Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote revived!

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Terry Gilliam's seemingly cursed adaptation of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is set to be revived, nearly 10 years after his first crack at the material was abandoned.

The announcement was made in Cannes this week, where Gilliam is presenting his latest film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and that means we may finally get to see the director's vision for Miguel de Cervantes' 17th century tome.

Gilliam has apparently been working with original co-screenwriter Tony Grisoni on a new script, which substitutes a filmmaker for an ad executive as the lead character. According to Variety, the said character is charmed into joining Don Quixote's eternal quest for his lady love, becoming an unwitting Sancho Panza.

Grisoni told The Hollywood Reporter, "Nearly 10 years on, I find myself lending a hand to get that crazed giggling bedlamite back in the saddle. I'm talking Don Quixote. In spite of God and the devil, he shall ride again."

The director's original 2000 effort was plagued with problems, from bad weather destroying the sets to leading man Jean Rochefort's falling ill. Production was eventually shut down, although Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe crafted the brilliant documentary Lost in La Mancha from behind-the-scenes footage, which became a hit in its own right in 2002.

Gilliam is now in talks with Johnny Depp to reprise his role from the original attempt, although scheduling conflicts mean he may have to look elsewhere for his Panza.

[neverending]

Interesting!

[TheGemini]

Good news. Been waiting for this one.

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Robert Duvall has been talking about the possibility of his playing Don Quixote in Terry Gilliam's oft-delayed feature The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

In an interview with Collider, Duvall revealed, "I may work with Terry Gilliam next -- if they get the money -- to play Don Quixote de la Mancha."

Duvall continued, "He saw me play a Cuban brother one time with Richard Harris, and that's what gave him the idea to cast me as Don Quixote."

Gilliam famously tried to make the movie in 2000, but production was plagued with problems and soon shut down, spawning the behind-the-scenes documentary Lost in La Mancha. Here's hoping Gilliam gets the money together and has more luck this time around.

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Early in December, word buzzed around that "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" director Terry Gilliam was eying Robert Duvall to star in his next effort, the long, long-awaited "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

Johnny Depp was set to star in Gilliam's first ill-fated attempt at telling the tale, and he's been an on-again, off-again contender to join the cast of the filmmaker's latest attempt for some time.

Now the director is saying that Depp is definitely out, Duvall is definitely in and another, as-yet-unnamed actor is also in talks to join the cast -- no one "A-prime," as Gilliam says (via The Playlist).

It's a pretty tiny status update when you get right down to it. "That’s what I’m hoping is next," Gilliam said of "Quixote." "I’ve got Robert Duvall, I’ve got another good actor involved, and it’s the old money game that I’m running now. Just trying to put the pieces together, because I don’t have Johnny Depp, which would make it very easy. No A-prime actors."

Fans would really like to see Gilliam knock one out of the park. "Parnassus" tends to be overshadowed by the very presence of star Heath Ledger, as it marks his final screen performance. Before that came "The Brothers Grimm" and "Tideland," and really... the less said about those, the better.

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," starring Depp and Benicio Del Toro was the last time we saw Gilliam in his element... and that was a 1998 release. While that remains one of the very finest literary adaptations ever seen put to film, the director is due for another scorcher.

It's hard to define "Quixote" as anything less than a passion project, given Gilliam's history with it. Hopefully, the chance to finally bring that story together will inspire him and reawaken the sort of creative fire that brought incredible works of cinema like "Twelve Monkeys" and "The Fisher King" into the world.

[Despare]

This project is cursed though...

Hope it all comes together.

[neverending]

Fear & Loathing is regarded as a great literary adaptation???

Meh.

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Ewan McGregor is to replace Johnny Depp in Terry Gilliam's latest effort to bring his Don Quixote story to the big screen, the director said in Cannes. Gilliam was famously forced to scrap his dream project after a freak storm destroyed the Spanish set in 1999, a tragedy catalogued in the documentary Lost in La Mancha. However, he revealed in November 2008 that the project was to reshoot.

It appears the Don Quixote that finally makes it into multiplexes will be radically different from that which might once have been seen. As well as McGregor replacing Depp, a decision which apparently stems from scheduling conflicts, the original Don himself, Jean Rochefort, has been replaced by Robert Duvall.

Gilliam told Empire magazine: "Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question – and he can ride a horse. And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost.

"There's a lot of colours to Ewan that he's not been showing recently and it's time for him to show them again. He's got a great sense of humour and he's a wonderful actor. He's wonderfully boyish and can be charming – when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb."

In the original storyline for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Depp was due to play a 21st-century advertising executive who travels back in time to 17th-century Spain, where he meets Quixote and becomes involved in his adventures. The film's imminent revival may be the source of mixed feelings for the film-maker, who declared at an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tribute two years ago that God had "saved his ass" by killing off his first attempt.

"I was in some way relieved that it did fall apart," he said. "Because I didn't have the money to finish it. It's a good thing it went down when it did because I would have got the blame for going over budget. I think this time we will make a better film."