Honestly, this was a headline I was unsure that I would ever write.
Seventeen years after his first attempt to make the film was literally washed out, director Terry Gilliam has finally wrapped filming on his passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Sorry for the long silence. I've been busy packing the truck and am now heading home. After 17 years, we have completed…
Posted by Terry Gilliam on Sunday, June 4, 2017
Based somewhat loosely on Miguel de Cervantes’s classic novel, the film stars Adam Driver as Toby and Jonathan Pryce as Don Quixote. Coincidentally, this will mark the third film about dreamers that Pryce and Gilliam have collaborated on after Brazil and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. Olga Kurylenko and Stellan Skarsgård round out the main cast.
Gilliam’s first attempt at filming the project was in 2000 with Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort as Quixote. Mere days into filming a combination of nervous backers, technical issues, an out-of season flood which washed away his outdoor set and a health scare for Rochefort all conspired to shut the project down. The collapse of the production was captured in the heartbreaking documentary Lost In La Mancha, which was released in 2002.
Since then, Gilliam has made numerous attempts to remount the film only to have funding fall apart or legal issues stand in the way. Over time, Robert Duvall, Michael Palin and John Hurt were all attached to play Quixote, while Ewan McGregor and Jack O’Connell had variously been set to play Toby before Driver. It finally took the backing of Amazon Studios to finally get the ball and cameras rolling on the project.
As of now, no release date has been announced for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
When he is at the top of his game, Gilliam is one of the top fantasists working in film today. With imagination like no other he often plumbs the human condition in ways that champion those who stray outside of the norm. While Gilliam has explored the idea of the power of one’s dreams in several of his previous films, it should be exciting to see what new insights he has with Don Quixote. And as a fan, while I am excited to see the film finally becoming a reality, I am equally happy for Gilliam himself now that he has finally gotten to tell this story that he has struggled to tell for nearly two decades.
