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THE IMAGINARIUM OF TERRY GILLIAM
Source: CHUD
I have no good reason why I didn't post this when I glimpsed it on Film Ick the other day, but there's some serious news to report on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus -- notably that it's actually happening, or at least is in pre-production. Gilliam knows that's a slight stretch from a true go picture, but it's close enough for me.
Gilliam fan site Dreams has a solid breakdown of the film, with casting and plot summaries and a super-large version of the image above. My previous report that Tom Waits would be playing the title character isn't quite right -- that'll actually be the best old man in Hollywood, Christopher Plummer.
Waits is still on board, though, since someone has to engineer the train, dig the on-set graves and croon a work song while the grips row a canoe down the creek. He'll be playing Mr. Nick, the film's version of the Devil, from whom Dr. Parnassus won his immortality before trading endless life back for youth and love.
No word yet on who Heath Ledger will play, though his character is listed as 'Tony', presumably the guy who helps the good doctor win his latest bet with the devil, which (as shown the in synopsis below) is the film's primary plot.
I love this entire setup; it's pure Gilliam, but with more of an emotional hook than he's often got built into his projects. With Ledger having come into his own as an actor and Plummer as the (hopefully) unshakable senior foundation, this might be the director's first film I've really been dying to see since 12 Monkeys.
The synopsis below contains minor spoilers:
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day.
It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality.
Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls.
Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...
http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/parnprev.htm
Ledger, Plummer join Gilliam's 'Doctor'
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Former Monty Python man Terry Gilliam's next project behind the lens, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," has conjured a cast including Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits.
The project producing team of William Vince, Amy Gilliam and Paris-based producer and distributor Samuel Hadida said Wednesday that securing Gilliam behind the lens was key for the project billed as a fantasy adventure.
Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer will also star in the project scheduled to begin shooting in London in December before moving to Vancouver.
Hadida said: "In a time when so many films follow set formulas, Terry's imagination and visual gifts are priceless."
The movie details the story of Dr. Parnassus (Plummer) who has the gift of guiding the imaginations of others and has been dancing with the devil (Waits), who is about to come and collect on the arrangement.
Said Gilliam: "This fun and humorous story about the consequences of our personal choices in life will resonate worldwide."
Gilliam is collaborating with writing partner Charles McKeown on the script.
"Working with Samuel, Amy and William, I am supported in our shared belief and passion in making this special film, Gilliam said. "Embarking into the world of a modern fantasy adventure I can't think of a better team working together."
Los Angeles based Mandate International is handling sales at AFM.
Arsenal's John Ptak and Dave Valleau from Infinity brokered the deal between Vince, the Gilliams and Hadida.
'Parnassus' team faces dilemma
Ledger was key to pic's financing
Source: Variety
LONDON — The future of Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" has been thrown into question following the sudden death of its star Heath Ledger.
The $30 million indie pic wrapped the London leg of its shoot last Saturday. The production team has moved to Vancouver, Canada, where blue-screen work was due to start next week and continue until early March.
The producers have yet to issue any statement about how or whether they plan to proceed without Ledger.
Ledger was the biggest name in an ensemble cast including Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole and Tom Waits. It's the story of an ancient travelling show which arrives in modern London with a magical mirror that can transport its audience into fantastical realms of the imagination.
Plummer plays the impresario Doctor Parnassus, and Ledger took the role of a mysterious outsider who joins the troupe on a quest through parallel worlds to save the doctor's daughter (Cole) from the clutches of the devil (Waits).
The movie is produced by Samuel Hadida, Bill Vince and Amy Gilliam, and largely financed through Hadida's Paris-based Davis Film.
Ledger's involvement in the project was a key factor in raising the finance. He had a strong relationship with Gilliam from their last pic together, "Brothers Grimm."
In November 2000, Gilliam was forced to abandon his $32 million indie project "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" after just a week of shooting, when his star Jean Rochefort was too ill to continue.
Ledger's death also came as he was working on what would have been his feature directing debut, an adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel "The Queen's Gambit," with British writer/producer Allan Scott.
The leading role of a young female chess prodigy had been offered to Oscar nominee Ellen Page. Ledger, himself a highly rated chess player, was due to play a supporting role.
In an interview last month, a few days after shooting started on "Doctor Parnassus," Gilliam said, "Heath is extraordinary. He's just so good, and he's going to be a film director. He's watching everything, and he's going to be a much better director than I will ever be."
