The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

[Kelda]

Producers put Ledger film on hold

The makers of Heath Ledger's most recent film have suspended production following the actor's death.

Ledger, who was found dead on Tuesday, had recently completed filming in London on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam.

The $30m (£15.1m) production had moved to Vancouver, Canada for interior and bluescreen scenes.

The film's makers issued a statement saying: "Terry and the producers will be assessing how best to proceed."

The producers also paid tribute to the 28-year-old, calling him "a great actor, a great friend and a great spirit."

Force majeure

"We are still in a state of deep shock, saddened and numb with grief," the statement continued.

The Australian star of Brokeback Mountain had previously worked with Gilliam on The Brothers Grimm.

Greg Chambers, business manager for craft union ACFC West, told the Vancouver Sun newspaper that the production is "currently listed as a force majeure".

Force majeure is a clause which allows producers to end contracts in extraordinary circumstances.

Mr Chambers added that some 100 crew members had been laid off as a result.

A post mortem on Ledger, whose body was found in his New York apartment, was inconclusive, with further tests under way.

The star's other recent role was playing The Joker in forthcoming Batman film The Dark Knight.

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

From New York Magazine

1/25/08

Apropos of Nothing

Will Johnny Depp Replace Heath Ledger in Ridiculous New Gilliam Movie?



Oft-reliable British tabloid The Sun reports today on unsubstantiated rumors that Johnny Depp could replace Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Terry Gilliam's in-production fantasy movie which Ledger's death threw into uncertainty this week. According to a "studio source": "There is a point in the film when Heath falls through a magic mirror. He could change into another character after that and that is where Johnny would come in."

But for as ridiculous as that sounds, the Times this morning has details on why such a switch might actually work. Apparently the film's "earthbound exterior" portions were all completed in London this month and last, and the rest of the movie — about a traveling carnival that "offers audience members the chance to transcend reality by passing through a magical mirror" — was to be shot on a Vancouver soundstage, incorporating special effects for its more fantastical scenes. So, any radical changes to the appearance of Ledger's character could probably be explained away as magic or something. Also, The Sun says that Depp isn't working right now, so he might just do it as a favor to Gilliam, with whom he remains friends despite the way Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas turned out.

Another reason this could work: None of Terry Gilliam's movies make any damn sense anyway!

[Kelda]

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20174404,00.html?xid=rss-fullcontentcnn

(Posted by Louise in the News thread but thought also interesting here)

[Kelda]

Someone posted this on IMDB - I'm thinking of buying this book now... its a really lovely portrait of the brothers grimm and heath and terry etc...

http://imdb.com/name/nm0005132/board/flat/96307882

I was keeping up to date with the news about Heath's last film The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, and reading all the posts about Heath and Terry and Heath's thoughts on Terry and vice versa, it occured to me that I have a copy of Bob McCabe's book Dreams and Nightmares: Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm and Other Cautionary Tales of Hollywood on my shelf. Here are some extracts concerning Heath. The first selection is from Gilliam himself.

TERRY ON HEATH

Wednesday 11th June
…so Samantha [Morton, originally suggested by Terry for the role of Angelika]’s getting off the plane to discover that Lena [Headey, who was cast by the Weinsteins without consulting Terry or the rest of the cast]’s been cast and we all came here to Café Colonial, we were sitting in this very room here – Matt, Heath, myself, Samantha – just getting pissed, and Heath sat on the phone to his agent screaming and shouting. And Matt’s going crazy.

Thursday 19th June
[in rehearsal, to Heath]: I love your terrible French. Play it straight at this point.

Thursday 26th June
Heath wants to make his own Grimm notebook – he’s been shown some props but he wants to make his own. He’s getting confused.

Thursday 28th August
The first time we talked about this thing our first choice was Johnny Depp and Heath Ledger, but Johnny didn’t want to come back to Prague. That was our original cast…
Heath was there because of Nicola [Pecorini, cinematographer], as Heath had done Sin Eater, the Brian Helgeland film, with him. “This guy’s really good”, Nicola said. “Like Johnny. He’s really got the stuff.” So Heath was the first one on board. I was still talking to Johnny about it. But with Heath, I met him, talked to him on the phone and he was in without even reading the script.
The first thing [Harvey Weinstein] said was “Why do you want Heath Ledger?” I said, “Because he’s perfect, and really good.” Heath had had a run-in with them on Four Feathers, coming to Wes Bentley’s defence and Shekhar Kapur’s defence and they didn’t like that.

More coming if anybody wants it!

it goes on with lots more quotes... go visit the thread if you're interetsed in readiong on.

[Mikaela]

That's interesting, Kelda. Thanks for posting that. I'll certainly go over to IMDb and read more. 


~~~~~~

Now I took flak for posting this somewhere else, so if this is not your cup of tea, kindly give the link a miss:

The following link is for a site that's got footage (filmed with a cell phone by a annoyed neighbour who filmed that to have documentation because she was going to complain about the noise - how ironic is that?) of Heath filming a scene of Imaginarium on the last day before he returned to the States. Relatively poor quality, but very poignant nevertheless to see him one more time doing the work he loved to be part of....

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157150395117?packedargs=suffix%3DArticleController

[Kelda]

That's interesting, Kelda. Thanks for posting that. I'll certainly go over to IMDb and read more. 


~~~~~~

Now I took flak for posting this somewhere else, so if this is not your cup of tea, kindly give the link a miss:

The following link is for a site that's got footage (filmed with a cell phone by a annoyed neighbour who filmed that to have documentation because she was going to complain about the noise - how ironic is that?) of Heath filming a scene of Imaginarium on the last day before he returned to the States. Relatively poor quality, but very poignant nevertheless to see him one more time doing the work he loved to be part of....

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157150395117?packedargs=suffix%3DArticleController

Mikaela - I've seen this - like you I'm sucking up everything going - its out way of dealing I guess.

[Mikaela]

I guess it is... I've been online a lot the last 8-9 days.


I read the rest of the quoted notes, and liked them a whole lot. Recommend them as a good read. 

One thing I noted is the impression they give of all the back-and-forth and ups&downs of getting a movie off the ground. This actor, that actor, new rounds of casting, who plays which role, negotiations, etc. etc. It sure takes time and efforts - and still partly is based on providence and coincidence in the end....

Also love how several of the people in their notes comment specifically on how active Heath was, how filled with energy, how positive and creative etc. etc. Well of course. It's a marked contrast to the stuff I've unfortunately read the last few days..... 


I especially loved this bit, and would have paid good money to be allowed to be a fly on the wall here (as described by Bob McCabe):

"Wednesday 16th July
Heath and Matt hang out between shots, riffing on lines from Life of Brian. Heath is particularly fond of “I’m Brian, and so’s my wife.”



(I am a HUGE fan of Life of Brian.  )

[Kelda]

heh, I thoguht that was cute to M.

BrokebackDev said she saw on www.iheartjake.com the following

I read on IHJ that Jake G, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, and Christain Bale are going to help finish Heaths last film, Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus as a tribute to Heath.. They were all close friends to Heath. 

i couldn't find it on the site at the moment but I'd be interested to know exactly what they would plan to do....

[Brokeback_Dev]

Here's the link  for you Kelda

 http://iheartjake.suddenlaunch.com/index.cgi?board=gyllenhaalics&num=1201796156&action=display&start=0

[mvansand76]

Wouldn't that be awesome if it were true? What a great tribute that would be...