Xixax Film Forum

The Director's Chair => The Director's Chair => Topic started by: MacGuffin on January 22, 2003, 05:10:52 PM

Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on January 22, 2003, 05:10:52 PM
Lost In La Mancha may be the first 'un-making of' documentary. In a genre that exists to hype films before their release, Lost In La Mancha presents an unexpected twist: it is the story of a film that does not exist. Instead of a sanitised glimpse behind the scenes, Lost In La Mancha offers a unique, in-depth look at the harsher realities of filmmaking. With drama that ranges from personal conflicts to epic storms, this is a record of a film disintegrating.

In September 2000, when the cameras began rolling on Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Don Quixote, the production already had a chequered past including ten years of development, a series of producers and two previous attempts to start the film. Gilliam had achieved the difficult task of financing the $32 million budget entirely within Europe - a feat that would provide him with freedom from the creative restrictions of Hollywood. The uphill journey was not, however, inconsistent with Gilliam's career: his more than fifteen year history of battling the Hollywood machine had cast him, like Quixote, as a visionary dreamer who rages against gigantic forces.

Joining the Madrid based production team eight weeks before the shoot, Lost In La Mancha directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe witness the successes as well as the failures. Problems are quick to emerge: the multilingual crew struggles to communicate detailed ideas; actors remain absent as they run over schedule on other projects; and everything from untrained horses to a sound stage - that isn't sound-proof - threatens the film. But through it all, there is the palpable, mounting excitement that Gilliam's ideas will finally come to fruition: the crew watch test footage of marauding giants; puppeteers rehearse a troop of life-size marionettes; Gilliam and Johnny Depp brainstorm over the script. By the time Jean Rochefort straps on his Quixote armour, success, though far off, seems almost possible.

Not long into production disaster strikes: flash floods destroy sets and damage camera equipment; the lead actor falls seriously ill; and on the sixth day production is brought to its knees. Uniquely, after Quixote's cameras have stopped rolling, the documentary continues to record events as they unfold: the crew waits, insurance men and bondsmen scramble with calculators and interpretations of 'force majeure' and behind it Gilliam struggles to maintain both belief and momentum in his project.

In the best tradition of documentary filmmaking, Lost In La Mancha captures all the drama of this story through 'fly-on-the-wall' vérité footage and on-the-spot interviews. Gilliam's plans for the non-existent film come alive in animations of his storyboards, narrated and voiced by co-writer Tony Grisoni and Gilliam himself. And with the camera tests of the leading actors and the rushes from the only six days of photography, Lost In La Mancha offers a tantalizing glimpse of the cinematic spectacle that might have been.

Lost In La Mancha is less a process piece about filmmakers at work and more a powerful drama about the inherent fragility of the creative process - a compelling study of how, even with an abundance of the best will and passion, the artistic endeavor can remain an impossible dream.

More about the production: http://www.smart.co.uk/lostinlamancha/lm_story.htm

The film open on Jan. 31 in select cities, then rolls out further. Check here for further info: http://www.smart.co.uk/lostinlamancha/lm_usa.htm

Click here to watch trailer. (http://www.ifctv.com/ifc/video/la_mancha_trailer_300.mov)
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: sphinx on January 22, 2003, 05:29:58 PM
more gilliam news: apparently 'good omens' is 'resting', the budget is in excess of $60 million, and all he needs is for a studio to fund it, and the cameras will start rolling on the project.  no word if robin williams and johnny depp are still involved, though
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Duck Sauce on January 22, 2003, 06:37:14 PM
Its weird how a movie can just get shut down like this. Im not the biggest Gilliam fan but Id still like to see the result. So is it never to be finished?
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Satcho9 on January 22, 2003, 08:58:40 PM
It's really a shame when a great filmmaker like Gilliam can't get a movie made. There should be a benefit concert for him. TerryAID...
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Kumar on January 23, 2003, 02:37:49 PM
I cant understand why Hollywood wouldn't want to make his film. Oh yeah, its because he's creative and talented, he should do a sequel of some shity movie they will make that. arggg :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x  :x
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on January 26, 2003, 05:07:44 PM
From the Los Angeles Times:

Still having the last laugh

As Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote film crumbled before his eyes, he made sure every disaster was recorded.


Terry Gilliam, the maverick director responsible for such off-center films as "Time Bandits," "12 Monkeys" and "Brazil," met his match when he tackled Cervantes' Don Quixote. His 10-year battle to bring the character to the screen became an obsession -- one he was forced to suspend when his $32-million production had the plug pulled by the insurance company in October 2000 after just six days of shooting.

Chronicling the film's decline and fall were documentarians Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, brought in to track the evolution of the project. What they capture in "Lost in La Mancha," which opens here Friday, is part black comedy, part Greek tragedy -- with Gilliam unflinchingly keeping himself in the crosshairs of the lens.

Why did you invite the pair to document the making of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote"? Shooting under a microscope is dicey at best. Wasn't the camera an unwanted visitor when things began to sour?

Keith and Louis had done a film about the making of "12 Monkeys" when they were grad school film students at Temple University in Philadelphia. I wanted a record of the making of my Don Quixote movie and, when things went bad, had a morbid curiosity about what its death would look like in retrospect. The idea of a documentary is that you're telling the truth, which is in such short supply these days. When things started crashing, I told them to keep recording because we were disappearing. No one has ever done a documentary about the "unmaking" of a film and, though I was miserable at times, I never turned off the mike.

The shoot was plagued with problems of almost biblical proportion -- a flash flood, wretched acoustics on the soundstage, noise from NATO fire-bombers, a lead actor hospitalized with a double herniated disc. Did you begin to feel like Job?

When the storm started beating on us, I couldn't decide if I was King Lear or Job. I just knew that I was being punished. One of the key elements of the script is punishment -- for hubris, vanity -- and we got it by the bucket-load. It certainly was proof positive there is a God -- he just doesn't like me. The experience made me very religious, or superstitious, at least. Orson Welles and Fred Schepisi both abandoned their attempt to shoot a Quixote movie -- and I've had four false starts. Maybe the project is jinxed.

Could you have done anything to avoid the debacle?

Going in, I was aware that our budget left no room for problems or mistakes, but my job is to maintain the illusion. Any filmmaker, any daring filmmaker, will tell you that making movies is always a nightmare -- very unlike the EPKs [Electronic Press Kits] in which everyone is smiling.

You're trying to buy back the rights back from an insurance company that paid out what is said to be one of the most expensive claims ever for a European film.

The claim, I've heard, was for between $12 million and $15 million. It was the first time this company had been involved with a movie. They were also heavy into the World Trade Center, so these weren't happy people.

You've said that you often reenact the movie you're shooting. In this case, pursuing the impossible dream.

"Brazil" was a David and Goliath tale of one man versus the system -- and I went head-to-head with Universal over its release. [In "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"] Munchausen was a grandiose liar -- and the film was labeled one of the most expensive failures of all time, a statement blown way out of proportion. Quixote is a man who's crushed trying to make a banal world more interesting. I share his madness. And the "last hurrah" theme -- doing something extraordinary before you kick the bucket -- is even more powerful now that I'm 62. The grave is slowly pulling me to the ground.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on February 20, 2003, 10:53:54 AM
Damon, Ledger, Williams & Pryce in Brothers Grimm

Variety reports that Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Robin Williams and Jonathan Pryce are in line to become MGM's fairy tale cast for its comedic actioner Brothers Grimm. In development at the studio for nearly two years, the film is now on the fast track for a 2004 release under the direction of Terry Gilliam.

The action-adventure tale revolving around the legendary German brothers and fairy tale scribes Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is set to start shooting around Prague in June.

Written by The Ring screenwriter Ehren Kruger, the fictional plot has the folklore collectors, now called Jake and Will, traveling from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and pulling off exorcisms. They are put to the test when they encounter a real magical curse, requiring genuine courage.

Final negotiations on the castings are underway, calling for Damon and Ledger to play the brothers, while Williams and Pryce would portray the villains Cavaldi and Delatombe.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: ©brad on February 20, 2003, 12:43:34 PM
Good interview. Terry Gilliam is the man. Can't wait to see Lost in La Mancha.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on June 30, 2003, 11:51:51 AM
ScreenDaily reports that Terry Gilliam's $75m comedy, Brothers Grimm, kicks off its 17-week shoot in Prague today with the likes of Czech towns & castles such as Krivoklat, Kacina, Kutna Hora and Ledec doubling for 19th-century Germany. Matt Damon, Heath Ledger and Jonathan Pryce lead the impressive cast but both Robin Williams and Nicole Kidman had to drop out of appearing.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on July 01, 2003, 08:21:57 PM
Just watched the "Lost In La Mancha" doc and it was great. It sets up Gilliam's passion to make the movie beautifully - you see the guy get so giddy with excitement at a script reading. That's why it's so heartbreaking and sad when things go wrong right from the start of production. It's almost unreal what destroys the movie - the planes flying overhead, the bad weather - you want to laugh because of that, but then see how bad Gilliam takes it and you can't help but feel for the guy. It's such a shame, but hopefully he will get another chance to finish it.

I highly recommend the two-disc DVD set. It is so full of extras that any Gilliam fan will drool over. There are two one-hour long interviews (one with Salman Rushdie, one with Elvis Mitchell), and more behind the scenes stuff about "Quixote".
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Pozer on July 26, 2003, 01:42:57 PM
Yes, yes. I just got this on DVD and it's so great. Terry will get his Don Quixode film made some day. And it's so cool to hear Johnny Depp say he's ready and he'll be there with him when it happens (and how great is Johnny's stuff that got shot).
Everyone run out and get this Extremely Entertaining And Hilarious Presentation Of Every Film Director's Worst Nightmare.
And yes, I did steal Woody Allen's quote from the box.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on July 28, 2003, 03:45:00 PM
The Brothers Grimm: The first on-set photos from the fantasy comedy feature are up at Filmpub whilst Uma Thurman and Czech star Tomas Hanak have joined the cast, likely taking over the roles left by Nicole Kidman & Robin Williams.

pictures: http://filmpub.atlas.cz/clanek.asp?clanekid=3079
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: ShanghaiOrange on July 28, 2003, 07:08:29 PM
The Rushdie/Gilliam interview on the bonus disk is the best interview ever. :(
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: lamas on July 28, 2003, 09:10:06 PM
Yeah, if Rushdie would've shut the fuck up and quit interjecting stories about himself.  Looked to me like he really didn't care what Gilliam had to say.  He was just waiting for his turn to speak.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on July 30, 2003, 09:35:09 PM
just watched Lost in La Mancha.  god it was so terrible to watch. even in the beginning when everything was fine, just knowing how it would end, made it terrible.  everything for the film looked so great, and then when things started going wrong, i just couldnt take it.  god, i hope he can buy back the rights and make this thing.  i imagine the costumes and all that are still boxed up somewhere, and obviously the script and storyboards are already done, so if he got decent financing, i dont see how it would be too imposible.  oh well. :cry:
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on October 06, 2003, 10:08:56 AM
Andrew Davis to Rescue Don Quixote?
Source: Moviehole

Moviehole tells us that director Andrew Davis is in talks to rescue The Man Who Killed Don Quixote...

Andrew Davis, The Oscar nominated director of "The Fugitive" and helmer of "Holes" and "Collateral Damage", among others, tells Moviehole today that he is considering directing the troubled "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote", a film that Terry Gilliam was attached to.

"I'm thinking of doing Don Quixote. Terry Gilliam tried to do it. I talked to someone who's involved in it, and he still wants to do it... its very complicated. But I'm in talks", says Davis.

"It's hard to think how I can make a movie that's going to be so all of the world, that's going to have somebody in it that people are going to want to come and see, because every three years someone else is 'hot' and it's such a classic story – not unlike "Holes" – that has such a following, I've got to do it right. If I got to make it, I'd like to make it with someone like Jon Voight you know, or someone like John Leguizamo – who probably aren't big enough stars to get it greenlit. If Johnny Depp said he wanted to do it again right now, we'd get the money. We'll see..."
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: SoNowThen on October 06, 2003, 10:16:45 AM
How about he keeps his filthy paws off of Gilliam's baby? The bastard.



