Gilliam Chats With Sydney Morning Herald: Parnassus, Quixote, No Mention Of Gorillaz

In a new interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Gilliam covers all of the typical bases from his interviews of late: Spamalot, Tideland, upcoming projects.

Do go read the whole thing, but here are choice excerpts. Firstly, on Tideland:

What's been interesting is I go on the web and look at Rotten Tomatoes and see that 70 to 75 per cent of the critics don't like it. Then you read the public comments and it's just the opposite - 70 to 75 per cent of the public who write in like it. So I'm not sure who's out of touch.

It's totally innocent. What's interesting about it is all the reviews I read that use the word pedophile. I think, 'What are they talking about?' They're not talking about what's there on the screen. They're talking about how they've been brainwashed by the media.

On Depp being The Man Who Killed Don Quixote:

We can't make it without him and we can certainly make it a lot more easily now with him. It's quite extraordinary because at the time, Johnny meant nothing to the studios. Now they'll kill to have him there.

The article, not Gilliam, says:

But first - finance permitting - comes The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, set in a travelling show which has an attraction that allows patrons to go inside a man's mind.

For more on that one - a LOT more - read film ick's exclusive script review.

[EDIT: Josh Tyler at Cinema Blend has this morning seen fit to slate Parnassus, calling it a Being John Malkovich knockoff. How very, very wrong he is. Again]

Gilliam Still Hasn't Rights To Man Who Killed Don Quixote Script Back In His Posession

Speaking at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (only yesterday, I believe) Terry Gilliam has admitted that he still doesn't have the rights to his The Man Who Killed Don Quixote script back. He describes negotiations as being in their "final final final final" stages (unless I lost count) and that he's still planning to cast Johnny Depp.

Will it ever happen? Blimey - I certainly hope so. If only cosmic ordering could conceivably work... I'd get Terry his script back, me a nice big pile of money so I could protect against future working, and have Noel Edmond's lose his job presenting Deal or No Deal.

Todd Stopped?

Just about every British tabloid is alive with the sound of BS, this morning. Well... I hope so, at least.

Reports pretty much across the board have it that, sadly, Johnny Depp has halted production of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd while his daughter Lily-Rose is sick in hospital. So far, it would seem, they production has had almost two weeks on hiatus, and according to most of these reports, if Depp doesn't return at the end of this week, staff will be fired and the film is likely to be closed down.

I dare say that a temporary shut down is underway, but it seems unlikely that the film will be axed entirely because of this... doesn't it?

Where do your sympathies lie? With Depp? With the hundreds of cast and crew that could end up losing their jobs?

Maybe the curse of Terry Gilliam that supposedly crippled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will now be reinterpreted as the curse of Johnny Depp.

WENN Quote Gilliam On Quixote

Terry Gilliam has been quoted by WENN as claiming, once again, that The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is back on track.

"I am told we will have a script back in our hands by Christmas but I have been hearing this for many years, so we shall see. But this seems the most positive news I have heard in a long time about the project. The problem is, when Johnny Depp is next available, will I still be alive?"

Johnny Depp needs to ditch some of his upcoming movies, and fast. This should clearly be his number one priority.