Was the Vancouver SFX shoot the last scheduled shoot for the film?
Gilliam Replacing Ledger With Depp?
According to a rumor printed in the British tabloid The Sun, director Terry Gilliam is looking to Johnny Depp to take over the role played by late actor Heath Ledger in the currently shooting fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Ledger was six weeks away from finishing his work on the film when he was found dead in a New York apartment on Jan. 22.
"There is a point in the film when Heath falls through a magic mirror," a studio source told the paper. "He could change into another character after that and that is where Johnny would come in. It's a weird, fantasy, time-travel movie, so Heath's character could easily change appearance. It would be a poignant moment. Johnny's not working at the moment, so everyone is praying he will do it."
Gilliam previously worked with Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the uncompleted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (later the subject of the documentary Lost in La Mancha).
I was wondering about that.
hmmm, i like the idea of recasting the part for Depp, but i don't think the magic mirror gimmick will work, especially since it sounds like something he just pulled out of his ass. it'll be too obvious to the audience why it happened.
Quote from: ddiggler on January 25, 2008, 04:39:53 PM
hmmm, i like the idea of recasting the part for Depp, but i don't think the magic mirror gimmick will work, especially since it sounds like something he just pulled out of his ass. it'll be too obvious to the audience why it happened.
It'll work because Gilliam will create the right atmosphere within the film to make it believable. On paper the idea always sounds semi-stupid, but certain filmmakers can create the right feeling within their film to make it work. The way Luis Bunuel did it in That Obscure Object of Desire with no explanation was wholly believable and legitimate. Considering Gilliam is dealing with magical subject matter in this film, the transition will be that much easier for him.
it could... fortunately for gilliam he's making the kind of film he's making and they are where they are in shooting. they must have a substantial amount finished if they're not considering re-shooting those scenes with Depp. I'll accept anything they do though, if it means this movie gets made.
All i can think of was that awful scene in the sopranos when they attempted to digitally insert tony's mother after the actress died. i know this situation is completely different, and this will probably only matter to about 10% of the audience that knows what gilliams intentions were. the rest will probably think it was the way he intended to make the film.
Show Will Go On for Heath's Last Movie, Says Costar
By Natasha Stoynoff; People Magazine
Director Terry Gilliam is feverishly working to figure out how to keep Heath Ledger alive on film, according to one of the late actor's costars in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which Ledger was still shooting when he died last week.
"Terry's throwing himself into the job of trying to salvage the picture," veteran actor Christopher Plummer told PEOPLE over the weekend.
Despite earlier reports that the director might shelve the $30 million production, Gilliam, whom Plummer describes as "terribly saddened" by Ledger's death is "trying to work out at this moment how to continue on. Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI...
"Terry was a very good friend [of Heath's]," adds Plummer. "He very wants to go on with the movie, and I can very much understand why. Because he wants to dedicate it to Heath, of course."
Ledger and Plummer both left the London portion of the movie's shoot last weekend and were due to continue filming next week in Vancouver. Leaving England, says Plummer, "Heath was in very high spirits. He was just enjoying himself tremendously. It's a rather fanciful script, and he was wonderful in this role."
Confirming earlier reports that Ledger hadnt been feeling well on set, Plummer says, "we all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath's went on and I don't think he dealt with it immediately with the antibiotics....I think what he did have was the walking pneumonia."
On top of that, "He was saying all the time, 'dammit, I can't sleep'...and he was taking all these pills [to help him]."
As well as the damp cold and lack of sleep, Plummer describes the shoot as rigorous. "We had to shoot every second we were out there...there was hardly any time to go into the tent or the car to keep warm. We just kept shooting...boom, boom, boom...there was no pause. It was very, very hard work."
Ledger would have appreciated the show-must-go-on mentality, says his co-star. "He was terribly likeable and obviously enormously talented...and the combination was terrific. It's such a shame these things have to happen to the good ones."
As for reports that Gilliam has approached Johnny Depp to step into Ledger's role, the actor's rep tells PEOPLE: "There have been no official talks, and he is currently working on Public Enemies for Michael Mann for Universal."
Depp, Law, Farrell in Parnassus
Stars set to play Ledger's role.
Since Heath Ledger died mid-way through filming his final project - The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus - there has been speculation as to whether director Terry Gilliam would be able to complete the project, and if so, how.