And that Brothers Grimm thing sounds great. Of course, anything with Monica sounds great...
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on October 13, 2003, 12:41:00 PM
according to AICN...

Terry Pratchett, author of the book Good Omens, hinted at a recent book signing that Terry Gilliam will be returning to the project after finishing up with the Brothers Grimm.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on October 20, 2003, 11:08:03 AM
Brothers Grimm on Entertainment Tonight
Source: Entertainment Tonight Monday, October 20, 2003

Entertainment Tonight will have a first look at Matt Damon and Heath Ledger's new fantasy film, The Brothers Grimm, filming in the Czech Republic.

The Hollywood heartthrobs are bringing the tale of real-life fairy-tale spinners, brothers Will and Jacob "Jake" Grimm, to life (in a loose interpretation of their story). Set in the early 1800s, the imaginative Will (Damon) and Jake (Ledger)'s claim to fame is their proclaimed ability to rid townfolk of "mysterious creatures."

The inventive brothers make a living going from village to village with this ruse -- until NAPOLEAN's government calls them in to investigate a potentially real-life villainess (played by MONICA BELLUCCI), who may be responsible for taking the blood from innocent, young girls.

Be sure to check out the program tonight for more on director Terry Gilliam's new movie.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on October 20, 2003, 09:47:30 PM
Quote from: themodernage02Be sure to check out the program tonight for more on director Terry Gilliam's new movie.

I didn't learn one thing about the film; only about Matt Damon's sadness over the Red Sox out of the World Series.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on October 20, 2003, 10:13:03 PM
yeah, but did he mention his thoughts on the Bennifer wedding!?!?!?
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on October 21, 2003, 04:37:23 PM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.darkhorizons.com%2Fnews03%2Fgrimm2.jpg&hash=7fb95e4996bc88c344bdd050f7be23b50d157323)

Brothers Grimm: Around four months into filming and with about 2-3 more weeks to go, the Terry Gilliam project underway in Prague's Barrandov Studios has opened its doors to some press - most notably TV news-tainment show "Entertainment Tonight" which did a behind-the-scenes peek in their Monday edition. In the video interview with stars Matt Damon & Heath Ledger, the pair revealed a little more about the tone of the movie - "They're con artists, going from town to town trying to fool people into thinking they're ridding the town of the local witch or bridgetroll. We've got forest fires ... running and people trying to kill us! It's all that kind of swashbuckling stuff!". The basic plot has the conmen - Will & Jake Grimm - getting a famed reputation so good that they're hired by Napoleon's Government to investigate a woman (Monica Bellucci) who may be stealing the blood from young girls in order to stay beautiful. The footage in the segment also shows the pairs look in the film - Ledger donning whiskers and glasses, Damon a Vines-style hairdo and both in some almost Dracula-era garb. The interview is now online and can be watched by going to the ET website and clicking on video camera symbol on the left. http://et.tv.yahoo.com/celebrities/2003/10/20/mattdamongrimm/
In other news on the project, a new photo has gone up over at Dreams which is also so far the best collection of information so far on the film. http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/grimfact.htm
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on November 13, 2003, 03:29:25 AM
Damon, Ledger Laugh Through Gilliam's Grimm Tale

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Standing in front of a monitor watching their latest take during the filming of "The Brothers Grimm," Matt Damon and Heath Ledger burst out laughing.

Not exactly the reaction one would expect from a fairy tale, but precisely one director Terry Gilliam was aiming at.

"This film certainly is like nothing I have ever done before," Damon told Reuters in an interview.

Gilliam, looking to move on from the disastrous end to his film about Don Quixote when financing was abruptly pulled, has chosen to guide the stories of the Brothers Grimm in a not so fairytale way for co-producers MGM and Dimension Films.

As with previous films "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys," Gilliam, once part of the British comedy team Monty Python, has brought his exaggerated sense of space and shapes to the stages of Prague's Barrandov Studios.

FAIRYTALES OR CON MEN?

His take on Jake and Wilhelm Grimm is that they were 19th Century conmen who duped people into paying them to drive out "evil creatures" that are actually fictitious beings created by the brothers themselves.

Eventually the two are asked by the French government to deal with an actual real-life evil creature -- played by Monica Bellucci -- that sends them on a wild adventure.

Damon and Ledger, heartthrobs to millions, are barely recognizable in their Bavarian costumes.

For Damon, the role was one he couldn't turn down, even if shooting delays have eaten up any chance for a holiday before filming a sequel to his hit "The Bourne Identity" later this month in Germany.

"I saw the script and knew I wanted to do the movie. I knew it would cut it close with the next Bourne movie, but I didn't care. Now, when I see what is going on film, I have no doubts I made a great choice," said the affable American.    

Damon and Ledger have hit it off during filming, with the Australian referring to Damon "like he's my brother."

WARPED SETTING

If the costumes and acting are exaggerated, they are equaled by the set.

In a sign of the determination of Gilliam and set designer Guy Hendrix Dyas to create a dream world, they traveled to dozens of the Czech Republic's medieval towns before realizing the real thing was pretty, but too practical.

Instead, after shunning some of the world's best preserved castles, Hendrix Dyas created his own village barely a stone's throw from the studios and within sight of the ugly concrete apartments that serve as a reminder of nearly five decades of Communist rule.

"After talking to Terry, I realized very quickly we were on the same page," said Hendrix Dyas.

"That made it easy to test the boundaries, and in the end, it's true, we would never have found a village such as this. No one would ever have left something like this standing!"

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwwwi.reuters.com%2Fimages%2Fmdf404976.jpg&hash=9282972c42737fb4cadb503f349757a09721a7ef)
Guy Hendrix Dyas captured the imagination of director Terry Gilliam with sketches of set designs such as this. Hendrix Dyas then recreated the drawing on a massive sound stage at Prague's Barrandov Studios for the shooting of 'The Brothers Grimm.' The movie, starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, is scheduled to be released in autumn 2004.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: meatball on November 13, 2003, 05:14:43 PM
After watching his ordeal in Lost in La Mancha, I realized that I would HATE and LOATHE to be working under his direction -- at least, when things aren't going well on his sets. He really came off as obsessed, overwhelmed, and sad in this.. no wonder his co-workers lost faith in him. I'd like to see him in action when things are flowing smoothly.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on November 16, 2003, 06:15:01 PM
A First Look at The Brothers Grimm!
Source: Empire Magazine Sunday, November 16, 2003

The December, 2003 issue of Empire magazine has a first look at director Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, starring Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Jonathan Pryce and Monica Bellucci. Included are quotes from Damon, Gilliam and production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, as well as several spoilers.

In the fantasy/adventure/comedy, filmed at Barrandov Studios on the outskirts of Prague, Damon & Ledger star as the legendary German fairy tale authors, Will and Jacob Grimm, reinvented as 17th century con men who find themselves facing the perils of a real enchanted forest.

Gilliam took a break after his last production, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, fell apart. "After the whole disaster with Don Quixote, I was really quite depressed. When this came along, it seemed to have all the right elements - it had fantasy, imagination, it was intelligent. And it had the money," laughs the one-time Python, oft-visionary director. He tells the magazine that "it was strange getting back in the saddle. In the first week I was out of practice and making stupid mistakes. But we seem to be getting there now."

Joining Gilliam on the set was X2: X-Men United production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas. "Guy's work on this is amazing," added Gilliam. Dyas has had the chance to build and entire fairy tale village on the backlot, ruined castles, and not one but two full sized forests - one studio-based, one outside.

"We tried to find a real forest," Dyas explains. "Terry and I spent nearly a month scouting out here trying to find one. But then we realized that to control that environment we'd have to build it on set. So Terry can shoot day or night - do whatever he wants to do."

The magazine visited the set where Matt Damon was licking a toad. Repeatedly, take after take after vomit-inducing take. "It was okay until the lady doctor told me to take these three infection pills afterwards," laughs Damon. "Then again, for the money they're paying me, I can't complain." Also, Gilliam was admiring one of his forests as it's burnt to the ground by an army of Napoleonic soldiers. "Now that's a fire!" he shouts, an impish grin on his face.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on January 20, 2004, 09:31:45 AM
It’s Grimm Up Town
Exclusive - Terry Gillam speaks to Empire Online

Terry Gilliam was on fine form at the Big Fish premiere, and paused to chat to Empire Online about projects old and new. We asked about his upcoming film, The Brothers Grimm.

“Well we’ve finished shooting! Now we’re editing it. I actually saw the first assembly today for the first time, and, well, it’s going to be busy for the next few months. There’s hundreds of special effects shots. Part of it is editing in the dark, because you’re trying to imagine extraordinary things.”

The film stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger as the eponymous brothers, who are con men travelling around 18th century Europe and pretending to rid villages of mythical beasties. Their bluff is called, however, when Napoleon orders them to a forest actually plagued by enchanted creatures. So how did Matt and Heath handle it?

“Well these are very different from their normal characters. They’re cast completely against type, which is always a gamble, but when it pays off I love it. The actors love it, and the audience likes waking up and discovering the world is different every day.”

There is, however, one question on everyone’s lips for Gilliam, and that concerns his lost film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. No one who has seen Lost in La Mancha, the story of its abortive production, could fail to care about the fate of what looked suspiciously like the perfect Gilliam film. So is there any hope that it could rise from the grave?

“That’s one reason for making The Brothers Grimm – make a big successful film and generate the money for that. I’m actually going to Paris at the end of this month to try to get the rights to the script back – we’ve been at this for two years. It’s just become very complicated – mainly legal things. I’m going to go over there and hopefully resolve some of these issues face to face, because this film is going to be finished fairly soon and I’ve got to work again.”

And now for something completely different – are there any Python films in the works? “No, they’re all dead. I’m the only one left. You see Michael Palin going around the world, but those were all filmed ten years ago when he was young and handsome. No, the only Python thing that looks like it is going to happen is a Broadway production of Holy Grail, which is going to be called “Spamalot”. Eric Idle has written the book and new lyrics for new songs. That’s due in 2005 – Broadway things take a long time. I think they’re supposed to be doing a reading in the next month, but Broadway is a very long slow process. If it works over there, of course we’ll bring it over here to try and make money. We’re not ashamed of trying to make money in our old age. We didn’t do it when we were young making Python, so now we basically do it by making Python products.”
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: SoNowThen on January 20, 2004, 09:36:27 AM
You've gotta hope that somewhere/sometime in life there's a great equalizer waiting for good guys like Gilliam. Here's to hoping that he gets Don Quixote back off the ground.


And Grimm sound pretty fucking great, too!
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on February 05, 2004, 04:56:51 PM
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thezreview.co.uk%2Fimages3%2Fbrothersgrimm03.jpg&hash=aa03b1eb19ceb3e6777d320ab94babe12b8b2018)(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thezreview.co.uk%2Fimages3%2Fbrothersgrimm01.jpg&hash=c6355e7f70ee279ab1e9f73835baa3620079f7c4)
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: SoNowThen on February 05, 2004, 10:30:23 PM
thank -- you --- mod....

omg

pure beauty
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Ravi on April 26, 2004, 08:33:19 PM
http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/inprogress/

BROTHERS GRIMM, THE
Director:   Terry Gilliam
Producer:   Charles Roven, Daniel Bobker
Screenwriter:   Ehren Krueger, Tony Grisoni, Terry Gilliam
Cast:   Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Lena Headey, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Storemare
Enquiries:   Julia Finn, DDA, +44 (0)20 7932 9800
Status:   in post production
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: meatball on April 28, 2004, 10:12:16 PM
Yay, mod. Yay.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Stefen on April 28, 2004, 10:42:11 PM
Gilliam is one of those filmmakers who is always on point. He never fails, even his shit is good. It's very sad that a filmmaker has good as Gilliam doesn't get to do what he wants to do very often. He should get a free pass for anything he pleases. His movies rarely make money so that probably has alot to do with it. he gives great interviews also. I think my fave of his is brazil cause its just so fucking fantastic, fear and loathing is great too, but it feels so over the place which I think gives it it's charm. 12 monkeys is probably one of my least favorite Gilliam flicks but its still better than 90% of movies. The fisher king is terribly underrated. I cant wait to see grimm but I wish he would have been able to do good omens instead :o(
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on May 11, 2004, 02:11:21 PM
Terry Gilliam Next Helming Tideland
Source: Variety

Terry Gilliam will next direct Tideland, which starts shooting September 7 in Saskatchewan, Canada, once the director has finished his current film, The Brothers Grimm.

