The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Encyclopedia
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
.
. In 2008 Michael Palin
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
. The character of Sancho Panza
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
, and Vanessa Paradis
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
, Christopher Eccleston
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
, Jonathan Pryce
, Ian Holm
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
.
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
, Spain
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
. A flash flood
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
on Tideland
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
for Recorded Picture Company
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
had been cast in the film.
Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
.
. In 2008 Michael Palin
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
. The character of Sancho Panza
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
, and Vanessa Paradis
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
, Christopher Eccleston
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
, Jonathan Pryce
, Ian Holm
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
.
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
, Spain
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
. A flash flood
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
on Tideland
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
for Recorded Picture Company
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
had been cast in the film.
Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
.
. In 2008 Michael Palin
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
. The character of Sancho Panza
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
, and Vanessa Paradis
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
, Christopher Eccleston
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
, Jonathan Pryce
, Ian Holm
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
.
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
, Spain
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
. A flash flood
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
on Tideland
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
for Recorded Picture Company
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
had been cast in the film.
Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
Plot
The story combines the literary world of Miguel de CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
.
Cast
In 2005 Gilliam had voiced his interest in recasting the role of Don Quixote with Gérard DepardieuGérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
. In 2008 Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
[Gilliam and I] have talked about it. But to be honest, the thing about Terry… I love Terry, and I'd do anything the guy wants to do. But with Quixote… my dance card is pretty nutty for the next couple of years. So I'd hate to put him in a position—or ask to be in a position—where he'd have to wait for me. That would be wrong. But also, I feel like we went there and tried something, and whatever it was—the elements and all the things that got up underneath us—were there and happened and were documented well in that film Lost in La Mancha. So I don't know if it's right for me to go back there. I don't know if it's right for Terry to, but if he wants to…
Aborted production (2000)
Terry Gilliam was very excited to direct this film, since Don Quixote embodies many of the themes that run through his own work—such as the individual versus society, and the concept of sanity. Quixote was set to have been one of the biggest continental European films ever made, with a budget of $32.1 million that had been scaled back from an original $40 million. It was to have been one of Gilliam's most ambitious films, produced without any American financing.Development
Finding the source material by CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
Tony Grisoni
-Biography:He has co-written several of director Terry Gilliam's films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland.Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. QUEEN OF HEARTS, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel...
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
. The character of Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, and Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress. Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, Rossy de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and...
, Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
, Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
.
Filming and cancellation
With Nicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
. A flash flood
Flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
Spinal disc herniation
A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
Casting (performing arts)
In the performing arts, casting is a pre-production process for selecting a cast of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.-Casting process:...
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
After the abandonment
After the production had been cancelled, an insurance claim was filed on behalf of the film's investors. US$15 million were reportedly paid, and the rights to the screenplay passed on to the insurance companies. Since 2003 rumors had occasionally claimed that Gilliam and his producers were lining up support to restart production. At the 2005 Cannes Film Festival2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
on Tideland
Tideland (film)
Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
Revived production
In 2008 Gilliam restarted preliminary work on a new version of the film. The film will be reshot completely, and Rochefort's role has been recast. On The Hour with George StroumboulopoulosGeorge Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic...
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
for Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company is a British film production company founded in 1974 by Academy Award-winning producer Jeremy Thomas.Recorded Picture Company is an independent production company that makes feature films for worldwide theatrical release. Jeremy Thomas founded the London-based company in...
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
HanWay Films
HanWay Films is an independent British international sales, distribution and marketing company specializing in theatrical feature films.HanWay Films was founded in 1998 by film producer Jeremy Thomas , along with his colleagues Peter Watson and Stephan Mallmann , who continue to sit on the board...
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
had been cast in the film.
