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THE MAN IN LA MANCHA - written by Alan Jones.
transcript by Meeps

It was Terry Gilliamīs dream to turn the story of Don Quixote into a major movie but its long history made it into a nightmare. Alan Jones interviewed the director just before filming finally collapsed. Here is the exclusive interview.

What is it about Terry Gilliam? It seems heīs consistently beset by incredible problems, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen being the most spectacular examples. But even those industry infamous titles were overshadowed by events that happened in October 2000 when the epic fantasy Gilliam was shooting in Spain, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, was suspended indefinitely due to the illness of its star, Jean Rochefort, and a catalogue of production disasters. Now the whole poignant story about what happened and all the sobering facts behind the collapse have been put together in the remarkable documentary Lost in La Mancha.

Although film-makers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe were there to cover the making of Don Quixote for publicity purposes and inclusion as a DVD extra, they ended up capturing the precise moments when everything started to go terminally wrong in the first, and only, week of principally photography. One of the best insights into film-making madness, the strength of the documentary lies in its non-sensational approach, its respectful distance from the unfolding calamities and perceptive comments from the key crew involved. Included are the few completed scenes that offers a tantalizingly heart-breaking glimpse of what Gilliam hoped to accomplish with another pet project that is unlikely ever to see the light of day.

As luck - if that is indeed the appropriate word - would have it, I was literally the last journalist to speak to Gilliam in Spain about The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The day after I interviewed him the plug was pulled by producer Rene Cleitman. Ironically, I was also one of the few journalist allowed to cover Baron Munchausen, filmed in Rome in 1988. I arrived at Cinecitta Studios the very week that film fell apart too. There was only one difference between my two experiences. On Munchausen, Gilliam knew he was in serious difficulties. It was the complete opposite with Don Quixote. He was in an ebullient mood and seemed without a care in the world. The movie was going great and it would be fabulous. Here, exclusively, is the final interview.

But first, the scene must be set. Written by Gilliam end his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas scriptwriter Tony Grisoni, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote updated Cervantesī classic fable about an eccentric knight clinging to his colourful fantasies to ward off encroaching old age. A time-slip plot device threw a modern-day Manhattan advertising executive, Toby Grosini (note the deliberate similarity to co-writer Grisoni) back 400 years where Quixote mistakes him for his old partner-in-delusion Sancho Panza and together they muddle through the familiar adventures like tilting at windmills. Budgeted at $32.1 million - a figure Gilliam knew were unrealistic says the documentary - the cast also included Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis, Miranda Richardson and Christopher Eccleston. None of the artists were working for high salaries. They were there to support Gilliam on a profit-participation contract, only available for short spaces of time between other commitments. Yet another scheduling minefield that should have set early alarm bells ringing as highlighted in the documentary by Paradisī by-the-book agent.

The genesis of Don Quixote goes back to Gilliamīs days of PMS, "Post-Munchausen-syndrome" laughed the director with that signature giggle in his voice. "I was so frustrated after that - what it did in terms of stalling my career and perceptions about me - because I couldnīt get any project of the ground including Watchmen. So I would call Jake Eberts [Munchausen executive producer] and said "I need $20 million and I got two names for you . Quixote and Gilliam" He jumped at the idea and then I read the book and thought "Jesus, what have I done?" I was one of those people who thought they knew everything about the book. Itīs only when you read it properly - it took me two weeks - do you realized how complicated it actually is. I tried to condense it but found that impossible. Years later, Tony Grisoni and I decided we just have to take the bookīs essence and, to make it palatable to contemporary audience, include modern references - hence the time travel idea. Quite what that essence is Iīm still trying to work out myself. But what intrigued me was what the book said about dreaming and refusing to accept the limitations of other peopleīs morality and suffering. Hereīs a man whose body is letting him down but whose indomitable spirit refuses to succumb to those mortal limits.

He continued "In many ways Iīve been remaking Cervantes` story all my life. I plundered Don Quixote to a great degree in Munchausen and with Robin Williamīs character in The Fisher King. Each character is a hostage to their fantasies. But the whole Don Quixote ethos is so vast and difficult it is open to many and varied interpretations. The subject has always caused film-makers problems in the past. Quite the best is by GW Pabst [1933] because it is so beautifully shot. Each was overly pedantic towards the source material. Don Quixote is the secondary character in my story. The Man Who ... is the prime focus as he exemplifies a man fighting to live his own life and not someone elseīs version of it. Thatīs a reflection of the modern world we live in - where celebrities copy stories that arenīt theirs. I like reading stories about myself for that reason. Itīs not that I am vain, but they are always so much more interesting about what Iīm supposed to be doing that what Iīm actually doing. I felt capturing Don Quixoteīs spirit would be the best way forward rather than a doggedly faithful adaptation. Iīm hoping Cervantes wonīt be too depressed when the film finally opens in Heaven"

Gilliam only ever wanted veteran French actor Jean Rochefort to play Don Quixote. "He has the right look, the right acting qualities and the right age. The film would be inconceivable without him. Johnny Depp and I discussed him playing Toby when we made Fear and Loathing together. Heīs a breeze and working with him is the closest Iīve come to recapturing the chemistry of the old Monty Python days. Heīs fast, smart, funny and invents things all the time. Heīs technically the most astonishing actor Iīve ever worked with. No matter how amusingly bizarre he gets, there is always this extraordinary balanced centre of absolute truth in his character. We did a scene the other day where a horse is suppose to push him toward a cave. The horse didnīt d its job properly despite numerous rehearsals and is now glue! Don Quixote will carry the disclaimer that animals were harmed for the sake of cinema and my sanity! Only joking, but we had to reinvent the scene quickly to save time. Luckily I had put a trout down Johnnyīs trousers and he basically improvised a dialogue between him and the fish. He was brilliant, itīs one of the funniest scene in the movie, and he cleverly made it up in seconds" This entire section is vividly captured in the documentary.

Despite appearances, Gilliam was under no pressure from Depp to cats his now-wife Vanessa Paradis as his love interest. Gilliam pointed out "It was entirely the opposite, Johnny was reluctant about casting her. I absolutely adored her in Patrice Leconteīs The Girl on the Bridge and knew sheīld be a perfect Altisdore. After mulling it over for a month, Johnny finally agreed too. I didnīt want any ex-Pythons involved in cameo roles as I did that in Munchausen and found myself tinged with the Old School brush. Interesting though, John Cleese had been asked by director Fred Schepisi to play Quixote opposite Robin Williams in a rival version a few years ago but I donīt know what happened to that"

With production design based on artists Velasquez, Goya and Dore, sets about to be built in a Madrid warehouse, and two sequences reliant on giant-sized puppets from the theater company who staged similar event at the Barcelona Olympics, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote looked set to be an Europe-made blockbuster with a good chance of American success. Gilliam sighed "Iīm making Don Quixote in Spain with independent financing to get away from all the American pressures. You make a hit like 12 Monkeys and thatīs exactly what they want you to do again. Hollywood studio executives arenīt rational people. If they provide the money they want more of the same. Thatīs why I didnīt want to direct Harry Potter and the Philosopherīs Stone. They only wanted a franchise to sell consumer products. Iīve never been that sort of director. So I foolishly march down along different roads. Iīve wanted to make Don Quixote for years now and Iīve relentlessly pursued that aim. Even if Iī wrong about its potential, itīs my movie and no one elseīs. In my my more reflective moments I feel Iīve been stuck with Don Quixote. I have to make it whether I want or not. Most of the time I want to and hope I feel the same when weīve finished with it. Or should that be when Don Quixote has finished with us?"