Variety says the film, written by Gilliam and Tony Grisoni, is adapted from Mitch Cullin's novel about a girl in rural Texas who escapes from the grim reality of her life into a world of fantasy.

She is accompanied on her adventures of the imagination by four disembodied dolls' heads, which will be voiced by well-known actors.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: SoNowThen on May 11, 2004, 02:16:43 PM
Super.

I'm set to leave the Prairies at the end of June, Terry Gilliam comes 2 months later.

Dammit...
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Just Withnail on May 11, 2004, 02:55:28 PM
Shit, that sounds like something Miyazaki would conjure up. It looks great, perfect for Gilliam.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: El Duderino on May 11, 2004, 07:33:52 PM
yeah, i look forward to this...aswell as the brothers grimm
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ on June 11, 2004, 10:08:30 AM
I just saw Fisher King and it was waaay more than I expected.  I thought it was goign to be simple, but realized that if it was Gilliam film, it had to be the exact opposite.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: ElPandaRoyal on June 11, 2004, 10:29:21 AM
You should know, while going into a Gilliam film, that nothing is ever simple. He's visually one of the most powerful directors I can think of.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on September 03, 2004, 03:22:38 PM
Tilly immersed in 'Tideland'

NEW YORK -- Jennifer Tilly and 9-year-old newcomer Jodelle Ferland and have inked to star in Terry Gilliam's upcoming feature "Tideland," which goes before cameras this month. Janet McTeer and Brendan Fletcher also have joined the cast of the film, based on Mitch Cullin's Southern gothic novel. Adapted for the big screen by Tony Grisoni ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"), "Tideland" follows the story of a young girl who creates an extraordinary, suspenseful and surreal fantasy world to escape the pain of her father's death.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on September 07, 2004, 02:04:14 AM
Bridges back with Gilliam on 'Tideland'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

NEW YORK -- Actor Jeff Bridges is coming aboard Terry Gilliam's next feature, "Tideland," sources said, a move that reunites the actor and director who last teamed in 1991 for the Oscar-winning feature "The Fisher King."

Bridges joins a cast that already includes 9-year-old newcomer Jodelle Ferland, Jennifer Tilly, Janet McTeer and Brendan Fletcher.
 
Based on Mitch Cullin's Southern gothic novel -- and adapted for the big screen by Tony Grisoni ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas") -- "Tideland" follows the story of a girl who creates a surreal fantasy world to escape the pain of her father's death.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Pwaybloe on April 15, 2005, 08:49:02 AM
Probably eating breakfast right now.  Or morning sex.  

Man, morning sex is great.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Pubrick on April 15, 2005, 02:37:31 PM
Quote from: PwaybloeProbably eating breakfast right now.  Or morning sex.
except it wouldn't turn out like he expected.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on August 11, 2005, 10:57:56 PM
Gilliam Returning to La Mancha
Grimm helmer to resurrect Don Quixote.

Terry Gilliam has a history of making unusual films – the films he wants to make. The Monty Python member has directed such titles as Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, and Brothers Grimm, the last of which is just nearing release now.

In the late Nineties, Gilliam was busy on another pet project of his, a new take on Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote legend called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The story was to be another time-travel adventure; it involved a modern-day advertising executive who ends up in 17th century Spain with Quixote himself – a crazy old Spaniard who pretends he's a knight and travels around the country righting wrongs.

Gilliam spent several years pursuing funding for his Don Quixote film; and finally, in 2002, he began shooting it in Spain with Johnny Depp and Frenchman Jean Rochefort. Unfortunately, Rochefort was injured about a week into filming, and other problems made much of Gilliam's footage unusable. The film was finally shelved in mid-production.

Gilliam didn't give up, however. He insisted he would have another go at it eventually. "I am going to make this damn film, but maybe down the line," he told The Observer. "I can't even look at it right now. I can't even think about it. I mean, I'm supposed to be shooting right now, out there surrounded by creative people, thinking up new ideas, in my element. Instead, I'm sitting at home on the computer again. It's not the same thing at all!"

The time for returning to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote might be now. In a new interview with Sci Fi Wire, Gilliam says he's returning to the project once some legal hassles – probably involving the film's insurers, who now own the script – are dealt with.

"It'll be the next one I do," Gilliam said. "I really do want to do it. The script is too good. What we did, again, it's like The Brothers Grimm. We're not doing Don Quixote. It's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. So we take the bits I want out of Cervantes' work, rather than be caught in [the] terrible situation of doing something that exists. And so with Cervantes, we wrote something that incorporates Quixote into a story we're telling. And so I can write in a sense what I think Cervantes might have written if he was alive now, without the worry of whether he would or wouldn't. So trying to stay true to the heart of the piece without having to be pedantic about it."

Gilliam added that a new actor for Quixote would have to be found. He didn't mention any other casting hurdles; it would be terrific if Johnny Depp was still available to take part in it.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: 72teeth on August 12, 2005, 06:03:29 AM
Spoiler:Gilliam will be struck by lightning
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: grand theft sparrow on August 12, 2005, 03:26:59 PM
Quote from: 72teethSpoiler:Gilliam will be struck by lightning

Gilliam will die on his way to the airport to head to Spain.  He will be in a 2-car collision with Robert Altman's car, Altman being one day from locking the print on Prarie Home Companion.  PTA and Johnny Depp will survive but never work again.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on September 09, 2005, 02:49:54 PM
Sweden to Salute Director Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam will receive the Stockholm Visionary Award at the Stockholm film festival in November.

Organizers cited Gilliam's "unique inventiveness which has captured the hearts and minds of film enthusiasts everywhere."

Gilliam was a member of the Monty Python comedy group before becoming a director. He has directed "Brazil," "Twelve Monkeys," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Brothers Grimm."

"Through his daring and unquenchable creative power, he has defeated the mighty windmills of the film industry," the award citation said.

Director David Cronenberg had previously been named winner of the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award.

Both awards will be presented during the Nov. 17-27 festival in the Swedish capital.
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: analogzombie on September 10, 2005, 07:52:03 PM
So I guessThe Brothers Grimm is officially a bomb now, huh?
Title: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: mogwai on October 14, 2005, 07:54:54 AM
interview with terry gilliam (http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=4578) (25 min)

click on WEBBEXKLUSIVT: Hela intervjun med Terry Gilliam! to view the interview.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on November 09, 2005, 08:33:59 PM
Terry Gilliam hopes to resume shooting Don Quixote

PRAGUE (AFP) - American director Terry Gilliam said in Prague that he expects to resume work on Don Quixote, which was set to be the biggest European film ever made but was shelved five days into filming.

"There is a possibility now, for the first time, that we might get the script of Don Quixote back," Gilliam said during a news conference to mark the Czech premiere of his film "The Brothers Grimm".

"If we can get the film out of the hands of the lawyers, then that will be my next project," said the former Monty Python member, adding that he felt "hopeful."

Although rights to the script have been frozen for several years because of a conflict between the French producer and a German insurance company, a decision could come "before the end of the year", Gilliam told AFP following the news conference.

Although Jean Rochefort will not be able to play Don Quixote, "the presence of Johnny Depp is secured," Gilliam added.

Like Orson Welles, G.W. Pabst and Grigori Kozintsev, the director of "Brazil" has long dreamt of adapting the Cervantes masterpiece under the title "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote".

In early 2000, Gilliam gathered 32 million dollars (27 million euros) in financing. But the film starring French singer Vanessa Paradis and Spanish actor Rosy de Palma, Pedro Almodovar's muse, collapsed after only five days of filming in Spain.

Aged 70 at the time, Jean Rochefort suffered from a double hernia which preventing him from mounting a horse, prompting the insurance company to cancel the project.

All that was left to show was a documentary about the making of the film, screened in cinemas as "Lost in La Mancha".

"My best film is the one I have not made yet. When I actually make films, I am always disappointed. So my favorite film at the moment is Don Quixote because it was not finished," joked Gilliam.

The director has overcome his earlier troubles with his latest big budget release, "The Brothers Grimm", which has been pulling in the crowds since the start of October.

His latest creation "Tideland," presented in September at the San Sebatian film festival, should be released next March.

For Gilliam, "the magic of a film is that it fools everybody, some think they will get rich, some that they will get famous, others that they make a great work of art. At the end, something is made and that is reality."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on February 09, 2006, 02:19:34 PM
Quote from: analogzombie on September 10, 2005, 07:52:03 PM
So I guessThe Brothers Grimm is officially a bomb now, huh?

Gilliam Grim About Miramax's 'Grimm' Promotion

Director Terry Gilliam has accused the Weinstein brothers of abandoning his 2005 movie The Brothers Grimm because, he said, Miramax was paralyzed in its final days under the Weinsteins' leadership. Speaking at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Gilliam charged that the Weinsteins "seemed to be trapped in their own exit. They walked away with a lot in their pockets, but [many] films were abandoned. That's disgraceful. I hope Bob and Harvey are spending their pocket money happily." Today's (Tuesday) New York Post, which reported Gilliam's remarks, observed that critics by and large panned the film, including the Post's own critic. To which Gilliam responded: "All I can say is, we made some noise. The film is at $103 million at the moment, so we're not a flop. It just didn't do what it should have done. In almost every country in the world where the Weinsteins or Disney aren't involved, it opened at number one. That is the irony."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on June 27, 2006, 02:43:43 PM
Terry Gilliam Talks "Good Omens" 
Source: Teletext

Terry Gilliam is trying to get his next project "Good Omens" off the ground, based on a Terry Pratchett novel. Gilliam told UK news service Teletext: "I have struggled to find big projects that inspire me, but this book has. It's very funny, about the anti-Christ and devils and angels, it's very funny and inspiring. I have tried to find a small project like Tideland that I could do but I haven't found one."

He also claims he has given up going to the cinema as he finds it so dull: "I find it so dispiriting these days, maybe because I'm getting older. Films don't seem to surprise me any more, they don't leave pieces of shrapnel in me like they used to. The last one to do that was probably Crash, which kept playing with my prejudices."

Finally, when asked about his new film "Tideland" he joking talked about one long-time co-worker who wasn't a fan - Monty Python star Michael Palin - "Michael didn't speak to me after the screening, then rang the next day to say he really didn't like it at all. I like that reaction, I want to spark a debate".
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Reinhold on June 27, 2006, 07:07:01 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on June 27, 2006, 02:43:43 PM
Terry Gilliam Talks "Good Omens" 

  :shock: :crazyeyes: :-D :bravo: !!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: polkablues on June 27, 2006, 07:20:45 PM
QuoteTerry Gilliam Likes "Crash"

:yabbse-undecided: :yabbse-lipsrsealed: :yabbse-cry: :yabbse-tongue: ?!!?!??!?!
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on July 13, 2006, 03:52:58 PM
Oh No! Johnny Depp No Longer Willing, Able And Available For Long Awaited Terry Gilliam Film

Gilliam is hopping soapbox to soapbox, mouth at full throttle now that Tideland is finally getting released. In recent interviews he's mentioned that his movie of Good Omens is very much moving forward again, with Stephen Evans (The Madness of King George, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Wings of the Dove) now producing.

The production is pencilled in for this Winter, and that actually seems pretty likely, but as Johnny Depp won't be available until next summer, he's now off the project. In fact, Gilliam has noted that his entire range of first and second choice actors for the main roles are signed up to other projects, which probably means no Robin Williams and could even mean no Jonathan Pryce.

It could also mean that a lot of currently unsuspecting thesps are about to get offered the role of their careers. Crowley and Aziraphale are parts to kill for.

