'The sad thing is you get used to this, which is a kind of numbing experience,' Terry Gilliam said about the project which has been on hold for a decade.
- August 7, 2010
AceShowbiz - Terry Gilliam has confirmed his troubled "Don Quixote" movie is on hold again after experiencing a "financial hiccup". The director has spent more than a decade trying to get the picture into production but the project has been dogged by disasters from the outset.
The film, originally titled "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote", first starred Johnny Depp in the lead role, but a series of problems including financial troubles and destroyed sets led to the movie being shelved and the Hollywood actor dropping out because of scheduling conflicts.
Gilliam appeared to have revived the project this year, casting Ewan McGregor to take over Depp's role opposite Robert Duvall as Quixote. But the moviemaker admits "Don Quixote" has been thrown into jeopardy once again.
He tells MTV.com, "'We moved forward and then we stepped back a bit. Originally, I thought we were going to be in pre-production right now, but there's been a little hiccup... Robert Duvall is still Quixote and Ewan McGregor is still involved - all that stuff is still happening. There's just been a financial hiccup..."
"The sad thing is you get used to this, which is a kind of numbing experience. And to be numb is not the best thing to be creative. You gear yourself up for a certain level of work - and then boom: hiccup. Suddenly the energy had nowhere to go. That's frustrating."
And Gilliam admits his decision to direct Arcade Fire's live gig webstream from the band's New York show on Thursday, August 5 night only came about because his work on Don Quixote ground to a halt. He adds, "Me doing this thing with Arcade Fire is a result of this hiccup with Don Quixote."
