With the current trend of fantastical films on the rise, so many people seem excited for the upcoming Tim Burton helmed Alice in Wonderland but neglect that a true master of the wondrous and surreal, Terry Gilliam also has a remarkable project on the way. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, from description alone, sounds like an amazing production. The remarkably talented Heath Ledger’s final film before his unfortunate passing left the film uncompleted. Gilliam, rather than end the project like he was forced to with this previous production The Man Who Killed Don Quixote seems to have transformed Dr. Parnassus into a fitting tribute to a talent that was snuffed too early. The dreamlike qualities of the film allowed for a unique technique to be employed in its completion, Ledger’s friends would be cast as a transformation of the same character as the film moves through alternate realities. Gilliam then cast Johnny Depp, Colin Ferrel, and Jude Law as reinterpretations of Ledger’s final role to complete the film. But having four dynamite talents playing one single character is not nearly where it stops. You also get Christopher Plummer in the titular role, and perhaps, in the most appropriate piece of casting ever, Tom Waits as the Devil. Wrap all of this up with Gilliam’s signature surreal visions and whimsical nature, and you have a movie that I am literally drooling to see. Check out the trailer below.
– Luke
I’ve seen it 4 times and it’s incredible. It is definitely drool worthy! You’re going to love it.
Alas, the lure of fat paychecks and exhibitionist number-one spots at the box office got the better of them, and as they slipped into middle-age, their collaborations gradually became stale and soulless as they sacrificed depth for marketability. Eventually the gods of world cinema banished Depp and Burton to the land of sell-outs where they were forced to contemplate their insatiable greed for the rest of their days. The end…or was that simply a wonderful dream?