While he spent most of the year struggling to mount his cursed project “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” Terry Gilliam certainly hasn’t been sitting idle, rocking a webcast for Arcade Fire in August, directing an energy drink mini-movie thing “The Legend Of Hallowdega,” and he’s currently gearing up for a production of Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust” at the English National Opera in London. But it looks like he’s going to squeeze in one more film project before he focuses on the stage.
Terry Gilliam will be shooting a short film, “The Wholly Family,” with filming to begin next month in Naples. Details are being kept under wraps, but early reports that it was based off the similarly titled poem by Eve Merriam are incorrect. Instead, the project will boast an original script by Gilliam and the film is being sponsored by pasta company Garofalo as part of an annual series of films about Naples. Gilliam regulars, cinematographer Nicola Pecorini and costume designer Gabriella Pescucci, will be collaborating once again with the director, while casting is out for Americans to take the lead roles of father, mother and young son characters, with Italians in supporting roles. Auditions have apparently already taken place earlier this month in Rome.
The finished film will apparently run about 15 minutes in length and shooting will take place between January 10th and 16th.
While the prospect of a new Gilliam project is always tantalizing, it’s also kind of depressing his latest works have been realized thanks to sports drinks and pasta (and let’s face it, ‘Hallowdega’ was kind of terrible and we’re keeping our expectations cool on this project). Here’s hoping that after his stint at the English National Opera, he’s able to get a fresh feature off the ground. [Bleeding Cool/The Real Gilliam Fan]