The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

Heath Ledger was halfway through filming Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus when he died. Gilliam, a great friend of Heath's, initially wanted to shut the film down. However, the cast and crew rallied round and persuaded Terry to finish the film to honour Heath's memory and enthusiasm for the project.

So, Terry figured out a way to allow him to finish the film whilst retaining all of Heath's performance. Half the film is set in contemporary London and the other half in a fantasy world of the imagination. Heath's character, Tony, makes three journey's into the fantasy world so, having shot all his scenes in the "real" world, Terry wrote it into the script that people's appearance changes when they venture into the fantasy world. This allowed Terry to cast three other actors to play Tony for the fantasy sequences, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, who all deferred their salaries to Ledger's family.

Anyway, check out the trailer.

C'mon, how cool is that? The film looks to be a return to the early Gilliam style of Time Bandits and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen.

I love Gilliam's films, his wild imagination, his defiance of convention, mindless bureaucracy and the corruption and oppression of authority figures. Sure, his films are often a bit of a narrative mess but, in amongst all the amazing imagery, there is always a great compassion and humanity that celebrates individuality and free thinking.

Reports from this summer's major film festivals say Doctor Parnassus is Gilliam's best film for years, if not his best film, period. And it's Heath Ledger's final performance - that must surely count for something.

It would be wonderful for the film to find a big audience and prove to all those unimaginative naysayers in Hollywood that there is a market for crazy, radical films like this.

The film opens in the UK on 16 October with other countries to follow. Go on, take a chance. You never know, you might like it.

Further information:

Dreams: The Terry Gilliam Fanzine - News, interviews and set reports for Doctor Parnassus
The Doctor Parnassus Support Site - A worldwide campaign to raise awareness of the film