THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS not finished yet, says director Terry Gilliam

Director Terry Gilliam was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Dubai International Film Festival this week. In an interview with David Light of City Times, Gilliam explained that his current project, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is still in post-production: “Basically the movie is finished apart from about 600 special effects shots which are not quite finished,” Gilliam explained. “We’re in the final stages of development. Some of the effects have to be reshot because of Heath’s passing.”

Heath Ledger died during the filming of Doctor Parnassus last January; Gilliam later completed the shoot with the remainder of Ledger’s role divided among Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law. Gilliam says that the yet-to-be-completed special effects shots are necessary because of changes made to the script after Ledger’s death. “It was also partly due to the schedules of Johnny, Colin and Jude,” Gilliam says, “because they were all involved in other projects and we had to shoot very fast and not as controlled as I would like to be just to get them done.” Adds Gilliam, “We literally had Johnny for a day and a half and I had a lot of work to do. Trying to work the transitions out from Heath’s character to the others took longer in some instances so everything just started growing.”

The three actors who completed Ledger’s role “essentially worked for free,” notes City Times, “as they donated all the earnings they made to Heath’s daughter” Matilda. Gilliam praises their generosity: “Johnny was the first guy I called and he said, ‘I’m there when you need me,'” reports Gilliam. “It was the same with Jude and Colin. They all knew Heath well and they all loved him and told me that whatever was necessary they would do.”

Actor Christopher Plummer, who plays Dr. Parnassus, recently told TCM that the film is not yet completed because Terry Gilliam is “waiting for all sorts of insurance problems to be cleared because of Heath Ledger’s death. And although Heath Ledger was replaced by three actors as you know–Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell–which is terrific replacing, my god. There are still some monetary problems over insurance. Otherwise, it’s almost ready to be released.” We hope Terry Gilliam gets his check from the insurance company soon, so The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus can come to theaters.

You can read the full City Times interview with Terry Gilliam on the Zone’s News & Views forum, or HERE. The Zone thanks Emma for the Gilliam interview, and FANtasticJD for the Christopher Plummer interview.–Part-Time Poet