Back in April it was announced that Terry Gilliam is set to take another crack at The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, with filming expected to get underway this September.
Well, according to FlickReel, Gilliam has now enlisted Michael Palin for the role of Don Quixote, while Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver could be portraying the character of Toby. The site has also got its hands on an official synopsis for the long-gestating project, which reads:
There was a time when Toby was a young film student full of ideals. So he decided to shoot a film adapted from the story of Don Quixote in a pretty Spanish village.
But those days are gone and now Toby is an arrogant publicist, libidinous and jaded. Money and glitter have corrupted him, and while he is in Spain where he finishes filming an ad, he has to juggle with his boss’s wife – Jacqui – a calamitous weather, and his own ego. This is when a mysterious gypsy comes to find him with an old copy of his student film: Toby is upset and decides to go in search of a little village where he had made his first work a long time ago. He discovers with horror that his little film has had terrible effects on this quiet place. Angelica, the girl full of innocence, became a high-class call girl; and the old man who played Don Quixote lost his mind, convinced in his delusion of being the real “Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.”
A series of incidents lead to a fire that threatens to destroy the village. Wanted by the police, Toby is “saved” by the old fool who takes him for his faithful squire Sancho, and drives on the roads in search of his perfect wife, Dulcinea.
During this journey, Toby will face demons, real and imaginary, modern and medieval. Damsels will be saved, jousts will be completed, and giants will be killed!
Reality and fantasy merge in this strange journey, until a spooky ending.
Gilliam has been attempted to bring his adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ novel to the screen for many years; his first effort was chronicled in the 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha, while last year he had John Hurt (Hercules) and Jack O’Connell (Unbroken) attached to star as his two leads only for the project to be delayed once again due to Hurt’s ill health.
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Originally published May 15, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