Good Omens will be an adaptation of the genuinely laugh-out-loud Apocalypse scomedy by Terry Pratchett and (more to the point?) Neil Gaiman. If you haven't read it, go support your local library.

Of course, there is a growing hope that Gilliam will get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote into production again, a film that, as this same round of interviews has confirmed, he is still determined to make with Depp, and that Depp, thankfully, is still determined to make with him.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: gob on July 13, 2006, 03:59:24 PM
I'm just about to watch Lost in La Mancha again, I remember it being good when I first watched it and shaking a fist to the sky every time some new fuck up came along to stop the production. I remember most of all yearning for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to actually get made.

Tis a shame that Depp can't do Good Omens as any Gilliam and Depp collaboration is worthwhile.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Sunrise on July 13, 2006, 05:02:35 PM
Quote from: gob on July 13, 2006, 03:59:24 PM. . . any Gilliam and Depp collaboration is worthwhile.

Tis the understatement of the year.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on August 26, 2006, 11:31:22 AM
ATTN: NYC

TERRY GILLIAM IN PERSON!

Terry Gilliam in person at Time Bandits on October 3 at 7:30!

http://filmforum.org/
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: grand theft sparrow on August 26, 2006, 09:40:39 PM
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!   :multi: :multi: :multi: :multi: :multi: :multi:
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: modage on September 05, 2006, 10:46:56 PM
or if you'd prefer to see tideland instead...

Tideland
Preview screening with Terry Gilliam in person
Monday, October 2, 7:30 p.m.

2005, 122 mins., 35mm. Directed by Terry Gilliam. With Jodelle Ferland, Jeff Bridges. Terry Gilliam's boldest film to date, set in a barren rural landscape, is a shocking and beautifully photographed low-budget adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel. The film takes us inside the mind of an eleven-year-old girl who develops a fantasy life to escape the abuse of her junkie father. Gilliam will participate in a Pinewood Dialogue following the screening. Tickets: $22 public/$16 Museum members.  https://shop.movingimage.us/shop/catlist.php?cPath=57
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Pozer on September 06, 2006, 11:53:21 AM
2005?  when the hell is this movie really coming out?!
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on October 04, 2006, 06:56:22 PM
Quixote Resurrected
Gilliam, Depp plot return to La Mancha.

Director Terry Gilliam is beloved by genre fans for films like Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Time Bandits, but his pictures are often - and famously - plagued by production troubles. Never was that more true than with his doomed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, the film that notoriously never came to be but the troubled and incomplete production of which was portrayed in the popular 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha. Now, however, Gilliam says that he is on the verge of resurrecting the long thought dead project.

"We're in the final stages of getting the rights to Quixote back," the director told IGN earlier today. "I mean, I've been hearing this for the past six months, and I'm getting a bit impatient. But when we get that back, that would be the thing I would just dive in [on]. First thing I would do is make one phone call: 'Johnny, when are you available?' And that would dictate when I do it."

The Johnny in question is, of course, Johnny Depp, the planned star of the first version of Quixote. Gilliam says that the actor is still onboard the film. "He's on, he's on," the director said, before adding with a laugh, "He's the man... I hope he's still my best friend!"

As for how much of the original version of Quixote can be used for this new production, the helmer believes that there's little chance of actual footage being recycled from that shoot.

"We have to start anew," Gilliam confirmed. "We have to throw it all away. We do have things like costumes stored away. There's some work that's been done, but everything we shot is gone. It's such a dangerous thing, because the documentary was so good and people have got so many images in their own head of what the film will be like. Their imagination may be better than what I produce, so who knows."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: grand theft sparrow on October 05, 2006, 02:32:42 PM
Does anyone know what movie he screened at the IFC Center last night?
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: meatwad on October 05, 2006, 09:52:08 PM
Terry Gilliam Visits the Daily Show

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fccinsider.comedycentral.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Fgilliam_030.jpg&hash=659e0b9d6061af245ad71e65c8311cf03d4c51e7)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fccinsider.comedycentral.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Fterrycrowd.jpg&hash=574607462ddb3f6791dd276042df5154e1fb4e76)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fccinsider.comedycentral.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Fgilliam_007.jpg&hash=3f2eff895b1545c8b4fb1438944e47d74cfa7728)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fccinsider.comedycentral.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Fgilliam_031.jpg&hash=0ae5babd27283a12b90e70e6e1fcdaaaf3c5b117)

the rest of the pictures, with the whole story, here http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2006/10/terry_gilliam_v.html
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on October 10, 2006, 07:11:45 AM
Terry Gilliam: "Will Direct for Food"
Source: ComingSoon

"From a very early age, whenever somebody says 'this is what the world is' I say 'wait a minute, what about this!' It's always trying to rediscover or redefine or shake people up in their idea of the world. I was brought up a nice Christian boy, I was gonna be a missionary, went to university on a Presbyterian scholarship, but I was always making jokes about God, Jesus, the community. People were taking offense at this and I was like 'what kind of God do you believe in that can't take a joke?'"- Terry Gilliam

On the corner of 11th Avenue and 51st Street in New York, a line of people stands waiting to see a taping of "The Daily Show with John Stewart" when from around a corner a panhandler appears. The beggar is a man in his 60s with a ponytail and baggy clothes, carrying a cardboard sign reading "STUDIO-LESS FILM MAKER - FAMILY TO SUPPORT - WILL DIRECT FOR FOOD". The man is Terry Gilliam, Monty Python alum and director of such classics as Time Bandits, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and he is on a mission: to promote his new movie Tideland.

This being the age of the internet, word got out on the web about Gilliam's gonzo stunt the night before and thus a throng of loyal fans were waiting to greet the director and gladly put dollar bills into his plastic cup. "This is more lucrative than making movies!" he declared of the growing wad of cash, followed by his trademark giggle. An out of breath Carmiel Banasky was happy to get a Tideland postcard from the director, who autographed the back listing the film's October 13th release date. "I ran all the way from Central Park just to shake hands with Terry Gilliam," said Banasky, who added "The way I romanticize New York is how it is in 'The Fisher King'."

Another fan named Noah presented Gilliam with a small portrait he drew of the filmmaker and former animator looking like Rambo, a strip of film tied around his head for a bandana, undoubtedly a comment on his maverick reputation. Noah saw the panhandling as a perfectly Gilliam-esque stunt. "It's great, it brings a lot of attention. Everyone's waiting in line so they're kind of a captive audience for him."

When a dozen or so of his followers posed for a picture with their hero, he turned the cardboard sign around to reveal a poster for Tideland, a little girl sitting on and upside-down tree. The striking image perfectly encapsulates the film, and his street-promotion tactics exemplify how difficult it has been making it to American screens. Since premiering at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, the movie has deeply polarized audiences and critics who find it either revelatory or profoundly unpleasant. Unable to secure a major US distributor, boutique company THINKFilm is now releasing the movie in limited engagements over the next month. Of course, given the disastrous fate that befell his Don Quixote film, documented in the famous post-mortem documentary Lost in La Mancha, it's a minor miracle that Tideland exists at all.

Based on a cult novel by author Mitch Cullen, Tideland tells the story of 9-year-old Jeliza Rose (Jodelle Ferland) living with her two junkie parents, who she routinely prepares heroin injections for. After her mother, a grotesque Jennifer Tilly, dies of a methadone overdose, her musician father Noel (Jeff Bridges) takes Jeliza to the now-abandoned farmhouse where he grew up. When Noel also ODs, Jeliza escapes the bleak reality of her abandonment by exploring the vast surrounding prairies with four detached doll heads who talk to her. Along the way she meets a deranged taxidermist named Dell (Janet McTeer) and her retarded brother Dickens (Brendan Fletcher), who thinks he's a submarine commander.

Earlier in the day, Gilliam sat down in the THINKFilm offices to discuss how the film came to be and how the cardboard sign reading "STUDIO-LESS FILMMAKER", while a joke, is not entirely inaccurate. "There was the book sitting on a pile of things, submissions. I read it and thought 'f**k, this is great, this'll wake up a few people.'" One of the people the book woke up was producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor), who managed to secure Tideland's modest $12 million dollar budget through several independent companies in Canada, where the film was ultimately shot.

Said Gilliam, "We had a very short prep period, the shortest I've ever had. The joy was I had to make instant decisions. I couldn't double think, which I always do. Things just started falling into place. Dickens, Brendan Fletcher, is the first time I've ever cast somebody without meeting them in the flesh. He sent this tape in that he and his girlfriend had done. 'Jesus this guy's good!' I said 'he's got it', again because of this time thing. I couldn't piss around. I said 'great, move on.' I wish I could force myself to do this more often cause I really like working that way.

"The most terrifying thing was Jodelle because we were in pre-production and I still hadn't found her. I was right at the edge of telling Jeremy Thomas 'I know we've spent a bit of money but we have to pull the plug' 'cause the girls I'd seen up to this point just weren't up to it. Then this tape came in from Vancouver and there was this little creature with these amazing eyes and this incredible energy. I thought 'hello'. Brought her to Toronto and did a little test and said 'you got it'."

Jodelle Ferland's role of Jeliza would be daunting for any actress, since she is in every scene and has to carry the majority of the film by herself, essentially playing within her own headspace and often doing multiple voices. When she's not by herself, Jeliza is forging a playful if unsettling friendship with the twenty-ish Dickens, leading to a scene where the two kiss that has caused many audience members to walk out. "I don't know where they're gonna start leaving, but I know a lot of people will not connect to this film, they refuse to allow themselves to connect to this film, that's the problem. You have to submit!

"Shooting it I knew what we were doing was completely innocent and it had to stay that way. There's even a scene later on where she's in his bedroom. In the book, he's sort of getting on top of her, his hand going up her thigh and I said 'we can't do that'. It's a really fine line we're treading here and if we go over it we're completely f**ked. I know audiences are gonna be squirming because adults come with all their pre-conceptions and fears, but at the end of that scene c'mon folks, nothing happened. But then they'll probably be more terrified. 'If he's done that for openers what's he gonna do next!' (laughter)"

As for what Gilliam's next film will be, things are a bit dubious at the moment. Aside from "the big white elephant in the room", his abandoned film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote which is still set to star Johnny Depp as soon as the rights to the script are out of litigation, he has his sights set on The Defective Detective, a project he's been developing with "Fisher King" scribe Richard LaGravenese for over a decade. The film, at one point to star Nicolas Cage before he left to make Snake Eyes, revolves around a burnt-out NY cop who enters the elaborate fantasy world of a children's book in order to find a missing girl. Featuring many elaborate set-pieces, including a never-ending traffic jam in which people have taken up residence in their cars as well as a battle between good and corporate evil, the film is seen as a risky proposition in need of a major star. However, according to Gilliam a new tactic could get it off the ground yet.

"Shekhar Kapur (director of 'Elizabeth') started a comic book company in India, and Richard Branson of Virgin is putting money into it. Shekhar's trying to get me and John Woo to take any of the scripts that aren't going anywhere and make comic books out of them. Then we'll get Hollywood excited and Hollywood will then want to make a movie out of the comic book. Somebody suggested to me that I do 'Defective Detective' as a comic book or even an animated film, and maybe that's what should happen. It's just sitting there and it's not going anywhere."

Another commercial project that has languished in development hell is Good Omens, based on the popular novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. A satiric fantasy in the vein of Douglas Adams, the story of a bookish angel and a wild demon who band together to save the earth from the Anti-Christ does to the Bible what "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" did to science fiction. Gilliam tried to get the film off the ground in 2001 with Robin Williams and a pre-Pirates Johnny Depp, but studios weren't anxious for an apocalyptic comedy in the wake of 9/11. Now the problem is finding another set of bankable stars who can fit the roles and a studio willing to roll the dice on the director's quirky visions.

