CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
The Curse of Terry Gilliam?
Is prominent ex-Monty Pythoner and seminal film director Terry Gilliam the Chicago Cubs of filmmakers?
This notion was first brought to light in 2002, with the documentary ‘Lost in La Mancha.’ Gilliam, attempting to film a interpretation of the Don Quixote story (starring Johnny Depp) was plagued with every bad luck circumstance a film set could handle — bad weather delays, injured principal stars, financing problems — any one of which can shut down a film, but all three making it impossible to finish the picture. Gilliam’s Quixote was never made.
Fast forward to 2008. Another Gilliam project, ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,’ is in principal photography with a big star on board as the primary lead actor — Heath Ledger. The actor is tragically found dead.
Ledger’s death has put the Imaginarium on indefinite hold, amid rumors of CGI manipulations or voice looping. Will the Imaginarium get completed, or like the Quixote will it go into the vaults of history, another victim of the Curse of Terry Gilliam?
As it was said in Monty Python, “and now for something completely different…”