Development
Gilliam entered main pre-production in 2009. After finally retrieving the rights to the screenplay, Gilliam and Grisoni started to rewrite the plot in January 2009 and hoped to be finished within a month.Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
Articles
- Phil Stubbs (ed.), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (webpage with several links to articles documenting the failed 2000 production)
- Sean O'Hagan, "My latest is a disaster movie", The Observer (February 4, 2001)
- Bob McCabe, "The Death of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" (transcript), Empire Magazine (September 2001)
- Ty Burr, "The cursed unmaking of Gilliam's Quixote", The Boston Globe (February 14, 2003)
Media
- Edited and scored version of the complete footage from the cancelled 2000 production The Man Who Killed Don Quixote on director of photography Nicola PecoriniNicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
's website - Trailer of Lost in La Mancha at IMDb (including footage from the film and the production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
Plot
The story combines the literary world of Miguel de CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
.
Cast
In 2005 Gilliam had voiced his interest in recasting the role of Don Quixote with Gérard DepardieuGérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
. In 2008 Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
[Gilliam and I] have talked about it. But to be honest, the thing about Terry… I love Terry, and I'd do anything the guy wants to do. But with Quixote… my dance card is pretty nutty for the next couple of years. So I'd hate to put him in a position—or ask to be in a position—where he'd have to wait for me. That would be wrong. But also, I feel like we went there and tried something, and whatever it was—the elements and all the things that got up underneath us—were there and happened and were documented well in that film Lost in La Mancha. So I don't know if it's right for me to go back there. I don't know if it's right for Terry to, but if he wants to…
Aborted production (2000)
Terry Gilliam was very excited to direct this film, since Don Quixote embodies many of the themes that run through his own work—such as the individual versus society, and the concept of sanity. Quixote was set to have been one of the biggest continental European films ever made, with a budget of $32.1 million that had been scaled back from an original $40 million. It was to have been one of Gilliam's most ambitious films, produced without any American financing.Development
Finding the source material by CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
Tony Grisoni
-Biography:He has co-written several of director Terry Gilliam's films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland.Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. QUEEN OF HEARTS, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel...
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
. The character of Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, and Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress. Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, Rossy de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and...
, Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
, Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
.
Filming and cancellation
With Nicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
. A flash flood
Flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
Spinal disc herniation
A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
Casting (performing arts)
In the performing arts, casting is a pre-production process for selecting a cast of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.-Casting process:...
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
After the abandonment
After the production had been cancelled, an insurance claim was filed on behalf of the film's investors. US$15 million were reportedly paid, and the rights to the screenplay passed on to the insurance companies. Since 2003 rumors had occasionally claimed that Gilliam and his producers were lining up support to restart production. At the 2005 Cannes Film Festival2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
on Tideland
Tideland (film)
Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
Revived production
In 2008 Gilliam restarted preliminary work on a new version of the film. The film will be reshot completely, and Rochefort's role has been recast. On The Hour with George StroumboulopoulosGeorge Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic...
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
for Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company is a British film production company founded in 1974 by Academy Award-winning producer Jeremy Thomas.Recorded Picture Company is an independent production company that makes feature films for worldwide theatrical release. Jeremy Thomas founded the London-based company in...
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
HanWay Films
HanWay Films is an independent British international sales, distribution and marketing company specializing in theatrical feature films.HanWay Films was founded in 1998 by film producer Jeremy Thomas , along with his colleagues Peter Watson and Stephan Mallmann , who continue to sit on the board...
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
had been cast in the film.
Development
Gilliam entered main pre-production in 2009. After finally retrieving the rights to the screenplay, Gilliam and Grisoni started to rewrite the plot in January 2009 and hoped to be finished within a month.Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
Articles
- Phil Stubbs (ed.), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (webpage with several links to articles documenting the failed 2000 production)
- Sean O'Hagan, "My latest is a disaster movie", The Observer (February 4, 2001)
- Bob McCabe, "The Death of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" (transcript), Empire Magazine (September 2001)
- Ty Burr, "The cursed unmaking of Gilliam's Quixote", The Boston Globe (February 14, 2003)
Media
- Edited and scored version of the complete footage from the cancelled 2000 production The Man Who Killed Don Quixote on director of photography Nicola PecoriniNicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
's website - Trailer of Lost in La Mancha at IMDb (including footage from the film and the production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
. As documented in Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote. Production was soon cancelled completely due to several on-set mishaps, but Gilliam restarted pre-production in 2009.