"It's costly, that's the problem. What worries me now is the atmosphere out there is so frightened and timid and when you're doing expensive films they seem to be wanting very safe expensive films. This is just a wonderful book, and I think our script is good too. I want to do my own things. 'Good Omens' and 'Defective Detective' are wondrous and I can't seem to get them moving. I'm actually trying to find the producer of my dreams who has great power and likes what I do and will help me! I've never stayed with one producer, I'm kind of all over the place with producers, which is a bad thing because I never built up the kind of Brian Grazer-Ron Howard relationship.

"I wish I could do a few more films before I kick the bucket. We'll see. (laughter)"

In the end, Gilliam's New York panhandling career lasted a bit over an hour, in which time over 100 people came by to greet him. The highly approachable director chatted with all of them, even taking time to talk to one girl's boyfriend on a cell phone for 5 minutes. If the film he's made can generate the kind of interest he aroused today through the sheer force of his personality, then Tideland could one day have a devoted fanbase of its own. As the crowd began to scatter and the sun began to set, a passing soccer player pointed out the figure with the cardboard sign to a friend. "Terry Gilliam, good director... if that's really him."

Tideland opens for an exclusive engagement October 13th at the IFC Center in New York City, then October 20th in Los Angeles and Chicago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilliam Hopes For Good Omens

Director Terry Gilliam told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't yet have a project lined up to follow his latest film, Tideland, but that he's still hoping to direct a big-screen version of the fantasy novel Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. "I've been working on it for quite a while, but it's a big budget," Gilliam said in an interview. "I was doing this before The Brothers Grimm, before Tideland, but it needs A-list stars to work—to get the money is what I mean—and none of the A-list stars are right for the part. That's what's frustrating."

Good Omens is a satirical book that deals with the appearance of the son of Satan heralding the End Times and the efforts of an angel and a demon to thwart them to preserve their comfortable positions on Earth.

"It's an angel and devil and the Antichrist and the Apocalypse," Gilliam (Brazil) said. "It's a comedy. Neil and Terry wrote it together years ago, and we've adapted it, and it's really good. It's fantastic. Here's my beef with Hollywood. Before The Brothers Grimm, we went out to Hollywood to get [Good Omens] made. We had raised $45 million from the rest of the world, and we needed $15 [million] out of Hollywood. I had two actors, Johnny Depp and Robin Williams. I couldn't get $15 million out of Hollywood with those two people. They said, 'Johnny, nah, he does those European art movies, Chocolat, The Man Who Cried, Robin. His career is finished.' And now there's Pirates of the Caribbean. The world turns just like that. I'm waiting to see the [new] Barry Levinson film [Man of the Year] with Robin. I'm told it's really sharp. I hope it works, because Robin's brilliant; he's just made some bad choices, that's all. ... I can't stand that place [Hollywood] because of that. I need their money, though."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on October 30, 2006, 08:43:34 PM
Gilliam and Gorillaz?
Source: JoBlo 

Brendon Connelly of film ick has pointed out on his site an interview article from Uncut magazine in which Damon Albarn, co-creator of virtual band The Gorillaz, unfortunately suggested that fans of the group may not see any more albums from them before fortunately dropping a possibly redeeming tasty little nugget: "[It's] been a fantastic journey which isn't over because we're making a film. We've got Terry Gilliam involved." Gilliam has apparently been speaking as of late of some sort of "quickie" project and this Gorillaz movie could very well be what he's been referring to. Of course, to what capacity Gilliam is actually involved in the project and, come to think of it, what kind of movie this will be remain unclear. At any rate, it all sounds very cool. Head HERE (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3432/1822/1600/uncut_page.jpg) to check out the magazine page in which Albarn discusses the film.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on April 24, 2007, 09:20:00 PM
Loving it down the rabbit hole
Whatever you think of them, Terry Gilliam's films are rarely mediocre, writes Garry Maddox.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

MICHAEL PALIN makes travel documentaries and Eric Idle created the hit musical Spamalot. But Terry Gilliam believes that his former Monty Python colleagues have not been creative enough since they went their separate ways.

"As a member of that group, I just thought there was such an extraordinary amount of talent there, in particular John Cleese," says the visionary filmmaker behind Brazil, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys and Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas.

"When you think of Fawlty Towers and how utterly brilliant that was, then what has John done subsequently? Very little. He did A Fish Called Wanda, which was brilliant. Then he just got into a lifestyle where he doesn't really like making films. A great creative voice has not been heard."

Gilliam, talking from London while a cappucino machine froths loudly in the background, is saddened that so many creative talents lack the thick skin necessary for survival in the film business.

"Mediocrity tends to be the voice you hear more than not," he says.

Gilliam's films are many things - imaginative, inventive, visually intense, and sometimes chaotic and bewildering - but they are rarely mediocre. The only American in the famous comedy troupe, he co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Meaning of Life before a wild filmmaking ride that has gained him a cult following.

Lately, Gilliam has been surprised by the success of Spamalot, a musical version of The Holy Grail.

"We all thought, 'What a stupid idea', and said, 'OK, Eric, go ahead'. But it's hugely popular. It keeps the Pythons alive in a surrogate way. And it helps to pay some of the electrical bills."

Gilliam's latest film, Tideland, is a modern reworking of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that centres on a young girl, Jeliza-Rose, who prepares fixes for her junkie parents. It features four severed dolls' heads that talk, a one-eyed woman with a taste for taxidermy, and her simpleton brother who believes the wheat fields are being patrolled by a monster shark.

Tideland has not been treated kindly by US and British reviewers.

"You noticed," Gilliam says with a cackle. "What's been interesting is I go on the web and look at Rotten Tomatoes and see that 70 to 75 per cent of the critics don't like it. Then you read the public comments and it's just the opposite - 70 to 75 per cent of the public who write in like it. So I'm not sure who's out of touch."

Gilliam says all his films have had very mixed reactions.

"Too many reviewers like neat films. I like making films that are more like life and are complex."

The writer Mitch Cullin originally sent Gilliam a copy of his novel Tideland hoping for a quote for the cover. He did not expect a filmmaker he calls "this god" would want to adapt it.

"I loved the characters," says Gilliam. "I loved the situations. I thought: 'What is going on here?' I couldn't make sense of it. It really was like Alice in Wonderland. You head down a rabbit hole and you don't know what you're going to experience. And I loved the character of Jeliza-Rose. So I said: 'Let's make this; this looks like fun. This'll get a few people talking."'

Numerous reviewers have been troubled by the apparent sexualising of the relationship between Jeliza-Rose and the simpleton Dickens. Gilliam rejects these concerns, insisting Tideland looks at childhood in an unsentimental and unromantic way.

"It's totally innocent," he says. "What's interesting about it is all the reviews I read that use the word pedophile. I think, 'What are they talking about?' They're not talking about what's there on the screen. They're talking about how they've been brainwashed by the media."

Gilliam shot Tideland while editing the patchy The Brothers Grimm in 2005. They were his first films since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1998, though not for want of trying.

"There was that little episode with Don Quixote," he says. "That took up several years of my life."

The disastrous attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which ran into problems including a flash flood and an injury to a key actor, Johnny Depp, was chronicled in the documentary Lost in La Mancha. The legal fallout between the German insurers and the French production company was messy.

"I've spent the last five years trying to get the rights to the script back," Gilliam says. "We're very close to getting them and then we'll make the film again."

Depp would again play an advertising executive who travels back in time and is mistaken by Don Quixote for Sancho Panza.

"We can't make it without him and we can certainly make it a lot more easily now with him," Gilliam says. "It's quite extraordinary because at the time, Johnny meant nothing to the studios. Now they'll kill to have him there."

But first - finance permitting - comes The Imaginarium of, set in a travelling show which has an attraction that allows patrons to go inside a man's mind.

Dr Parnassus Gilliam says his wife is convinced he keeps making the same film. "They're all about imagination and reality and the battle between the two things. And I think that will always continue because I don't know what the answer is. I know you need both reality and you need imagination, and the balance is something I guess I've spent my life trying to work out. I don't think I'm capable of making just a realistic film. My ideas are hyper-realistic."

As his idiosyncratic output suggests, Gilliam is no fan of Hollywood's conservatism.

"The cost of marketing a film is so high now that they'd rather gamble on a $US150 million [$180 million] film that they can market well than four, say, $US40 million films. Because the gamble, if it pays off, goes gangbusters. If it doesn't, you lose your shirt. But you can lose your shirt more slowly and more painfully by doing smaller films.

"The people running the studios are not even film people any more. They just want success. They want security. So they play it safe all the time."

But Gilliam has a solution that would allow him to make everything in his fevered mind, including such long-planned films as The Defective Detective and Good Omens. "If I could keep Johnny Depp on the payroll then I could do all these films."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on January 04, 2008, 01:34:07 PM
Gilliam Says He Will Make Don Quixote
Exclusive: And Good Omens Too
Source: Empire

While chatting with the quite delightful Terry Gilliam recently, Empire asked about the fate of a couple of projects that have long been on his dance card. First of these was The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, his take on Cervantes' novel about the titular Quixote, a man who reads so many fantasy books that he becomes convinced he is a knight errant and sets of for adventure with his righthand man, Sancho Panza.

The film, starring Jean Rochefort as Quixote and Johnny Depp as a man who accidentally goes back in time and is mistaken for Panza, went before cameras but suffered such a disastrous shoot that it was abandoned and became the subject of the documentary Lost In La Mancha. Gilliam says the project should now get going again.

"[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 us. "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 anythying that's gonna stop it now. He's just gotta get all the paperwork done and then I call Mr Depp and see which pirate film he's still on".

Depp is (we hope) now done with the Pirates movies and could have a space in his schedule, since The Rum Diary and Shantaram both seem to be shelved due to the writers strike. Don Quixote's script is presumably ready to go, since it was shoot-ready before. One man who won't be back is Jean Rochefort. "Physically, he can't do it," says Gilliam. "It's a real tragedy, but he can't. His arse is broken".

So that's good news, aside from the broken arse. But in other good news, Gilliam says there's also a chance that he'll make Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's novel about an angel and demon coming together to prevent the apocalypse.

"I'm the only one who can make it, 'cos that's what Neil and Terry have said. I'm the only one", Gilliam insists. "And I thought with Neil, with Stardust and with Beowulf and there's another one – an animated film, a Henry Selick thing he's written [Coraline], I was thinking he's really hot now, so maybe there's a chance. I mean it's such a wonderful book. And I think our script is pretty good, too. We did quite a few changes. We weren't as respectful as we ought to have been. But Neil's happy with it!"

Both of these have the potential for awesomeness, so fingers crossed they both happen. Or even just one of them. We're not greedy.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on August 04, 2008, 03:54:21 PM
Pandora: Don Quixote rides again, says delighted Gilliam
Source: Independent.co.uk

Ever since Johnny Depp and Terry Gilliam were forced to abandon filming on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, eight years ago, fans have speculated about the project's recovery.

Last week they were given hope when rumours of a revival surfaced.

Now Gilliam tells me the resurrection could be closer than we think.

"As far as we're concerned, it's on," he confirms. "When Johnny's ready, we're ready. We're just talking about dates to film. Basically it all depends on his schedule but otherwise we're set. It will be next year some time, before next summer anyway."

Filming first began way back in 2000 but was blighted by an eerie sequence of accidents. Military fly-overs drowned out the dialogue, flash floods washed away the set, and then one of the film's stars, the French actor Jean Rochefort, was taken ill, having to be airlifted to hospital after suffering a hernia. Insurers decided to pull the plug, making it one of the most costly – not to say notorious – cinematic projects of all time.

In spite of a recent legal decision to award Gilliam rights to the script, he has decided to start the project afresh.

"We're going to completely reshoot it," he says. "The intervening years have taught me that I can actually write a much better film. I'm so excited it's going to get done at last."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on January 19, 2009, 03:03:43 PM
Gilliam Back To Work On Don Quixote
Exclusive: new script underway
Source: Empire Online

As Empire's old man used to say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Evidently it was the kind of cheesy maxim bandied about in the Gilliam household too, because, fresh from wrapping Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam has started work on a new script for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a reprise of his ill-fated 2000 production.

Now, as anyone who's seen Lost In La Mancha will testify, Gilliam's original attempt to film Cervantes' novel spiralled into 'the movie that didn't want to get made', with flash floods, injuries to key cast-members and the Spanish Air Force all intervening to end the shoot after just five days.

