Oh dear. Terry Gilliam just broke the curse of La Mancha – did he not? – by casting Ewan McGregor as Johnny Depp’s replacement in the long-gestating, passion project, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote?” (which of course was infamously scuttled due to several acts of god, bad luck, hex’s, etc. and all of it was heartbreakingly documented in the 2002 documentary, “Lost In La Mancha“).
Mmm, seemingly like all announcements these days, it may have been slightly premature.
“If [‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’] comes about, which it may — and I certainly hope it does, because I’ve wanted to work with [director Terry Gilliam] for a long time — to play that part would be very, very exciting,” McGregor told MTV this week.
That does sound a little tentative. Maybe it’s a funding/money issue that hasn’t 100% been locked in? At least McGregor’s not saying, “Yeah, I might wanna do it,” and he does sound very gung-ho so that’s a a good sign. Let’s just hope it’s not another bad augur.
Frankly, Gilliam has had waaay to many tragedies befall his productions in recent years — hello, Heath Ledger passing away during the middle of shooting, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — and Gilliam could use a break for once (every project is seemingly Sisyphean in nature). Movie gods, how about shifting the clouds over Michael Bay or a useless summer tentpole like “Prince of Persia” for once? We hear there’s a superfluous “Pirates of the Caribbean” being shot this summer….