Terry Gilliam out to Crack Don Quixote

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]onty Python is all the rage in the showbiz world right now, so what better time for Terry Gilliam to announce his intentions at having another crack at his so far ill-fated project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote?

For those of you who would prefer something completely different to sketches about dead parrots though, the mad director’s next movie could be just what the doctor ordered. However, as already alluded to, it’s been a rocky road, because if you thought the likes of Freddie Mercury biopics were having a tough time of it, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

After the release of Twelve Monkeys in 1997, plus lots of wasted time on The Defective Detective (a film that ultimately never made the can), the next several years looked to be a very promising time for Don Quixote. Lots of the right funding became available, plus Gilliam had secured the services of Johnny Depp for the lead, something he had strived for since their successful collaboration on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

But, with shooting having begun in the Autumn of 2000, freak floods and an accident involving pivotal cast member, Jean Rochefort, brought proceedings to an abrupt halt. The whole thing was eventually cancelled, but this was not the end of it because, as Gilliam himself once put it: “I’m convinced I’m the best director on the planet to do it.”

It is this dogged determination that has meant there could still be life in Don Quixote yet. Thanks must also go to Brit producer Jeremy Thomas and his Recorded Picture Company, who expressed an interest in working with Gilliam on the project back in 2005 and could now be the ace in the pack.

Since those brief but magnificent few moments of Don Quixote were captured on film at the turn of the century, a whole host of big-name actors have been linked with this ‘revival’. With he and his fellow Pythons staging one of their own next year, the diary of Terry Giliam looks like it’s going to be fit to burst.