Much legal wrangling with the insurers ensued, before rights to the script were eventually ceded back to Gilliam and writing partner Tony Grisoni (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas). "Tony and I have started rewriting Don Quixote just this last week. [We] finally got the script back. I re-read the greatest script ever written and realise we gotta get rewriting! I really wanna knock that one out in the next month or so."

Gilliam was vaguer on details, saying only that he had "some very different ideas" for the movie, but he has not lost any of his enthusiasm for the lance-wielding Spaniard. "[I'm] starting to think I was lucky, because maybe the film will be better seven years later. It will have matured a bit longer."

Shooting on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is likely to begin later this year. Hopefully it won't end shortly afterwards with the on-set appearance of a locust plague and a 100-foot Marshmallow Man.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on February 05, 2009, 11:38:40 AM
Gilliam Preps Zero Theorem
Former Python set to direct Billy Bob Thornton.
by Chris Tilly, IGN UK

While we all patiently await the release of his The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam has announced plans for his next film, which is set to shoot as soon as May.

Zero Theorem will revolve around a reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst who is hard at work on a project designed to discover the meaning of life, according to Screen Daily.

Billy Bob Thornton is apparently starring, while Richard and Dean Zanuck are producing.

Gilliam is still in post-production on The Imaginarium, which stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell and the late Heath Ledger.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on May 14, 2009, 02:21:02 PM
Gilliam gives 'Quixote' another try
Director revives passion project
Source: Variety

Terry Gilliam is getting lost in La Mancha all over again.

The director is reviving his passion project "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" nearly a decade after his first attempt was derailed.

Gilliam's first stab at adapting Miguel de Cervantes' classic 17th century romantic tale was blighted by everything from freakish bad weather, which destroyed the sets, to lead actor Jean Rochefort's chronic back problems.

That experience was memorably captured in Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's 2002 doc "Lost in La Mancha."

Now Gilliam is teaming up with Brit producer Jeremy Thomas to bring his long-cherished project to the bigscreen. Thomas' Recorded Picture Co. will produce after successfully obtaining the rights following lengthy negotiations.

Hanway Films will handle international sales.

Gilliam and screenwriter Tony Grisoni, who also wrote the first version, have rewritten and updated the script. The new film will revolve around a filmmaker who is charmed into joining Don Quixote's eternal quest for his ladylove, becoming an unwitting Sancho Panza.

"I'm not so much a filmmaker as someone who gets possessed by an idea and it doesn't leave me until I make the film," Gilliam told Variety. "I commit myself to it so fully."

Gilliam is also in talks with Johnny Depp, who had been set to star in the first ill-fated attempt as a modern-day ad exec who travels back in time and is mistaken for Sancho Panza by Don Quixote. Scheduling concerns are seen as the biggest obstacle to Depp's participation this time.

Depp also stars in Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which preems in Cannes May 22. Depp, along with Colin Farrell and Jude Law, stepped in to save Gilliam's fantasy pic after lead actor Heath Ledger's death during pic's production.

Gilliam is hoping to start shooting "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" next spring. The main role of Don Quixote has yet to be cast.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: SiliasRuby on May 19, 2009, 11:21:25 PM
Make it happen Terry. So we can stop reporting about the film.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on July 02, 2009, 12:19:22 AM
Terry Gilliam May Do 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' Without Johnny Depp, Pass On 'Zero Theorem' Completely
Source: MTV

Terry Gilliam still wants to return to his long-suffering dream project "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," but he appears to have accepted that the show will have to go on without former leading man Johnny Depp. The man who almost directed "Watchmen" will finally release his delayed film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (starring Heath Ledger) in October and plans to then turn his attention back to "Quixote," even if that means abandoning his other film "The Zero Theorem."

"I'm about to sit down this evening with Tony Grisoni and see if all the bits we've been doing in this last couple of weeks are enough to keep us happy and say that's it," Gilliam told his online fanzine Dreams. "Basically, we are pretty much there on the script and then Jeremy Thomas and I have been moving ahead on different deals."

The "Brazil" director acknowledged that shooting would begin on "Quixote" in 2010, as soon a cast can be assembled. Gilliam also explained that he had "pulled the plug" on his sci-fi flick "The Zero Theorem," which he didn't believe would be viable. And though he still hopes Depp will become available for the title role in "Quixote," Gilliam admitted that he would like have to move long without the "Public Enemies" star.

"Neither Jeremy nor myself feel we can wait until Johnny's available," he said. "Nevertheless, he gets first choice, and we'll see if anything changes on his dance card."

Depp was originally on board before a funding fiasco with Gilliam's insurance company derailed the film. Now, with an overflowing slate of new projects, including "Pirates of the Caribbean 4″ and "Dark Shadows," even his strong ties to Gilliam probably won't be enough to part the shooting dates on his calendar and bring him back in time. Anything is possible until the cameras start rolling though, and no one knows that better than Gilliam.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Gold Trumpet on December 03, 2009, 10:28:21 AM
OK, this would be amazing if it happened....

Robert Duvall as Don Quixote?
Source:Cinematical
by Monika Bartyzel
Dec 3rd 2009 // 9:03AM




At the beginning of the year, we heard what many thought was impossible: Terry Gilliam was able to get the rights back to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and he was going to do some rewrites and get the project back on track. Some Quixote nibbles hit here or there, but there wasn't a lot of buzz even with Gilliam back at the reigns.

But at least we now know who will (we hope!) star. While talking to Robert Duvall about Crazy Heart, Collider learned that the actor is set to play Don Quixote de la Mancha. Don't believe it? It's on video, with Duvall saying that it would be "totally amazing to work with Terry Gilliam. But, once again, the money. It's so difficult to get the money. He saw me play a Cuban barber one time with Richard Harris and that's what gave him the idea to cast me as Don Quixote."

It would be Gilliam's luck -- just as the steam picks up, the coffers recoil in the cinematic world, leaving little chance for an epic and plagued project. Someone cough up some dough for Terry already, okay? I'm sure that I'm not the only one who would love to see Duvall dig into the project. Blockbusters and sure bets are good and all, but Hollywood is only as great as the films it dares to make against
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on April 15, 2010, 12:50:47 PM
Terry Gilliam To Make Opera Debut In London, 'Man Who Killed Don Quixote' To Shoot This Summer?
Source: The Playlist

Terry Gilliam is set to cause a real stir in making his opera debut with Berlioz's "The Damnation of Faust" at the English National Opera in London next year, as is Mike Figgis ("Internal Affairs," "Timecode") who's going to be directing the rarely-performed "Lucrezia Borgia" by Donizetti

Berlioz's opera centers on the titular Faust as he sells his soul to Mephistopheles, so there's a direct parallel with Gilliam's 2009 effort "Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus" which saw Tom Waits playing a Satanic figure named Dr. Nick. Gilliam clearly has pacts with the devil on his mind — but then again, making a film for the Weinstein Brothers will do that to you.

Gilliam's films have always had an operatic quality to them, and we'd expect some opulent visuals in the production which opens on May 6th next year, and will run for ten performances. Acclaimed theater designers Hildegard Bechler and Katrina Lindsay will be collaborating with Gilliam.

Interestingly, ENA artistic director John Berry also adds that the pre-production on Gilliam's play is going to be "a long process [as] he is making a film in the summer." This seemingly confirms a number of reports in the Spanish media a few weeks ago which had noted Gilliam's interest in shooting "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" later this summer.

The director visited the country in March with newly-found producing company Kanzaman Madrid working out deals and scouting locations with lensing to reportedly take place in the streets, squares and monuments of Valencia for four weeks starting in August before moving to the Alcázar of Segovia and its gardens in September. Other locations set to house Gilliam's production include the Ciudad de la Luz film studios in Alicante and Toledo.

Production on 'Don Quixote' has been a long time coming for Gilliam after the previous attempts tragically and famously fell apart, as documented in "Lost In La Mancha." This time around, Gilliam has Robert Duvall attached to play the titular role of Quixote previously held by Jean Rochefort with no actor has been announced for the lead role. Gilliam has previously hinted that he knows who the actor will be, wouldn't reveal his identity, but said he would not be an "A-lister" nor Johnny Depp, who played the lead role in the aforementioned disastrous first attempt at 'Quixote' which never got off the ground.

In the last few years, opera directing seems to have become the hobby of choice for many film directors; the likes of Baz Luhrmann, Abbas Kiarostami, William Friedkin, David Cronenberg, Woody Allen and the late Anthony Minghella have all directed work in recent years, joining the likes of Sergei Eisenstein, Luschino Visconti, Roman Polanski, Franco Zeffirelli, and John Schlesinger in embracing the form.

Figgis' production, which opens earlier, in January, focuses on a member of the infamous Borgia family, who ruled Venice in the 15th and 16th centuries. Figgis has frequently combined theater, music and film together, and we've heard rumors that his production will contain some kind of filmed element to it. He'll be working with another top theater designer, Es Devlin, who also designed a recent tour by Kanye West.

While we've been disappointed in most of the recent work by both filmmakers, we're excited about this; Gilliam's films have always had an operatic quality to them, and we'd expect some opulent visuals to the production, while we imagine that Figgis will come up with something that'll be a polar opposite, but should prove equally interesting. Booking for the season opens later in the year.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on April 26, 2010, 05:34:53 PM
EXCLUSIVE: Robert Duvall on What's Holding Up Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote Now
Source: Movieline

Robert Duvall visited New York today for the Tribeca premiere of his drama Get Low, and Movieline sat down for a few minutes to talk about the Oscar-winner's typically superb work opposite Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black. (The film opens July 30 in limited release.) But Duvall also has an eye on the future — or specifically, a long-accursed Terry Gilliam project that he previously confirmed he'd take on when (or if) the director can pull it together. Perhaps not surprisingly, Duvall explained today, that could take a while.

I read you're attached to Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote film. Are you actually doing that?
Money! Once again. He saw me do a thing — if he'd never seen it, he'd never have approached me. He really liked this, too, but I did a movie a while back with Richard Harris (Wrestling Ernest Hemingway) where I played a Cuban barber. And they accepted what I did in Cuba. I worked really hard on it — the accent. And he saw it and said, "I want you to play Don Quixote." Or a guy from a village whom they make Don Quixote for a commercial. He's really a shoemaker. He's an interesting guy, this guy. He came to my farm in Virginia. He's a wacko, but...

Gilliam?
Yeah. He's an interesting guy.

Indeed. Did you know about the cursed nature of the project?
Yes, I saw the documentary [Lost in La Mancha]. And I guess the French actor had learned English for a year and could ride a horse. But it was a different story. This is a guy who was going to become like Don Quixote. And in the end he goes back to shoemaking. It's really a wonderful concept. But he has to get his Sancho Panza. I'm theoretically playing a Latin guy; he needs someone from England. He needs... a name, really. So they're still scratching to get the money, which is a lot more than it was before.

Wow. So Gilliam comes to your farm...
He came to my farm. He's a character; he doesn't like... You know, he doesn't live in America! But he came to my farm in Virginia, and it's beautiful. It's like the English countryside, I guess. He lives in England. And we talked; he'd seen me play the Cuban guy, and he wanted me to play Don Quixote. On the horse and everything. But it's a different take on the guy: He really begins to believe he's Don Quixote, even though he's a shoemaker. I don't even understand the script, totally, because he's just so out there, Gilliam. You know, with dwarfs on the ground and everything. I told him, "You can't have too many dwarfs!" [Laughs] But it was nice. We spent half an afternoon talking, and then he went on. He said, "I'm going to go find my Sancho Panza to play the other guy."

Did you have any recommendations?
For that part? Well, it'd be great if was someone like Danny DeVito — but a younger guy. He's been through quite a few people. The Irish guy who was in Crazy Heart turned him down, which kind of bugged him.