It was rumoured that another actor would be cast in Ledger's role, with the change in appearance explained by the fantastical events of the film. Well, now AintItCool is reporting that not one, but three thesps will fill the late actors shoes – Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.
Apparently the stars will all play the character - a man trying to save the daughter of a traveling showman who sold her to the devil - at different points in the film.
Gilliam's 'Doctor' making rounds again
Source: Hollywood Reporter
LONDON -- Filming on Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is back under way in Vancouver, Gilliam and the U.K.-Canadian co-production's producers said Monday.
The filmmakers also confirmed widespread rumors that Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law will participate in the completion of the film, which shut down after the sudden death of actor Heath Ledger on Jan. 22.
"Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath's work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology," the producers said in a statement. "Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing."
"I am grateful to Johnny, Colin and Jude for coming on board and to everyone else who has made it possible for us to finish the film," Gilliam said. "I am delighted that Heath's brilliant performance can be shared with the world. We are looking forward to finishing the movie and, through the film, with a modicum of humility, being able to touch people's hearts and souls as Heath was able to do."
The cast also includes Christopher Plummer, Verne Troyer, Andrew Garfield, Lily Cole and Tom Waits. The modern-day fantasy adventure film was written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown and produced by William Vince, Amy Gilliam and Samuel Hadida.
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Teaser Trailer here. (http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2008/09/13/quick-stop-exclusive-teaser-trailer-from-terry-gilliams-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus/)
As 'Imaginarium' Stalls, When Will Audiences See Heath Ledger's Final Film?
Source: MTV
Heath Ledger's posthumous win was undoubtedly the most emotional moment of this year's Oscars ceremony. It wasn't just the pain of seeing his family accept his award, but also the feeling that this was the final farewell to the talented actor, and his now legendary performance in "The Dark Knight."
However, as everyone knows, Ledger's Dark Knight performance wasn't his last. The actor was filming Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" at the time of his death. The film was nearly scrapped until Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrell stepped forward to take over the role, which was hastily rewritten to accommodate multiple performances.
The film is now complete, but it's future is still uncertain. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is having trouble finding a U.S. buyer and distributor.
Of course, Ledger's association with the film has caused a lot of buzz and interest, but potential deals have dropped off. It has international distribution, which means audiences overseas will be able to see it, but American audiences might be left in the cold.
Rumors swirl that the film is too experimental and arthouse, and that not even Ledger's performance could help it find it a wide audience. If the film's plot is difficult to market, how much trickier will it be to sell "Dr. Parnassus" without being exploitative of Ledger's death? It would certainly be far more tragic for his death to be used as a marketing "hook" than for the film to be denied a theatrical release.
Hopefully, American distributors will realize that the appeal of "Dr. Parnassus" isn't just Ledger, but the performances of Depp, Law, and Farrell. Any one of these actors could fill a theater purely on his own appeal, after all. To have such a talented ensemble in one original film should be enough to entice any moviegoer, don't you think?
Will Heath Ledger's last film, Dr. Parnassus, premiere at Cannes?
Source: SciFi Wire
Heath Ledger's last film, Terry Gilliam's fantastical The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, will in all likelihood debut at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz blog reported.
The film will be released around in the fall, though there's still no U.S. distributor; a Cannes screening will give media and fans a first look at the movie, which was midway through production when Ledger died unexpectedly in January 2008. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law all stepped in to play different parts of Ledger's role after the actor died.
The film centers on a traveling carnival that gives patrons more than they bargain for. It's been a lengthy post-production process, with Gilliam (Time Bandits) tweaking it for months.
'Parnassus' busy early
Filmmakers, Cinetic attempting to sell before Cannes bow
Source: Hollywood Reporter
The hottest U.S. acquisition title at the upcoming Festival de Cannes might not be sold at the festival at all.
"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," Terry Gilliam's story of a traveling carnival that also is Heath Ledger's final film, has topped the list of many executives since it emerged during the past few months that the title would have its world premiere on the Croisette.
Although the festival chose it as an out-of-competition title, filmmakers and U.S. sales rep Cinetic Media have opted to try to sell the film before the fest, which begins May 13.
A screening for top Los Angeles-based execs was scheduled for Tuesday night, where Cinetic hoped to seal a deal. (The company is repping domestic only; foreign sales in many territories already have been sold).
