Terry Gilliam is reviving his passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote nearly a decade after his first attempt was derailed according to Variety.
Gilliam's first stab at adapting Miguel de Cervantes' classic 17th century romantic tale was blighted by everything from freakish bad weather, which destroyed the sets, to lead actor Jean Rochefort's chronic back problems.
If you want to know more about what happened with that then watch the excellent Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s documentary Lost in La Mancha.
Now Gilliam is teaming up with Brit producer Jeremy Thomas to bring his long-cherished project to the big screen.
Gilliam and screenwriter Tony Grisoni (check out my interview with Tony about his work on Red Riding), who also wrote the first version, have rewritten and updated the script. The new film will revolve around a filmmaker who is charmed into joining Don Quixote's eternal quest for his ladylove, becoming an unwitting Sancho Panza.
"I'm not so much a filmmaker as someone who gets possessed by an idea and it doesn't leave me until I make the film," Gilliam told Variety. "I commit myself to it so fully."
Gilliam is also in talks with Johnny Depp, who had been set to star in the first ill-fated attempt as a modern-day ad exec who travels back in time and is mistaken for Sancho Panza by Don Quixote. Scheduling concerns are seen as the biggest obstacle to Depp's participation this time.
Gilliam is hoping to start shooting "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" next spring.
The main role of Don Quixote has yet to be cast.
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