Colin Farrell?
Colin Farrell. But they need a name. He's going after two people now, but he doesn't want to say who they are until after he gets them. But it's been six months he's been after people. And it's a bigger budget than his others. And he doesn't stick to a budget, they say. He goes on and on. And he's got locations picked out in Spain. So it'll be very exciting. And when the time comes — and I know for sure — then I'll start riding horseback every day. In order to look like you're riding poorly, you've gotta ride pretty well as a base. Which I can do, but I don't ride much anymore. I broke six ribs before one Western, and the next one I did, I bought a horse a year in advance to get ready. But with this, I'll just have to take it in degrees, you know? And they've got to have a good stuntman; when I hit the ground rolling, he'll know how to do that. But you know, when the time comes... I can't really start preparing for it until it's greenlit. Until it's really greenlit.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Pozer on April 26, 2010, 10:02:38 PM
Quote from: Stefen on April 19, 2010, 01:14:01 AM
never going to be made
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Just Withnail on April 27, 2010, 01:35:52 PM
Duvall really does have a fantastic way of talking.

Quote from: Robert DuvallYou know, with dwarfs on the ground and everything.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on May 17, 2010, 06:28:42 PM
Gilliam's Don Quixote Bags Ewan McGregor
Excl: He'll star alongside Robert Duvall
Source: Empire Online

Good news! We bumped into the great Terry Gilliam last night at a party in Cannes for the Doha Film Institute, and he revealed to us exclusively that Ewan McGregor has joined the cast of his long-delayed film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

McGregor will take on the role that Johnny Depp had been set to play in the original, aborted version back in 2000. Depp had still been attached to the role for this version, but with Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 eating into his schedule, and a September start date looming for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam has clearly decided to go with McGregor instead.

McGregor will play, if the current version remains faithful to the original attempt, a 21st century advertising executive who travels back in time to 17th century Spain, where he meets Don Quixote and becomes involved in adventures with him. Robert Duvall has been on board the revamped film, as Quixote, for some time, replacing Jean Rochefort. But the addition of McGregor is brand new.

"Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question - and he can ride a horse!" laughed Gilliam. "And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost. There's a lot of colours to Ewan that he's not been showing recently and it's time for him to show them again. He's got a great sense of humour and he's a wonderful actor. He's wonderfully boyish and can be charming - when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb!"

Gilliam also revealed that the budget of the movie will be around the $20 million mark, a far cry from the $35 million he had to play with in 2000.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: polkablues on May 17, 2010, 07:20:01 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on May 17, 2010, 06:28:42 PM
"And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost."

Not to mention Fish, Moulin, and, of course, his breakthrough role in Trains.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on May 31, 2011, 04:54:02 PM
Watch: The Fellini-Esque Trailer For Terry Gilliam's Short Film 'The Wholly Family'
Source: The Playlist

While Terry Gilliam has struggled to get a new feature film mounted since 2009's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," that's hardly stopped the ever busy director. Last year he directed a webcast for Arcade Fire, and this year he launched his excellent stage show of "The Damnation Of Faust" and sandwiched in between, he shot the short film "The Wholly Family." The film is being sponsored by pasta company Garofalo as part of an annual series of films about Naples, and while details of what it's about have been kept under wraps, the project does have an original script by Gilliam and is not based off the Eve Merriam poem of the same name. The project stars Cristiana Capotondi, Douglas Dean, Nicolas Connolly and Sergio Solli and was shot on location in Italy but this just isn't some travelogue/pasta ad. A trailer for the film—which you can view below—quietly hit the web a couple of weeks ago and it looks like something conjured up Frederico Fellini. And if you're scared of clowns, this thing will give you nightmares. But it definitely looks very much in Gilliam's playful, fairy tale inspired vein. You can also check out a longer behind-the-scenes video over at the official website. No word on when the short will finally land—if you're in Italy you can watch it on the Garofalo website—but hopefully it will arrive soon. Anyway, check out the roughly Google translated synopsis and trailer below. A busy street in central Naples is full of shops selling nativity scenes. A wealthy American couple and a child of 10 years trying to make his way through the crowd. Husband and wife argue over which way to go. The Kid being dragged unwillingly. The child lags behind, attracted by the carved figures. Figure of Pulcinella ... sacred images, cribs, horns ... Little Jack stops at a stall, hooked on all these extraordinary figures. He touches recklessly and spitefully, behaving like a true rude brat. While husband and wife discuss animatedly realize that the child is no longer there. They began a desperate search blaming each other for the incident. But the baby is not ... So begins "The Wholly Family," a dreamlike journey between reality and imagination through the most hidden and symbols of a Naples that the director knows how to read and decode the most of its contradictions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA4sA4WHbrg
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on June 22, 2011, 09:44:52 AM
Terry Gilliam on 'Don Quixote': I Would Say "Fuck This, Except It's The Best Script I've Got"
Is Robert Duvall Out?
Source: Playlist

While recent years haven't been kind to filmmaker Terry Gilliam or his art, we love the dude (no, really) because he's a maverick and he's very outspoken. He has seen a lot of ups and downs since 2002's "Lost in La Mancha" which documented his heartbreaking attempt at getting his "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" film off the ground to disastrous results and it almost seems like that period marks a before and after stage in his work.

Gilliam's trajectory has been Sisyphean of late, but you must hand it to the man who just keeps plugging away and forging ahead. While, one quick perspective so far of his new short, "The Wholly Family" is unfortunately not very good, perhaps there's light at the end of the tunnel. Our review of his opera "The Damnation of Faust" was positively glowing. We called it a "return to form and then some." Not too shabby. Anyhow, a Persol "Magnificent Obsessions" exhibit was on display at New York's Center 548 this weekend and Vulture caught up with the always frank, always chatty and always magnificently obsessed Gilliam, who gave a small update on 'Don Quixote.' The quick take away: his dogged determination has not been eroded by the project's ongoing obstacles. As we all know, financing fell through on "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" last year even with Ewan McGregor and Robert Duvall set to star in the roles already inhabited by Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort.

"We had almost all of it together last year and then it fizzed out," Gilliam told the New York Magazine blog about what happened. "What's happening with money is there's a number that's the wrong number, and we're at that number —$25 million, that's just the wrong number. But it'll work out. We just keep looking at different places to shoot, checking out Argentina, see if that's less money. I don't think in the States. I think most of the money is going to come from elsewhere. They want to give people $200 million to make the same film. Or they give them $5 million to do something interesting." Will any of the actors stick around? He makes some comments that suggest Duvall's salary puts him out of range and he admits while he's wanted to toss his hands in the air and walk away from this film, there's a very good reason why he hasn't abandoned it. "Duvall is a great actor, but he's not there for that kind of money, so you're looking for other combinations," he said. "Strange enough, I'm actually quite tired of the whole thing. It's been going on for so long, there's a side of me that's like, 'Fuck this.' Except it's still the best script that I've got." What about other projects he's got like the "Defective Detective." Well, it could be made... if you have an extra tentpole budget lying around in your back pocket that you can lend him. "That's [a] great [project], if you've got $100 million," he laughed. "And we've been running around trying to resuscitate that little baby. And if I can't get the money for the $25 million thing, I can try for this, and people in Hollywood will say, "Can you do it for $50 [million]?" "Can you do it for $20 [million]?" And you realize, there are idiots out there. How many people in Hollywood just have no idea how films are made? What's involved in making a film? That's the one thing that always assuages me: No matter how dumb my thing, there's always one that's dumber." Love it. Well, considering everyone just assumes she's just throwing money away, paging Megan Ellison?
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on June 22, 2011, 01:01:22 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on June 22, 2011, 09:44:52 AMfinancing fell through on "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" last year even with Ewan McGregor and Robert Duvall set to star in the roles already inhabited by Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort.

He wants two actors playing each role?  No wonder the financing fell through.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on December 05, 2011, 02:50:12 PM
Terry Gilliam on 'Dark Knight,' 'Tintin' and 'Transformers'
Source: Los Angeles Times

We're still hearing a lot of response to our biggest article this week, "Terry Gilliam: The heir of Fellini and the enemy of God?," but the story isn't quite done yet.

Gilliam, the director of "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys," is a man of fiery opinions and during our two interviews (covering three hours and spread over two days) he lobbed a few Molotov cocktails in different directions. So, with quotes that didn't make it into that first article, we bring you the World According to Gilliam:

* On "Transformers: Dark of the Moon": "The latest 'Transformers' movie was on the plane coming over to Los Angeles. It's horrible and there's all these phallic things going on. I just couldn't even deal with it. C'mon, leave some room for me, as the audience. The audience is totally excluded, you just sit there and watch the explosions. I couldn't tell you what the movie was about. A lot of the audience is happy not to get involved. They've been working some [awful] job all day long and you just want to go out to a movie. That's fine, that's great. But I prefer something that catches you off guard and makes you think and feel and walk out different from when you came in...with 'Transformers,' with the building falling down and everything, there are great images but how can people slide down a crashing building without consequence, without physics? It's just numbing. The movie hammers the audience into submission. They are influenced by video games but in video games at least you are immersed, in these movies you're left out. And in the movies, humans are only there to fall and run around and, somehow, go through windows without getting cut to shreds."

* On Hollywood scores: "John Williams is a great musician but, wow, enough John. It isn't his choice, of course, it's the directors who allow him to take over a film and tell you exactly what you should be feeling every second of every minute of the film. I want people to come out with very different ideas of what the film is so they are real participants in the film as opposed to just paying observers. Most films now won't let you in."


* On "The Adventures of Tintin": "I don't want to pick on certain films but it's opened in Europe and I've seen it and it's also relentless. Unrelenting. Can you just slow down for a moment? There is no arc of the character for once, at least, it's just, 'Let's go, let's go, let's go, and now get ready for the sequel.' Technically, it's phenomenal. The chase scene is extraordinary but it's strange that everyone is excited that it's a single camera move but, um, it's an animated film!  Big deal. I read one article that said that they had to put several Tintin stories in there to pack it out. But actually you didn't. Just tell one and slow down a bit and let people breathe. I think there's an insecurity because it's not even a roller coaster anymore; because at least a roller coaster slows down at some point and has dips and tension."

* On Steven Spielberg and James Cameron: "I always wanted to do more with the camera when I was younger. When I first started seeing stuff that Spielberg was doing I remember thinking, 'God, how does he move the camera like that?' That's brilliant.' And even Jim Cameron, too, I was so envious of that stuff. I know I can't do it. I don't have the money to do it. And I don't actually quite have the skills. The closest I ever got was stealing the tracking shots from 'Paths of Glory' for 'Brazil.' All those tracking shots of Kirk Douglas in the trenches, that's where I got it from. Those were the most elaborate shots I ever did. My stuff is really old, classical [stuff]. There's a wide shot, a mid-shot and a close. [Instead] it's about using juxtaposition or you counter something and let the ironies float through. To me it's always been about the ideas. It's not the technical skill because I've been limited in that."      

* On digital effects: "They are a Damocles sword. Any of this stuff you use is just a tool but there's this rush now for photorealism and it bothers me. There's so much overt fantasy now that I don't watch a lot of the films because everything is possible now. There's no tension there. Where's the tension? Is it possible? Will you succeed? Will gravity take over? None of those things are part of the equation anymore. The denial of reality and consequence was fun when these movies began but now it's been 20 years of this stuff. I keep waiting for the public to get fed up with it but then I worry that now it's been here so long the audience is trained that this is what movies are meant to be."

* On Christopher Nolan and "The Dark Knight": "The car chase stuff in 'Dark Knight' is a video game; it is shot-for-shot, as you would get it in a video game like Grand Theft Auto. He's got a weird balance; he understands all of that – the energy of it – so he chooses to put it in there yet he's also a very intelligent filmmaker who can do all sorts of things. He's incredibly good. With 'Inception,' I wondered why all of the dreams were action movies. Don't people have other dreams? And what's interesting about the films are they are asexual. Maybe that's the problem. Women can represent danger in them but no one seems to be having sex in these movies. In society overall, we have all this porn, 24 hours a day, so everyone can [masturbate] but I wonder is anyone having real sex anymore? I ask myself these questions."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: MacGuffin on August 13, 2012, 03:18:52 PM
Toronto: Christoph Waltz Starring In Terry Gilliam's 'The Zero Theorem;' Voltage Selling
BY MIKE FLEMING | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Christoph Waltz has been set to star in The Zero Theorem, the next film to be directed by Terry Gilliam. Waltz will play Qohen Leth, an eccentric and reclusive computer genius plagued with existential angst who works on a mysterious project aimed at discovering the purpose of existence—or the lack thereof—once and for all.