Filmmakers are believed to be seeking a studio-level deal with studio-level prices -- well into the seven figures.
"If the movie delivers, you're going to see people willing to open their wallets," said one exec who planned to attend the screening. "Even with the high price, you can pick up a marketable movie for a lot less than it costs to make it."
The movie is the first effort for Gilliam -- known for his unique visual style -- in four years, a period when special effects have made huge leaps. In addition to the Ledger hook, the film features such marketable stars as Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, who stepped in to take over Ledger's role.
The Cinetic decision continues a trend in which big titles are increasingly sold outside festivals. In January, CAA chose not to take the Renee Zellweger period comedy "My One and Only" to the Sundance Film Festival even though the pic was ready; instead, it was screened privately for distributors.
But "Parnassus" represents an unusual next step: a film that's already going to a high-profile festival actively seeking a deal away from it.
There's a logic to the move. With the festival sales market bottoming out -- there has been one fest sale for at least $4 million in the past year, "The Wrestler" -- and with the Cannes audience thought to be unpredictable, Cinetic doesn't want to take any chances.
If a deal can be reached, it would mean that what was a Cannes screening for the industry becomes a launchpad for a studio's marketing campaign.
"Either way, there's going to be hoopla in Cannes," one indie veteran said. "But it's going to be a very different kind of hoopla if Cinetic gets a deal done this week."
Quote from: MacGuffin on May 06, 2009, 12:14:28 AM
A screening for top Los Angeles-based execs was scheduled for Tuesday night, where Cinetic hoped to seal a deal.
I was at that screening.
If this movie hadn't involved CGI it would have been awesome.
that surely sucks. was imaginariuming Gilliam would finally win me over again.
Well, keep in mind that I love Tideland (albeit after a second viewing).
This one is a big lugubrious, but the story is ultimately pretty involving and touching. It's just the damn effects. They didn't have enough money to make them look really amazing, and so they should have just gone the practical route. The occasional models and practical effects are great.
Terry Gilliam used magic to finish 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'
After Heath Ledger's death, Gilliam called on the actor's friends to take over the role. Having an enchanted mirror helped.
By KENNETH TURAN; Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Cannes, France -- Terry Gilliam went to the movies the other night, and this is what he saw. "Trailers from 'Transformers,' ' G.I. Joe,' ' Harry Potter'; they all had the same explosions, the same sound mix, the same rhythms, it was all the same film," the director says, still not quite believing it. " Hollywood's been doing this for 20 years. When's it going to end?"
It ends right here and now at Cannes' Festival du Film, where Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," a work as exceptional and unusual as its title, premieres out of competition today. A tale of good and evil battling for souls that's made with Gilliam's fantastic and fantastical visual imagination, "Imaginarium" is the director's best, most entertaining film in years.
"Imaginarium" is also perhaps the most anticipated film of the festival because it's the one Heath Ledger was working on when he died in January 2008, the one that ends with the on-screen credit "A Film From Heath Ledger and Friends" because colleagues Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell pitched in to finish it.
More unusual still, the structure of "Imaginarium" and the nature of what was left to shoot when the actor died made the use of those substitute actors so seamless that, Gilliam said, "the postproduction sound guy assumed it had been written that way."
It's no wonder, then, that Gilliam feels that he "didn't make this film. Forces from above and below made it. It made itself. I don't panic anymore. It's got its own relentless momentum. It just needed some human sacrifice."
Gilliam means not just Ledger but producer William Vince, who died a few months after the actor, as well as the director himself, who was hit by a car and broke his back. "They were going for the trinity," he says with his trademark take-no-prisoners sense of humor. "That would have been a tidy end to the whole thing. But they didn't kill me. I'm stuck here to tell the tale."
Gilliam, who co-wrote the script with Charles McKeown, described the film as "my 'Fanny & Alexander,' my 'Amarcord.' I went back to the things I'm really good at."
And like Dr. Parnassus, the title character played by Christopher Plummer, Gilliam "was being frustrated, trying to amaze people and they're not paying attention. So the film became autobiographical in that sense."
Dr. Parnassus, it turns out, is a centuries-old traveling conjurer with a beautiful young daughter who tours around modern London in an astonishing ancient show wagon doing battle for souls with Mr. Nick, the prince of darkness, wonderfully played by Tom Waits. ("He was born for the part, his music is dark but tender," Gilliam says.)
