Terry Gilliam’s dream project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, has been languishing in production limbo for years now. The closest the project came to fruition was in 2002, when it became the subject of the fascinating documentary Lost in La Mancha – a film largely concerned with the total failure of Gilliam to actually make a movie about Don Quixote. But reports continue to surface that the director is trying to resurrect his re-telling of the famous epic about a Spanish gentleman who imagines that he’s a romantic knight-errant.
Today, Variety (via The Playlist) reports that The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will start filming in early 2015, with casting now underway. This follows on the heels of a quiet indication that actor John Hurt might be in talks to play Don Quixote himself. Though Hurt is not yet confirmed, it’s a nice possibility and gives greater credence to the idea that the film might actualy get made this time around.
Gilliam has been trying to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground for more than a decade now, with a cast that initially included Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort. Bad luck plagued the production, however, and resulted in Gilliam dropping it. Robert Duvall was attached in the part of Don Quixote for awhile as well, but that also appears to have fallen through. Now the whole thing has come around again, and we’ll see if Gilliam can actually pull it off.
Don Quixote has a reputation for plaguing filmmakers who attempt to adapt it. Orson Welles failed to make his version when financing and other concerns kept getting in the way, and the film version of the stage musical Man of a La Mancha was also famously cursed. Gilliam has not had such good luck so far, but he’s nothing if not tenacious. If anyone can succeed at making a Don Quixote film, he probably can.
We’ll keep an eye out for further news about The Man Who Killed Don Quixote as it becomes available.