In a display of undaunted brilliance or ironic futility, Terry Gilliam is continuing his quest to bring Don Quixote de la Mancha to the big screen. Turns out, if he ever manages to get the scratch to remount the production, Gilliam will be employing Robert Duvall as his delusional protagonist.
Good sir Frosty, over at Collider, got the info from Duvall himself who says that Gilliam was sold after seeing Duvall portray a cuban barber opposite Richard Harris in Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. I’ve embedded the interview clip below. While he represents a markedly different approach than the original casting, Duvall (last seen being one of the good things in an otherwise static The Road) is a fine choice for Quixote.
Gilliam has had a legendarily tough journey when putting each of his films together, and this will be no different. Tideland did no one any favors, and the reception of Parnassus (which I’ve not seen, but remain excited for) has been mixed and guarded at best. Funding will be an uphill climb for the filmmaker, and though Duvall adds some clout to project, investors aren’t likely to fall over themselves trying to invest based on his name alone. If Gilliam manages to beat the odds and get this thing in the can though, it would be an uniquely satisfying vindication of the auteurs very rough career.* Fingers crossed.
7 comments
I don't suppose if this one ends up being completed but ends up flopping anyway, Gilliam would actually feel an urge to shoot himself? Hopefully not.
HFS, I'm totally okay with this. Jean Rochefort really appeared to be perfect, but Duvall at least will be *great.* Also, in a Parnassus interview answer about the difficulties he's perceived as having with his films, he said "The reality is I don't think I've had it that much worse than most, probably the majority of filmmakers out there. It's just been reported more. People I bump into it say: it was four and a half years getting that one going. It's just very difficult, unless you happen to be one of the lucky Hollywood film directors, who plays the game in the studio world, and things move at a much quicker rate. In fact you got problems on different films, they happen to a lot of people, I just invariably had a documentary crew there." Weird, considering what he went through with MUNCHAUSEN and QUIXOTE, by maybe those were just the outliers. Maybe with BRAZIL it is known just because he made a stink rather than suck it up.
But it'll still have Depp. How could it have trouble with funding if it has Depp?
I suspect many of you will disagree with me, but I'll take Duvall over Depp any day.
Depp's participation has not been confirmed – as far as I know.
After seeing Lost in La Mancha I hope they finish the film, at least as an experiment in mashing old footage with new.
It's not Duvall over Depp, it's Duvall and Depp. Two completely different characters. Plus there was a recent news article that made it sound like Depp had cooled on this project anyway.
Jean Rochefort IS the role. After seeing "lost in la manch" and knowing that his prostate is as fucked as that chick after polanski got done with her saddens me. Duvall is the fucking man but this role goes deeper than "I'm old and bat shit" not saying that he is unable to do a "deep" portrayal…but apprehension does abound. This is the first modern novel with a message/love about the art of story telling as deep as the admiration for film making in "inglorious basterds". Regardless this "Quixote" will be a different beast from the novel not just because of duvall and depp…but the script i've heard is a departure from the novel. While Gillam will always be the mad notes due to brazil, muchasen, fear &, and fisher king having heard the yawns for parnassus SEEN brothers grimm, tideland, and lets face it the shitty 50-60% of twelve monkeys (seriously the love story is poop, Dig the time travel shit/pitt) I wonder…HEAVILY wonder if Gillam can due a project of this signifigance justice. Not saying he's lost the touch but as of late it feels like he's using far less fingers.
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