The heart of the doctor's show is a magic mirror that allows those who go through it to experience another dimension of their own minds. That device, Gilliam says, was partly because of a purely pragmatic decision on his part. "I knew I didn't have the money to compete with the big effects films," he explains. Plus, "once you get into the world the effects create, that becomes normal, so you end up doing all this work for just normality. With a magic mirror, you can come back out before you spend too much money."
Ledger's character, Tony, is a hustler of uncertain morality who joins the show, in one of the film's many unsettling references to death, after he is nearly hung. Ledger, who had worked with Gilliam in "The Brothers Grimm," was watching the director explain some storyboards when, "in the middle of this, he slipped me a note that read: 'Can I play Tony?' "
"People don't know how brilliant he was. He was limitless. Anything you threw at him he could handle," Gilliam says of the actor, still not resigned to his death. "When we heard, my first response was that it was a P.R. stunt for his role as the Joker. [His death] didn't make any sense. Even now it doesn't compute."
Gilliam's initial thought at that point was "the film's over, we go home now. But my team, they beat me up, they wouldn't let me give it up. But I didn't think it was right to just get another actor." Because it was three fantasy scenes that remained to be shot, Gilliam decided on three actors, all friends of Heath. Though some rewriting and changes of shooting plans were necessary, it all went surprisingly smoothly.
"Having a magic mirror," the director says, "makes a lot of difference."
The first call Gilliam made was to Depp "because Johnny's a mate, direct and genuine. He loved Heath, and he said, 'I'm in, whatever.' " Then the problem became getting schedules to mesh. "Then Michael Mann's film ('Public Enemy') was delayed a week. I don't think Johnny told Michael he was going. My guess is that he snuck out."
Law, one of Gilliam's early choices for the part, agreed next, and Los Angeles casting agent Margie Simkin suggested Farrell after she saw him at an L.A. memorial service. "All the actors already in the film had to change their schedules, and there wasn't a moment's hesitation," Gilliam explains. "They all said, 'We'll do what's necessary.' It's really a love letter to Heath by everybody involved. He was beloved by so many."
Gilliam likes to joke, if asked what the film is about, that "it's about making marketing people work very hard," and he worries that being smart and entertaining in a dumbed-down world is going against the grain. "People are smart if you get their attention the right way," he says. As one of his characters puts it, "this world is full of enchantment for those with eyes to see." Nothing rewards those eyes as richly as this remarkable film.
Quote from: MacGuffin on May 22, 2009, 12:15:10 AM
"I knew I didn't have the money to compete with the big effects films," he explains. Plus, "once you get into the world the effects create, that becomes normal, so you end up doing all this work for just normality. With a magic mirror, you can come back out before you spend too much money."
This is very encouraging. Now that CGI is so advanced it almost feels like it takes the place of creativity. That sense of wonder is gone. Filmmakers rely on CGI to get their ideas across instead of relying on their own imagination. Guys like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry have been very good at using creativity to get their ideas across, but Gilliam is and always will be the master at this.
Three Clips From The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Source: Comme Au Cinema May 25, 2009
Three clips from Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus have come online and can be watched using the players below. The fantasy stars Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.
The film tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a traveling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick.
Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all.
http://www.commeaucinema.com/bandes-annonces=94221-video-15336.html
http://www.commeaucinema.com/bandes-annonces=94221-video-15337.html
http://www.commeaucinema.com/bandes-annonces=94221-video-15338.html
New Trailer here. (http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/features/exclusive/)
I'm officially excited. Luckily they went for that cheap goatee look or else none of those baby-faced actors (except maybe Farrell) would've been able to grow it.
That looks incredible
'Parnassus' finds Stateside buyer
Sony in advanced talks to pick up Ledger film
Source: Variety
Heath Ledger's final film has finally found a Stateside buyer.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group is in advanced talks to pick up "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," with plans for it to go out theatrically, likely this year, via Sony Pictures Classics.
Pic is expected to be a lucrative homevideo title due to the Ledger angle and the other star power. Terry Gilliam's adventure also features Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell, who replaced Ledger in various fantasy scenes after the thesp died during the film's production in January 2008.