Plot
The story combines the literary world of Miguel de CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
with a 21st century satire. An advertising executive, who finds himself unstuck in time, unwittingly travels between modern day London and 17th century La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
, where he participates in the adventures of Don Quixote, who mistakes him for Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
.
Cast
In 2005 Gilliam had voiced his interest in recasting the role of Don Quixote with Gérard DepardieuGérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
. In 2008 Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
reportedly entered talks with Gilliam to step in for Rochefort and play Don Quixote. In November 2009, Terry Gilliam said he had finished re-casting the role, but he refused to disclose the actor's identity. In a December 2009 interview with collider.com, Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
claimed on-camera to be Gilliam's new choice for Don Quixote, which was confirmed by Gilliam himself a few days afterwards.
For the second leading role of the advertising executive Toby Grisoni, Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
was at times connected to the project, but it remains unclear if Depp's filming schedule will allow for his participation and if he wants to join the production at all. During a press junket for his film Public Enemies Depp stated:
[Gilliam and I] have talked about it. But to be honest, the thing about Terry… I love Terry, and I'd do anything the guy wants to do. But with Quixote… my dance card is pretty nutty for the next couple of years. So I'd hate to put him in a position—or ask to be in a position—where he'd have to wait for me. That would be wrong. But also, I feel like we went there and tried something, and whatever it was—the elements and all the things that got up underneath us—were there and happened and were documented well in that film Lost in La Mancha. So I don't know if it's right for me to go back there. I don't know if it's right for Terry to, but if he wants to…
Aborted production (2000)
Terry Gilliam was very excited to direct this film, since Don Quixote embodies many of the themes that run through his own work—such as the individual versus society, and the concept of sanity. Quixote was set to have been one of the biggest continental European films ever made, with a budget of $32.1 million that had been scaled back from an original $40 million. It was to have been one of Gilliam's most ambitious films, produced without any American financing.Development
Finding the source material by CervantesMiguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
too vast, Gilliam and his co-writer Tony Grisoni
Tony Grisoni
-Biography:He has co-written several of director Terry Gilliam's films, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Tideland.Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. QUEEN OF HEARTS, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel...
decided to create their own version of the Quixote story, including a major change inspired by A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
. The character of Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza
Sancho Panza is a fictional character in the novel Don Quixote written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote, and provides comments throughout the novel, known as sanchismos, that are a combination of broad humour, ironic Spanish proverbs,...
would appear only very early in the film, to be replaced by Toby Grisoni, a twenty-first century marketing executive thrown back through time. The entire film would have been filmed in Spain and throughout Europe. Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort
Jean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that has spanned over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
was picked to play Don Quixote, in preparation for which he spent seven months learning English. Sancho Panza was to be played by Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, and Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...
would have been his love interest. Other actors who were to appear in the film included Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
, Bill Paterson, Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma
Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress. Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, Rossy de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and...
, Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
, Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Eva Basteiro-Bertoli, and Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan
Peter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
.
Filming and cancellation
With Nicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
as director of photography shooting started in late October 2000. The first location shoot was at a scenic, barren area north of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, near a military base. Military fighter jets flew overhead repeatedly, ruining the audio recording and mandating a later re-dubbing in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
. A flash flood
Flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas—washes, rivers, dry lakes and basins. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a storm, hurricane, or tropical storm or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields...
on the second day of filming washed away equipment and changed the color of the barren cliffs, making the previous filming unusable. Rochefort, an able horseman, attempted to ride and act, but was obviously wincing in pain, and required assistance dismounting and walking. He flew to his doctor in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was diagnosed with a double herniated disc
Spinal disc herniation
A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...
