32 New Photos From “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”

The folks over at EcranLarge have debuted a latest set and production photos from Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.”

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this ‘coming of age’ milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all…

The film stars Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. Read the rest of this entry

Brand New Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Photo

Thanks to SlashFilm we’ve got this brand new photo of Heath Ledger in his final film, Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.”

The magic mirror in which the actors travel through seems to be sitting behind Ledger in the photo. Ledger passed away during filming, so trio of actors: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all stepped in to fill his role for the remainder of the film. “Ledger’s character falls through a magic mirror four times throughout the film” making these transformations into other actors actually feasible.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this ‘coming of age’ milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all…

The film is currently in post-production with a release date sometime in 2009.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Behind The Scenes

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is not quite finished yet but a post-production teaser/behind the scenes video for Terry Gilliam’s Dr. Parnassus has arrived online (via Quick Stop Entertainment).

Gilliam says,

“The film begins in modern London. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is a thousand years old. Parnassus as the power to expand your mind beyond anything you’ve ever dreamed of. For centuries he’s been traveling the planet with his traveling theater, The Imaginarium. Parnassus is a prophet, he has a secret he made once long ago with the devil, and that secret will possibly destroy all their lives or possibly save them. It depends on who they meet … and who they meet is a man named Tony (Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law), hanging from a bridge in London. They save his life. Is he there to save them? Or is he working for the devil? These are the things we unravel as the story unfolds.”

The film should be arriving at theaters sometime in 2009.

Johnny Depp is back on “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”

Terry Gilliam had to abandon filming on “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” after a series of accidents forced insurers to pull the plug.

But Gilliam returns to the film project with Johnny Depp. He is hopeful the project can be recovered, eight years after filming first began.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s on,” Gilliam told the Independent.

“When Johnny’s ready, we’re ready. We’re just talking about dates to film. Basically it all depends on his schedule but otherwise we’re set. It will be next year some time, before next summer anyway.”

“We’re going to completely re-shoot it,” he told. “The intervening years have taught me that I can actually write a much better film. I’m excited it’s going to get done at last.”

Gilliam had serious problems earlier this year - his “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” was put on hold due to the death of the leading man, Heath Ledger.

‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ Will Not Be Altered

Work on ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus‘ resumed on Monday after Heath Ledger’s death halted filming on the project earlier this year.

In his honor, Hollywood superstars Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law have signed up to feature in the film, which is due for release next year.

However, the film’s director, Terry Gilliam, and producers have promised to preserve every detail of Ledger’s final performance, and that the hiring of the three new stars will not affect his work.

Producers working on Heath Ledger’s final film have vowed not to alter the tragic star’s last performance, even though the actor never got the chance to complete the project before his untimely death.

A statement released by the movie’s producers reads,

“Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath’s work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology.

“Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing.”

“I am delighted that Heath’s brilliant performance can be shared with the world.

“We are looking forward to finishing the movie and, through the film, with a modicum of humility, being able to touch people’s hearts and souls as Heath was able to do.” Gilliam said.

Ledger had finished shooting scenes for the fantasy movie in London just days before he was found dead in his New York apartment in January.

‘Dr. Parnassus’ has been saved

Despite the tragic death of pic’s star Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell have all signed on to play Ledger’s character, Tony, in the film.

So, Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus”, probably has been saved from cinematic doom.

In the fantasy pic, ‘Tony’ steps into three different dimensions, each transporting him into a new world, worlds which will now be inhabitated by Depp, Law, and Farrell.

No word yet on when production will resume but the film is on board for a 2009 release.

Other cast members include Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer.

Heath Ledger - Digitally Re-Created?

There have been a few versions with Terry Gilliam’s fantasy film, after the passing of its star, Heath Ledger. The first was that Johnny Depp stand in for the tragic Ledger to complete the remaining scenes.

And now, there’s even another alternative.

Christopher Plummer told ‘People’ magazine: ‘Terry Gilliam is throwing himself into the job of trying to salvage the picture’.

Heath Ledger’s co-star in ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ has said that the late actor may be digitally re-created for his un-filmed scenes in the project!?

‘Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI.’

CGI has been used to complete actor’s performances before, when Oliver Reed was digitally recreated in ‘Gladiator’ after he died midway through the shoot.