It will be the next film for Waltz, who, after winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Inglourious Basterds, has been shooting Tarantino's follow up, Django Unchained.

Scripted by Pat Rushin, The Zero Theorem is set in a world that seems right in Gilliam's wheelhouse. Living in an Orwellian corporate world where "mancams" serve as the eyes of a shadowy figure known only as Management, Leth (Waltz) works on a solution to the strange theorem while living as a virtual cloistered monk in his home—the shattered interior of a fire-damaged chapel. His isolation and work are interrupted now and then by surprise visits from Bainsley, a flamboyantly lusty love interest who tempts him with "tantric biotelemetric interfacing" (virtual sex) and Bob. Latter is the rebellious whiz-kid teenage son of Management who, with a combination of insult-comedy and an evolving true friendship, spurs on Qohen's efforts at solving the theorem. But these visits turn out to be intentional diversions orchestrated by Management to keep control of Qohen's progress. Bob creates a virtual reality "inner-space" suit that will carry Qohen on an inward voyage, a close encounter with the hidden dimensions and truth of his own soul, wherein lie the answers both he and Management are seeking. The suit and supporting computer technology will perform an inventory of Qohen's soul, either proving or disproving the Zero Theorem.

The has already started pre-production in Romania, and the European production will start shooting at Mediapro Studios on October 22nd. Dean Zanuck (Road to Perdition, Get Low) is producing and Waltz will also co-produce. Dean Zanuck will see to fruition a project that was started by his late father, the iconic Richard Zanuck. Voltage Pictures will handle worldwide sales in Toronto. Waltz is repped by ICM Partners and Gilliam by London-based Jenne Casarotto.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on June 09, 2015, 02:23:26 PM
Terry Gilliam's Amazon Deal Is For U.S. Release Of 'Don Quixote' & Possibly A 'Defective Detective' Mini-Series
via The Playlist

Gilliam's about to celebrate the lovingly crafted Criterion Collection release of "The Fisher King" and during The Playlist's recent conversation with the idiosyncratic filmmaker about the Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges-starring classic, he revealed his future plans.

It's abundantly clear that Gilliam is still trying to mount his long-gestating production of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." "It's my madness!" Gilliam laughed about the project that he cannot let go and which won't let go of him. It's had several delays over the last year few years, but if all goes according to plan, the movie will shoot in early 2016 with Jack O'Connell ("Unbroken") and John Hurt ("Only Lovers Left Alive") as the two leads. Gilliam wouldn't comment about any other casting rumors or why the film has experienced so many false starts, but revealed 'Quixote' is part of his recently-signed Amazon Studios deal.

According to Gilliam, Amazon's approach will be a theatrical window and release followed by a streaming Amazon debut at home. "I'm intrigued by their way of doing it," the director said, noting streaming services were a fair extension of home video. "They go into the cinemas first and then a month or two afterwards they go into streaming. And I think that's good because you get a chance to see it on the big screen, and yet I know that more people have seen my films on DVD than they have in the cinemas and that's the reality of life now." Amazon Studios are partly funding the film as well and the filmmaker is heartened by the rise of streaming services like Amazon and Netflix, which are willing to take risks in order to compete in the marketplace with the existing studios.

"Amazon and the like are interesting because they are all still in their formative stages," he said. "They're not a bureaucracy that has been around for years like the studio system, and so they're full of people that are open to new and fresh ideas. So it's a good time to be working with people like that."

What else might Gilliam produce through his Amazon deal? "I've got a couple other things I'm playing with," he said. "A couple of old scripts that have been wallowing within the studio system; we've got them out, so we're going to stretch them out. So what was going to become a two and a half hour movie will now become a six-eight part TV series."

Might that be "Defective Detective," an old Gilliam screenplay co-authored with "Fisher King" screenwriter Richard LaGravenese that the filmmaker has said several times would benefit from a mini-series like expansion of the narrative? "It could well be!" Gilliam said with emphasis and long cackle that essentially confirms the news for anyone who's listened to his long form ideas for "Defective Detective" in recent years (in this Happy/Sad confused podcast from last year, Gilliam said transforming "Defective Detective" into a long form mini-series was his exact wish for the project).

Gilliam said the long-form mini-series methodology was a great new format to get him excited about old projects that have sat  dormant for several years. "Many of my films I've had to compress them more than I would have liked," he explained. "So things like 'Defective Detective' and 'Quixote,' they've all been sitting around for quite a long time and to me the trick is a way of invigorating me about them so they still have a life."
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on February 12, 2016, 04:32:18 PM
It's hilarious going through this thread seeing how many times the can has been kicked down the road

Quote from: MacGuffin / Oct 6, 2003 on October 06, 2003, 10:08:56 AM
Andrew Davis to Rescue Don Quixote?

Quote from: MacGuffin / Aug 11, 2005 on August 11, 2005, 10:57:56 PM
Gilliam Returning to La Mancha

Quote from: MacGuffin / Nov 9, 2005 on November 09, 2005, 08:33:59 PM
Terry Gilliam hopes to resume shooting Don Quixote

Quote from: MacGuffin / July 13, 2006 on July 13, 2006, 03:52:58 PM
Oh No! Johnny Depp No Longer Willing, Able And Available For Long Awaited Terry Gilliam Film

Quote from: MacGuffin / Oct 4, 2006 on October 04, 2006, 06:56:22 PM
Quixote Resurrected

Quote from: MacGuffin / Jan 4, 2008 on January 04, 2008, 01:34:07 PM
Gilliam Says He Will Make Don Quixote

Quote from: MacGuffin / Aug 4, 2008 on August 04, 2008, 03:54:21 PM
Pandora: Don Quixote rides again, says delighted Gilliam

Quote from: MacGuffin / Jan 19, 2009 on January 19, 2009, 03:03:43 PM
Gilliam Back To Work On Don Quixote

Quote from: MacGuffin / May 14, 2009 on May 14, 2009, 02:21:02 PM
Gilliam gives 'Quixote' another try

Quote from: MacGuffin / July 2, 2009 on July 02, 2009, 12:19:22 AM
Terry Gilliam May Do 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' Without Johnny Depp, Pass On 'Zero Theorem' Completely

Quote from: Gold Trumpet / Dec 3, 2009 on December 03, 2009, 10:28:21 AMRobert Duvall as Don Quixote?

Quote from: MacGuffin / April 15, 2010 on April 15, 2010, 12:50:47 PM
Terry Gilliam To Make Opera Debut In London, 'Man Who Killed Don Quixote' To Shoot This Summer?

Quote from: MacGuffin / April 26, 2010 on April 26, 2010, 05:34:53 PM
EXCLUSIVE: Robert Duvall on What's Holding Up Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote Now

Quote from: MacGuffin / May 17, 2010 on May 17, 2010, 06:28:42 PM
Gilliam's Don Quixote Bags Ewan McGregor

Quote from: MacGuffin / June 22, 2011 on June 22, 2011, 09:44:52 AM
Terry Gilliam on 'Don Quixote': I Would Say "Fuck This, Except It's The Best Script I've Got"

Quote from: wilder / June 9, 2015 on June 09, 2015, 02:23:26 PM
Terry Gilliam's Amazon Deal Is For U.S. Release Of 'Don Quixote' & Possibly A 'Defective Detective' Mini-Series


Terry Gilliam Now Says 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' Will Start Shooting In September
via The Playlist

You should know the long version of the story by now, but here's the short one: Terry Gilliam has been trying to make "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," but has been continually thwarted by disaster, delays, and other bumps in the road. But ever optimistic and hopeful, the director has been promising the picture will get made, though his various intended start dates tend to fall through. For example, last fall he said the picture, now backed by Amazon, would shoot in April. However, it looks like that won't be happening, and he now has a new start in mind.

Speaking with The List (https://film.list.co.uk/article/78529-interview-terry-gilliam-books-are-dangerous-you-get-trapped-in-them-and-then-you-have-to-somehow-get-them-out-of-your-system/) at an event celebrating the work of Cervantes in Edinburgh, Gilliam shared his next proposed timeframe for the 'Quixote.'

"I always believe I'm going to get it off the ground and we're going to be shooting in September. That's what I believe, the reality may be different," he stated.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on May 12, 2016, 02:32:56 PM
Adam Driver Joins Terry Gilliam's 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' & Steven Soderbergh's 'Logan Lucky'
via The Playlist

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. 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.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on June 04, 2017, 02:58:36 PM
Hallelujah: Terry Gilliam Has Wrapped Filming On 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'
via The Playlist

After years of tilting windmills, nearly killing himself and possibly making him go utterly mad in the process, filmmaker Terry Gilliam has finally wrapped production on his long, long, long in-the-works, elusive, holy grail project of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

"Sorry for the long silence. I've been busy packing the truck and am now heading home" he wrote on Facebook today. "After 17 years, we have completed the shoot of THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE. Muchas gracias to all the team and believers. QUIXOTE VIVE!"

"The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" stars Adam Driver as the main character Toby, Jonathan Pryce as Don Quixote himself and includes Olga Kurylenko and Stellan Skarsgård among many local actors from the shoot in Spain.

The once ill-fated 'Don Quixote' had been the albatross around Gilliam's neck for more than a decade. As his Facebook post notes, Gilliam had been trying to make the film for 17 years and the disastrous initial production starring Johnny Depp was painfully chronicled in the warts-and-all-documentary "Lost In La Mancha" in 2002.

Over the years several incarnations almost came to fruition that starred the likes of Robert Duvall, Ewan McGregor and John Hurt. Funding always seemed to collapse at the last minute and even this current version, funded by the cash-heavy Amazon studios, had its issues too. But finally, 'Quixote's shoot has finished and now Gilliam will go into post-production. The director, presumably, is in no rush and wants to get it right. Hopefully we'll see the picture sometime in 2018, but who knows.
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: jenkins on June 04, 2017, 09:02:38 PM
holy shit
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on February 21, 2018, 10:06:06 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/Q4xs0AP.jpg)
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: jenkins on February 21, 2018, 12:46:34 PM
lol all things are possible with Adam Driver
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: Sleepless on February 21, 2018, 01:23:28 PM
Quote from: jenkins on February 21, 2018, 12:46:34 PM
all things are possible with Adam Driver

Marquee it!
Title: Re: Terry Gilliam - Lost In La Mancha
Post by: wilder on October 17, 2019, 11:10:20 AM
'Lost In La Mancha' Follow-Up 'He Dreams Of Giants' Will Premiere At DOC NYC
via The Playlist

In 2002, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe released "Lost in La Mancha," a documentary covering director Terry Gilliam's failed attempt at adapting "Don Quixote" as a feature-length film at the beginning of the decade. For years, it seemed the "Lost in La Mancha" would be the closest Gilliam came to making a "Don Quixote" movie, but the right combination of events – and a bankable lead – would result in "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" in 2018. So what better way to celebrate Gilliam's decades-long quest than with another Fulton and Pepe documentary?

"He Dreams of Giants," the new film by the documentarian duo, will have its world premiere as part of the DOC NYC film festival on Sunday, November 10. When the film was first announced last year, the Fulton and Pepe described their follow-up as being less focused on the production details and more focused on the emotional state of Gilliam as director. "We began to think this is more a film about an internal struggle in an artist's mind," Fulton told Variety in 2018. "What is it like for an artist to be standing on the brink of actually finishing this project finally?"

In the original Variety interview, the two filmmakers also referenced a "mindscreen" approach they took to Gilliam's direction, focusing the camera on his reactions to the events around him. The article describes these shots as being core to the narrative that "He Dreams of Giants" constructs, and certainly reinforces the idea that this film is more emotional than its predecessor