. For several days the crew attempted to shoot scenes that did not involve Rochefort, but as time passed, it became apparent he would not be able to return. Gilliam decided this was a fatal wound to his project: He had spent two years casting
Casting (performing arts)
In the performing arts, casting is a pre-production process for selecting a cast of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.-Casting process:...
the role of Don Quixote, and Rochefort had then spent seven months learning the English language for the part. The production was finally cancelled in November 2000, and the only result that was ever officially released was included in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha
Lost in La Mancha is a documentary film narrated by Jeff Bridges about Terry Gilliam's failed first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film adaptation of the novel Don Quixote...
, a film that chronicles the attempts to make this "film that didn't want to be made".
After the abandonment
After the production had been cancelled, an insurance claim was filed on behalf of the film's investors. US$15 million were reportedly paid, and the rights to the screenplay passed on to the insurance companies. Since 2003 rumors had occasionally claimed that Gilliam and his producers were lining up support to restart production. At the 2005 Cannes Film Festival2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
there was at last some conclusive news. After working with British producer Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
on Tideland
Tideland (film)
Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...
, it was announced that Thomas was interested in getting the project up and running again. In July 2006, after nearly six years of legalities between the French producers and German insurers, the issue over the rights was settled. Terry Gilliam announced this at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival, saying that the production company was willing to give Gilliam the rights, and that Jeremy Thomas was still interested in producing. In August 2006 Gilliam indicated at a post-screening Q & A for Tideland that the complex legal case concerning the film's collapse was finally being wrapped up, and that the rights to the script would hopefully be given back to Gilliam and co-writer Grisoni in the near future.
Revived production
In 2008 Gilliam restarted preliminary work on a new version of the film. The film will be reshot completely, and Rochefort's role has been recast. On The Hour with George StroumboulopoulosGeorge Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos is a Canadian television and radio personality, best known as the host of CBC Television's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and being a VJ for Canadian music television channel MuchMusic...
on 17 December 2009, Gilliam revealed that Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
would play the role of Don Quixote. Johnny Depp remained attached to the project. Since Depp was signed for two Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
films, further production delays were suspected, but commencement of shooting was scheduled for early 2010. Whether the production timetable will be maintained is unknown, because Depp stated that he would not make room in his tight schedule for Gilliam's film. Depp even noted that he is not sure if he wants to revisit the revived film project at all. The film will be produced by Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
for Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company
Recorded Picture Company is a British film production company founded in 1974 by Academy Award-winning producer Jeremy Thomas.Recorded Picture Company is an independent production company that makes feature films for worldwide theatrical release. Jeremy Thomas founded the London-based company in...
. International sales will be handled by HanWay Films
HanWay Films
HanWay Films is an independent British international sales, distribution and marketing company specializing in theatrical feature films.HanWay Films was founded in 1998 by film producer Jeremy Thomas , along with his colleagues Peter Watson and Stephan Mallmann , who continue to sit on the board...
. On May 17th, 2010, it was announced Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
had been cast in the film.
Development
Gilliam entered main pre-production in 2009. After finally retrieving the rights to the screenplay, Gilliam and Grisoni started to rewrite the plot in January 2009 and hoped to be finished within a month.Variety reported on 5 September 2010 that Terry Gilliam had revealed funding had collapsed a month and half earlier and as a result shooting had not yet started. He stated that primary casting was finalised with Robert Duvall as the titular character as well as Ewan McGregor being on board.
Articles
- Phil Stubbs (ed.), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (webpage with several links to articles documenting the failed 2000 production)
- Sean O'Hagan, "My latest is a disaster movie", The Observer (February 4, 2001)
- Bob McCabe, "The Death of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" (transcript), Empire Magazine (September 2001)
- Ty Burr, "The cursed unmaking of Gilliam's Quixote", The Boston Globe (February 14, 2003)
Media
- Edited and scored version of the complete footage from the cancelled 2000 production The Man Who Killed Don Quixote on director of photography Nicola PecoriniNicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
's website - Trailer of Lost in La Mancha at IMDb (including footage from the film and the production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)