We were worried for a minute there. The monumentally troubled, decades-spanning production of director Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” has become the stuff of legend – not to mention the subject of the acclaimed 2002 documentary “Lost in La Mancha.” But after soldiering through enough setbacks this decade to fill a whole second documentary, the completed picture’s triumphant Cannes Film Festival premiere was at risk of being thwarted by a legal battle with the film’s ex-producer Paul Branco.
Fortunately, the courts have given the long-awaited adventure comedy the go-ahead to screen. ‘Quixote’ stars Adam Driver in a role previously held by Johnny Depp, Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, and Jack O’Connell across the production’s many ill-fated past incarnations. Don Quixote – or at least a man who thinks he’s the eponymous protagonist of the 17th century Spanish novel – is meanwhile played by “Brazil” star Jonathan Pryce, though John Cleese, John Hurt, Jean Rochefort, Michael Palin, and Robert Duvall were all cast in the part at some point or another. Here’s the official synopsis for Gilliam’s much-anticipated passion project:
Toby, a cynical advertising director, finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote. In the course of their comic and increasingly surreal adventures, Toby is forced to confront the tragic repercussions of a film he made in his idealistic youth – a film that changed the hopes and dreams of a small Spanish village forever. Can Toby make amends and regain his humanity? Can Don Quixote survive his madness and imminent death? Or will love conquer all?
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Driver and Pryce are joined by Stellan Skarsgård, Olga Kurylenko, Joana Ribeiro, and Jason Watkins. The script was handled by Gilliam and frequent co-writer Tony Grisoni. “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” premieres in US theaters on April 10 for a one-night special event.