Good news! We bumped into the great Terry Gilliam last night at a party in Cannes for the Doha Film Institute, and he revealed to us exclusively that Ewan McGregor has joined the cast of his long-delayed film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
McGregor will take on the role that Johnny Depp had been set to play in the original, aborted version back in 2000. Depp had still been attached to the role for this version, but with Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 eating into his schedule, and a September start date looming for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam has clearly decided to go with McGregor instead.
McGregor will play, if the current version remains faithful to the original attempt, a 21st century advertising executive who travels back in time to 17th century Spain, where he meets Don Quixote and becomes involved in adventures with him. Robert Duvall has been on board the revamped film, as Quixote, for some time, replacing Jean Rochefort. But the addition of McGregor is brand new.
"Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question - and he can ride a horse!" laughed Gilliam. "And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost. There's a lot of colours to Ewan that he's not been showing recently and it's time for him to show them again. He's got a great sense of humour and he's a wonderful actor. He's wonderfully boyish and can be charming - when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb!"
Watch Terry Gilliam discuss the casting in our daily Cannes video diary below (jump to about 3.42).
Gilliam also revealed that the budget of the movie will be around the $20 million mark, a far cry from the $35 million he had to play with in 2000.
We wish him all the best with this new version. Fingers crossed!
Shame it can't be Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort but Gilliam will make Ewan Mcgregor good, not that he's that bad but Bruce Willis seemed convincing in 12 Monkeys!! Robert Duvall will be great. (Ewan Mcgregor should keep his scots accent....) More
Posted by blowyourtitsup at 15:18 on 21 May 2010 | Report This Post
RE: Gilliam's Don Quixote Bags Ewan McGregor
Wow, whats with the "Bash Ewan McGregor" party?! He's great in Young Adam, Big Fish and Moulin Rouge to name but three, and headed one of the most lauded films of the year thus far in The Ghost. More
Posted by adambatman82 at 12:48 on 19 May 2010 | Report This Post
RE: one note twat
L: Edward Nygma
L: TheSpleen
L: Edward Nygma
lol I love how Gilliam's like "yeah he's gotten better over the years", meaning he was ass up until like a year ago...which isn't true. He's still not very good.
Really tired of seeing Ewan in everything and liking him in nothing.
I guess he'll be believable as a boring executive but I really hope he won't be all whiny and like "what's going on all around maaay? I have no personalitaaaay..." (that's his Alabama accent, More
L: TheSpleen
L: Edward Nygma
lol I love how Gilliam's like "yeah he's gotten better over the years", meaning he was ass up until like a year ago...which isn't true. He's still not very good.
Really tired of seeing Ewan in everything and liking him in nothing.
I guess he'll be believable as a boring executive but I really hope he won't be all whiny and like "what's going on all around maaay? I have no personalitaaaay..." (that's his Alabama accent, or what he believes t More
Posted by Edward Nygma at 10:56 on 19 May 2010 | Report This Post
RE: one note twat
L: Edward Nygma
lol I love how Gilliam's like "yeah he's gotten better over the years", meaning he was ass up until like a year ago...which isn't true. He's still not very good.
Really tired of seeing Ewan in everything and liking him in nothing.
I guess he'll be believable as a boring executive but I really hope he won't be all whiny and like "what's going on all around maaay? I have no personalitaaaay..." (that's his Alabama accent, or what he believes to be an Alabama accent More
lol I love how Gilliam's like "yeah he's gotten better over the years", meaning he was ass up until like a year ago...which isn't true. He's still not very good.
Really tired of seeing Ewan in everything and liking him in nothing.
I guess he'll be believable as a boring executive but I really hope he won't be all whiny and like "what's going on all around maaay? I have no personalitaaaay..." (that's his Alabama accent, or what he believes to be an Alabama accent) like he was in Men W More
Posted by Edward Nygma at 22:40 on 18 May 2010 | Report This Post
one note twat
Well with this new casting Gilliam has already shown us how much of a turkey he's cooking with the box office poison that is Ewan Mcgregor. We'll get to watch his puzzled frown with ropey accent combo whilst his paltry acting skills drag everyone down to his sub Hollyoaks standard. No decent performance since Trainspotting yet you gave him an icon award!! Jesus wept. This film will suck ass. More
Posted by godzilavskennyrogers at 22:01 on 18 May 2010 | Report This Post
Good choice
Depp seems to be just treading water right now delivering over the top performances in increasingly lame films. Although McGregor clearly won't help the film get seen he should at least give a strong performance and help Gilliam create another classic More
The clip(s) of finished film in "Lost in la Mancha" looked quite good. More
Posted by natman_begins at 06:26 on 18 May 2010 | Report This Post
Funnily enough...
... The great Jean Rochefort just directed a documentary about horses and his love of horses called "Cavaliers Seuls" (Lone Riders). Knowing the man's passion for the subject and his admiration for Terry Gilliam, it must have been devastating not being physically fit to make the movie! More