"Parnassus" was officially unveiled at Cannes this year in an out-of-competition slot toward the end of the festival. Several buyers screened the film just before Cannes, but a deal didn't immediately emerge.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has been a key player in a number of pic deals lately, including for "The Young Victoria." That film will go out theatrically via Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad's new Apparition label, and SPWAG will handle all ancillaries as part of a three-way deal on the pic.
SPWAG has a homevid deal with Apparition.
The "Parnassus" deal with Sony has long been in the works and could be made official this week.
Reps on the deal, including sales agent John Sloss, remained mum.
The film goes out in the fourth quarter through various distributors in European territories including the U.K., France, Germany and Italy, plus Australia and New Zealand.
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus to Open Christmas Day
Source:ComingSoon.net
ComingSoon.net has learned that Sony Pictures Classics plans to release Terry Gilliam's new movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus on Christmas Day, confirming earlier conjecture about the possibility.
Featuring the final screen performance by the late Heath Ledger, who earlier this year won a posthumous Oscar for his performance in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the film will be making its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 18 and be released in the UK on October 16.
The movie also stars Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law , Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer.
This was one of the Secret Screenings at Fantastic Fest. I saw it last night.
It's not saying much to say this is his best film since Fear and Loathing, but it's at least something.
I mostly agree with Ghostboy that the CG stuff is where it loses me a little, but I didn't feel like it ruined it at all. The weakest part, to me is that the story gets a little flustered toward the end. Still, I enjoyed myself a lot.
The writing felt the most Gilliam I've watched in over twenty years. There's even an almost Python moment in it. Too bad the script loses steam.
Mild Spoilers
Ledger's role in this is a little freaky considering his death and I think the film understands that you'll feel this way. I hadn't read much about this before today and while it seems pretty obvious, I wasn't sure if Ledger had been replaced in the spots he had fill-ins before or after his death. It just fit to me (though I'm a little confused on the order Gilliam used for the fill-in actors).
New Trailer here. (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809961111/video/15958459)
Talk about amazing posters...
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fparnassusbig.jpg&hash=c3d86df6ac84e8ca26381d241ef143481ffc4aa4)
Quote from: kal on October 14, 2009, 11:19:02 PM
Talk about amazing posters...
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fparnassusbig.jpg&hash=c3d86df6ac84e8ca26381d241ef143481ffc4aa4)
It is a cool poster, but isn't that girl supposed to be 15? It's a little too Polansky for me to actually want to hang it on my wall.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi35.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd179%2Fpolkablues%2Fhaveaseat-3b.gif&hash=569fc7990a15df506224dc61902cc3d10bc70184)
"Why don't you have a seat?"
Lily Cole is 21. Hang away!
Quote from: polkablues on October 15, 2009, 08:30:50 PM
isn't that girl supposed to be 15?
Yeah, there's just a moment in the movie where she lies and says she's 15.
Quote from: polkablues on October 15, 2009, 08:30:50 PM
Quote from: kal on October 14, 2009, 11:19:02 PM
Talk about amazing posters...
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fparnassusbig.jpg&hash=c3d86df6ac84e8ca26381d241ef143481ffc4aa4)
It is a cool poster, but isn't that girl supposed to be 15? It's a little too Polansky for me to actually want to hang it on my wall.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi35.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fd179%2Fpolkablues%2Fhaveaseat-3b.gif&hash=569fc7990a15df506224dc61902cc3d10bc70184)
"Why don't you have a seat?"
only if you feel like fucking her.
I feel like fucking her... but, i can justify that urge. Anyway, how the hell was this movie? Has anyone seen it? I can't believe it's not getting the wild rep around my town. It is only being played in 1 out of like 10 theatres and they have already moved it to a smaller screen.
it's worse than INLAND EMPIRE.
i think everyone is just pretending it didn't happen so the dark knight can officially be heath's last film.
I went and saw this, in spite of my better judgement and, unsurprisingly, came out just a little tired and unenthusiastic. It might've been the rainy weather or it might have been the awful acting of "mini me" from Austin Powers. Paradoxically, it wasn't the high-cheek-bone jail bate Lily Cole that muffled the movie for me. She was actually a pleasure to look at and did pretty well for her first film. Acting aside, the film is a little slow and conservative with all the cool shit. Generally, everything that happens outside the "imaginarium" is bland; and, the contrast of seeing Jude Law walk on a mile high ladder to seeing an old wizard and a nazi midget is horrendous. Seriously, the whole duration of the film you pray for going back into the imaginarium like a heroin addict as it's the only chance for a euphoric sensation. The whole idea of getting seduced AND cheated by the devil in your own imagination is neat and offers some viable justifications for schizophrenics but little to semi-sane individuals like myself who somewhat make sense of temporal life. Would it be cruel of me to describe the film as a bunch of schizos wallowing in their "good" and "bad" worlds? It's really a great effort with a wonderful cast but what the hell is the point? Because if it's "don't be Tony the Liar" then i would like to tell you to fuck off kindly. I certainly hope not to do that...Maybe i misunderstand... I will think about it some other time.
