6 Behind-The-Scenes Documentaries That Show Why Films Went Wrong
1. Documentary Charts Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote Woes
No less that 17 years after it started, Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote wrapped up filming in June of this year.
The filmmaker's adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel is the celluloid equivalent of Duke Nukem Forever and Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy, so it's more than worthy of its own documentary detailing the comedy of errors that led to its extended stay in development hell.
Lost In La Mancha was filmed alongside the Gilliam's first attempt at Don Quixote and was intended to launch alongside the film as an official behind-the-scenes featurette.
But when the movie's Navarre set was damaged by flooding, lead actor Jean Rochefort dropped out through illness and the production ran into financial difficulties, the documentary morphed into something else entirely, chronicling the setbacks which led to the projects collapse and recieving a standalone release in 2002.
Lost In La Mancha is a fascinating and frank look at the factors surrounding the film's derailment and its subsequent descent into development hell.
Given how many more false starts Gilliam endured during Don Quixote's long road to completion, Lost In La Mancha could potentially have had more sequels than James Bond by now.