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While Heath Ledger's role as Joker in The Dark Knight might go down as his last (and greatest) complete role, technically his final performance will come in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. In a weird way it's almost fitting that Gilliam -- who's been cursed for years now -- would wind up being the filmmaker to last work with Ledger. Not only has Ledger's next-to-last film broken almost every box office record to date, but folks are so afraid of a Gilliam flick that even with the marketing machine that is the death of Heath Ledger, Hollywood still doesn't want to go near Dr. Parnassus.
A story in The Hollywood Reporter last week claims Ledger could be in a "position of having one of the biggest- grossing movies in Hollywood history out at the same time he's in a movie hunting for an domestic distribution deal." And the scary part of this is that when Ledger passed away, Hollywood heavyweights like Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to finish the film for their deceased friend. With ALL THAT, it's still a risky movie to get behind. One "distribution guru" added, "For all the elements in this film, it is a Terry Gilliam picture, and as much as you want a movie of his to be good, you have to be careful." Poor Gilliam ... the guy just can't catch a break.
Well, unless you want to see Dr. Parnassus. Wouldn't it be kinda spooky if one death helped revive another's career? If we, as an audience, had the ability to choose between the doom and gloom of mourning an actor's death or the light and joy that comes with helping a beloved filmmaker get back on track?
Not long ago while appearing as a guest on the /Filmcast, I offered up a suggestion to Terry Gilliam. Instead of making these wacko movies and/or trying to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote back off the ground, how about Terry Gilliam makes a film about the life and times of Terry Gilliam. About how one talented filmmaker can be so good and so bad at what he does in the same lifetime. About the curse -- about all the things that went wrong on all his different films. And then, to top it all off, you get Johnny Depp to play Gilliam. There's your next movie!
But let me get back on track: THR describes Dr. Parnassus as "centering on parallel worlds, a theater troupe and a devil-dealing 1,000-year-old doctor." Sh*t, I'd see that ... with or without Heath Ledger. But then there's this interesting line from the film's plot synopsis on IMDB: "It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a traveling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom."
Kinda sounds familiar, eh?
Look, with four actors playing one role, a script re-write and Terry Gilliam at the helm, there's a good chance the film's a complete mess. Or not. Maybe it's sorta brilliant and morbid and wonderful and everything Gilliam needed to happen at the right time, in the right year to the right movie. Maybe Hollywood needs to give it a chance, and maybe we need to go out and see this. We've buried one talent, let's not bury the career of another.
I'm choosing light and joy. How about you?
1. This film sounds like it would have been pretty cool as it was originally intended, but it's even more intriguing with the addition of Jude, Johnny, and Colin! I really, really hope that it doesn't slip into oblivion in the face of limited release. Come on, just give it to us.
Posted at 9:42PM on Aug 18th 2008 by sheryl