Edit: Spoilers prolly... It must have been the lack of empathy that the film induces. No one seems to be in genuine peril for a long time, minus the girl soon-to-be devil's bitch and the old man who is "doomed" with everlasting life. So i ask myself, how can i feel bad about some dude, who lives forever, losing one of his many-possible daughters in the most awesome way possible --by letting her dance with the devil? This film is too obscure to understand for anyone who is past 3rd grade and has some idea of the world we live in. I should've waited 20 years to see this, so i could bring my kids, who wouldn't understand shit anyway since it is a morality tale for adults and has some twists like the multifaceted liar Tony who appears with a different face every time in his journey to the imaginarium from which you understand that he is actually a "bad guy." It's kind of like a music video pretending to teach you something in that it creates an artificial dilemma and then solves it, still, leaving you feeling incredibly unsatisfied for some more honesty and life. But fuck it, look i watched Avatar all the way through without even considering how lame the plot was and that's because James Cameron made me visually satisfied. This film comes short on both sides, the substance and the form.
Man, Terry Gilliam is so lame. I don't think I like any of his movies...entirely, there are always cool parts in them but I can't follow his storytelling, it's too abstract, too crowded. I think I'll check out that Arcade Fire show he did and it'll be the only thing of his I like.
The Fisher King was crowded?
I think one of my issues is that while his films maintain the same sense of humor, they just stopped being funny. Imaginarium took me three sittings to get through. The only reason i gave it that many chances is that even his films that are a bit of a slog to get through end up winning me over in the end. This one did not. There are so many great ideas floating around but he really needs someone to harness it all for him. He would've been better off leaving this one on the shelf because even if he makes incomprehensible bombs for the rest of the career, he could have always maintained that this was his lost masterpiece. Now it's just a forgettable mess like everything else he's done in the last decade.
God, I fell asleep for what felt like forever during this film and it turned out to be only 5 minutes. I really wanted to like this but like most of Gilliam in recent years, it suffers from lack of inventive storytelling. Some dots just weren't connected for me and I think that the original premise of this movie would have worked better if it was a series on either showtime or HBO.
But oh, those dazzling colors that Terry brings forth. I think he should start directing music videos for indie hipster bands. Are you listening Spoon?
...Although it was nice to see Heath in ANYTHING let alone something this odd.
It was horrible.
Really, there is no other adjective for it. Everything is fucked in this movie. How can you fuck this up? Tom Waits as the devil? Impossible to fuck up. Only Gilliam with his tired approach and condescendence for the world outside of his "imaginative" perspective can.
This could have been great.
Yeah i love a lot of gilliam's stuff, Brazil being a favorite and Time Bandits being with me since childhood, but this movie is an absolute train wreck. Terry's never one to shy away from a convoluted plot but at points i felt the actors were just improvising knowing full well none of this makes sense. Its like watching overzealous but really bad Shakespearean actors blowing their wad on an underfunded production of The Tempest in a shitty local park, at noon on a sunday....you get what i'm sayin...
Quote from: Ghostboy on May 06, 2009, 05:20:58 PM
This one is a big lugubrious, but the story is ultimately pretty involving and touching. It's just the damn effects. They didn't have enough money to make them look really amazing, and so they should have just gone the practical route. The occasional models and practical effects are great.
glad amongst the maelstrom of hate that someone else seemed to enjoy it. the first half is pretty rough but it hit its stride for me once the heath character starts hosting the imaginarium. i for one sort of enjoyed how terrible the effects were as they are zany as fuck and totally in keeping with gilliam's imagery, and thus more phantasmagoric than anything else in a similar vein. they struck me as the far less endearing equivalent of the animated interjections in the monty python stuff. in the end i found this to be surprisingly personal for gilliam and moving because of that.
I really liked it as well.