17 years after the plug was pulled on his first attempt, Terry Gilliam has now commenced production on his passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, IndieWire is reporting.
As announced last year (when the project was delayed once again), Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Adam Driver is set to take on the lead role originally portrayed by Johnny Depp in the abandoned 2000 version. However, it seems that Gilliam regular Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) will now take on the role of Quixote, replacing Michael Palin (who himself replaced John Hurt, Robert Duvall and Jean Rochefort).
Joining Driver and Pryce in the cast are Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), Stellan Skarsgård (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Joana Ribeiro (A Uma Hora Incerta), Eva Basteiro-Bertoli (Black Bread) and Rossy de Palma (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).
Here’s the official synopsis for the project, which was unveiled last year:
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.
Originally published March 12, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
