Can you point me at a cite for this? (I don’t disbelieve you, of course, but I’m writing a piece comparing this film with Avatar and I’d like a better source than “some guy at my message board.” 
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I seem to remember Gilliam talking about it on “Fresh Air” with Teri Gross.
Thanks – I’ll start there.
If anyone’s interested, here’s an online interview that addresses this.
Yes. This is the kind of casting where end up thinking “I can’t believe I never thought of this.” Unless of course you DID think Tom Waits would make a great Devil, which I never had.
Really fascinating movie, and in particular I loved the use of the tarot and other occult or Masonic or whatever elements. The Imaginarium visuals were terrific. I liked Ledger’s performance, but even more than that I liked what was done with his character in terms of the story. And Depp, Law and Farrell all worked very well. Because it’s Gilliam and it’s so disjointed, it sometimes feels like the parts don’t all add up, but it’s a unique experience.
This film was way better than I feared it would be. I’d seen some bad reviews. Loved it. (Of course, it helps that there was a pretty face to look at throughout - Lily Cole)
Saw it last night. Both it and Avatar have brilliantly imagined visuals and both have a story that doesn’t live up to that level of creativity. (Avatar far more so, or less so, depending.)
I wasn’t tremendously impressed by Ledger. The others fit better into the Doctor’s world, while his style never meshed. That may have been deliberate but it hurt the movie for me.
I checked on Lily Cole after the movie. Just your average six-footer who was discovered on the street at 14, turned into a model, gained international fame, went back to graduate top of her class at prep school, go on to Cambridge, and drop out to date Jude Law. Happens every day.
Which others? Anton, Percy and Scrumpy, or Johnny Depp/Jude Law/Colin Farrell? There’s a very good reason why Heath/George/Tony didn’t fit into the Doctor’s world. Obviously he was an outsider, and an evil con man to boot. That seems too obvious, so are you thinking of something else?
I saw this for the 3rd time last night, as a double-feature with Titanic no less, and it just keeps getting better and better. The more times I see it the less sad I immediately am at seeing Heath Ledger, and I’m able to just enjoy the movie without the emotional baggage. I was heartened to see at least 20 people in the theater for a 10:30pm Sunday night show. There might have been more who came in but I sit in the front and didn’t turn around again after I sat down.
Btw, this was nominated for 2 Oscars. It received very well-deserved nods for Art Direction and Costume Design. Exactly the nominations it deserved. Those voters knew what they were doing and good for them!
Just saw this movie, so I apologize if i am resurrecting the dead…but am I am the only one who thought “marks on his forehead” protecting him = cain?
I do love terry gilliam and I did love this movie- watched it with the fiance and he fell asleep, so no one to discuss it with! Very sad.
No, I thought the same thing when I saw it. I don’t think it was meant to be though.
I don’t know, thne scene later of Mr. Waits giving the apple to the nun kinda reinforced it for me.
There’s a scene during Tony’s first foray into the mirror (in which he’s played by Johnny Depp) wherein he has a bit of a monologue about celebrities who died young and therefore became immortal in the public consciousness. Was that added to the script after Ledger’s death as a tribute to him? Because it’d be a rather creepy coincidence otherwise.
I just watched this, now that it is out on DVD - I loved it, as did my husband. I thought it was interesting how the different characters playing Ledger’s role inside the Imaginarium worked out; I think it would have been better had he not gone and died, but given the situation I think it was a fascinating and inventive choice. Depp did the best of course; I actually thought that Ledger reminded me of Depp most of the time when he was in the “real” world (outside the imaginarium).
I believe that was always in the script, according to Terry Gilliam’s commentary on the DVD.
Anyway, I saw this in the cinema last year and enjoyed it, but I was very aware of the seams that stitched it all together after Heath Ledger’s death, and I found that a distraction. Seeing it now at home, it’s really growing on me, however: in time, it may match my love for Brazil. It’s just that good. (Brazil is my favourite film, tied with The Empire Strikes Back.)
More than anything, I love what Gilliam and Charles McKeown are trying to say with it: that we’ve lost our sense of wonder in a glut of consumerism and excess. And that it’s stories and imagination that make the world go 'round. The whole thing is marvellous.