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Lost In La Mancha (2002, Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe)
.....Or How Storms, Aircraft and Jean Rochefort's Prostate Sabotage A Movie.....
Murphy's Law -
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
You will always find something in the last place you look.
No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.
The other line always moves faster.
In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.
Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought.
I've always been a fan of Cervantes' Don Quixote and when I heard that Terry Gilliam was adapting it for the screen, my eyes lit up. Sadly, Lost In La Mancha may be the closest we'll get to seeing the director's vision.
Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe's fascinating documentary was originally intended to be a 'Making Of...' feature (think of The Hamster Factor on the Twelve Monkeys DVD) to accompany Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It instead stands as a memorial to Murphy's Law.
From the beginning, Gilliam seems subdued. He's complaining that the film's budget is half of what he needs. He's complaining that no one can track down co-star Vanessa Paradis. Then the filming starts....
We're treated to unrehearsed extras, prima donna horses, electrical storms, a flying visit from the Spanish Airforce and a guest appearance from poor Jean Rochefort's aforementioned prostate (which causes the actor understandable pain and to fly back to Paris for days on end for treatment). Lost In La Mancha unfolds like a horror film with a mounting sense of dread as each new catastrophe hits the production and to see Gilliam visibly wilting onscreen makes for uneasy viewing.
Terry Gilliam has, of course, been through this all before with The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988) - an epic fable, beset by problems but differing from The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in that it actually limped over the finish line. To make matters worse, the filmed scenes we see look like classic Gilliam - big close-ups, fantastical design, slapstick etc. Rochefort (health permitting) was perfect as Don Quixote, Depp seemed kooky as ever and Vanessa Paradis was..well...stunning as ever.
You've got to feel for the director, thwarted in making a movie that he'd spent years thinking about but it's compelling viewing.
As the man himself said - "I am getting tired of these fights [with backers.] Each time you get into a fight the world closes in a bit. You start losing an innocence, a belief that everything is possible. Terry Jones thinks I'm belligerent and egotistical, and that I've got to get into a fight to keep me going. It does keep me awake. But I limit it to the fights that are worth it nowadays."
As I said - "It's difficult pushing custard uphill."
A bittersweet
.....Or How Storms, Aircraft and Jean Rochefort's Prostate Sabotage A Movie.....
Murphy's Law -
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
You will always find something in the last place you look.
No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.
The other line always moves faster.
In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.
Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought.
I've always been a fan of Cervantes' Don Quixote and when I heard that Terry Gilliam was adapting it for the screen, my eyes lit up. Sadly, Lost In La Mancha may be the closest we'll get to seeing the director's vision.
Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe's fascinating documentary was originally intended to be a 'Making Of...' feature (think of The Hamster Factor on the Twelve Monkeys DVD) to accompany Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It instead stands as a memorial to Murphy's Law.
From the beginning, Gilliam seems subdued. He's complaining that the film's budget is half of what he needs. He's complaining that no one can track down co-star Vanessa Paradis. Then the filming starts....
We're treated to unrehearsed extras, prima donna horses, electrical storms, a flying visit from the Spanish Airforce and a guest appearance from poor Jean Rochefort's aforementioned prostate (which causes the actor understandable pain and to fly back to Paris for days on end for treatment). Lost In La Mancha unfolds like a horror film with a mounting sense of dread as each new catastrophe hits the production and to see Gilliam visibly wilting onscreen makes for uneasy viewing.
Terry Gilliam has, of course, been through this all before with The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988) - an epic fable, beset by problems but differing from The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in that it actually limped over the finish line. To make matters worse, the filmed scenes we see look like classic Gilliam - big close-ups, fantastical design, slapstick etc. Rochefort (health permitting) was perfect as Don Quixote, Depp seemed kooky as ever and Vanessa Paradis was..well...stunning as ever.
You've got to feel for the director, thwarted in making a movie that he'd spent years thinking about but it's compelling viewing.
As the man himself said - "I am getting tired of these fights [with backers.] Each time you get into a fight the world closes in a bit. You start losing an innocence, a belief that everything is possible. Terry Jones thinks I'm belligerent and egotistical, and that I've got to get into a fight to keep me going. It does keep me awake. But I limit it to the fights that are worth it nowadays."
As I said - "It's difficult pushing custard uphill."
A bittersweet