Terry Gilliam doesn't believe in the 'curse of Quixote' but you have to wonder if he's recently suffered restless nights wondering how many gypsy ladies he has pissed off during his lifetime. If Gilliam's not cursed, he's had a rotten run of bad luck and the guy is overdue a break. Eight years on from the fabulous 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha that chronicled the ill-fated and painstaking first attempt from Gilliam to adapt the classic 17th century novel Don Quixote into a feature film (which actually got as far as filming with Johnny Depp) - and another major attempt to realise the British director's vision has failed. Speaking to Variety, the oddball director told audiences at the Deauville American Film Festival that financing on The Man Who Shot Don Quixote has depressingly ran dry;
"The financing collapsed about a month and a half ago...I shouldn't be here. The plan was to be shooting 'Quixote' right now."
Although this time he didn't even get to the filming stage, heroically, Gilliam has vowed to keep on fighting and will retain his cast;
"Robert Duvall is Quixote, Ewan McGregor is also there, and we are looking for new financing right now... Don Quixote' gives me something to look forward to, always. Maybe the most frightening thing is to actually make the film."
However, reports suggest the earliest Gilliam could return to filming on the movie would be next September, a year from now, as he is committed to a production on Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust at the English National Opera in London which will take up the majority of his 2011. Majority of men would have given up by now and moved onto something. Gotta credit his tenaciousness. Though Gilliam assures us that an up-scaled 3D version of Time Bandits is on the way. Erm, great, I guess.