company, as they should be.
Without butchering the translation, allow us to paraphrase. The misunderstanding stems from the fact that Paulo Branco tends to overstate his victories. Since no single frame of film was shot under the contract between Branco and Gilliam, the ex-producer doesn’t have any claim to the finished film. However, since Gilliam did a poor job of terminating his contract with Branco, there will be a financial settlement that will have to be made between the two parties and the ex-producer has been using this to claim a right to the finished film.
As Busuievsky says, the latest ruling does say that Gilliam owes 10,000 euros and there will probably be more money required to put this whole mess to bed. However, these financial issues don’t affect the film’s release. According to the producer, they chose to remain quiet about the actual nitty gritty because it didn’t feel necessary, but when Branco went public with his victory and claimed rights to the film, they felt they had to step forward and air all the “dirty laundry.”
Now, the only question that remains (other than how much Gilliam will owe Branco) is when “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” will be released. The producer says they are making plans for European territories now, and the US distribution will be coming shortly. She says that “there are many options” in regards to US distributors.
She ends by saying that the effect this whole mess has had on the film has been unfortunate because everyone is only talking about the legal mess and not the actual film. Hopefully, with the rights issues not up for debate, and the film scheduled for release, we can move on to the content of Gilliam’s passion project.