This week, finally, sees the release of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The titular Parnassus sold his daughter’s soul to the devil, and now she is reaching 16, the devil is due to collect. Parnassus hopes a stranger, Tony, holds the key to saving her.
Gilliam’s productions have a tendency towards misfortune, and The Imaginarium was no exception. The tragic death of Heath Ledger, of course, overshadows trivialities like film production and distribution problems, and i’m sure Gilliam’s thoughts were with the family of his friend, and not his movie. A question mark did, however, hang over the future of the project. Eventually, Heath’s friends stepped in and the show went on.
That wasn’t that though, as Gilliam struggled to obtain a distribution deal, with companies reluctant to gamble on an independent fantasy movie in the current economy. For some film-makers, this might have put them off for life. But Gilliam has a wealth of experience with strife.
It all started off quite well, and the Python movies were reasonably simple, within the usual parameters of any production. Even Time Bandits went pretty smoothly by all accounts. It wasn’t really until the end of Brazil, namely post-production, that Gilliam’s troubles really started.
Compromises had to be made over several sequences to reduce costs, but shooting was finally completed. Due to Gilliams previous problems with Brazil, and the presence of a new CEO at Columbia, Munchausen had a limited run in the US at a handful of theatres. From a final budget of reportedly $46 million, twice the initial $24 million agreed by Columbia, it took just $8 million in the US. The Munchausen saga earnt Gilliam a Hollywood black mark.
Some of Gilliam’s problems have been productions that didn’t happen. He has twice tried to put together a project to adapt the Watchmen graphic novel, but it didn’t work out – author Alan Moore even told him it was unfilmable. Gilliam also had plans for a sequel to Time Bandits, but as several of the original actors had died that didn’t work out either.
Gilliam is now gearing up to retry Don Quixote again, and has recently announced he has found his lead actor. With Parnassus now reaching theatres, maybe things are starting to look up again for Gilliam.
Is Terry Gilliam cursed? No. Instead, he is a visionary film maker. This means that he will always clash with major studios, as he will always be following his artistic vision, as the executives instead focus on their bottom line. Whilst the studios want to make movies for the masses, Gilliam wants to make art that appeals to himself. And as his unique ideas lend themselves best to exotic filming locations, Gilliam’s projects will always be at the mercy of the harsh and problematic environments. It’s the nature of the beast, and to be honest, i don’t think Terry Gilliam would want it any other way.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus opens this Friday 15th October here in the UK. It goes on limited release on 25th December in the US.