MIRACLE! Terry Gilliam’s Man Who Killed Don Quixote Shooting Now

In an absolute miracle 17 years in the making, Indiewire reports that director Terry Gilliam’s long-gestating passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is finally going before cameras once again. Right now. Check out the promotional poster in the gallery below!

As announced last year, Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Silence) will play the lead role originally shot by Johnny Depp in the cancelled 2000 version, and earmarked in the ensuing years for actors such as Jack O’Connell and Ewan McGregor. It is also noted that Gilliam regular Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Brothers Grimm) will take on the role of Miguel de Cervantes’ famous Man of La Mancha, taking over from previously-cast Michael Palin, Robert Duvall, Jean Rochefort and the late John Hurt.

The cast also features Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), Stellan Skarsgård (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Joana Ribeiro (A Uma Hora Incerta), Eva Basteiro-Bertoli (Black Bread) and Rossy de Palma (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), who was meant to be part of the original 2000 production as well. The latter posted the following to Instagram in late February…

FinallyHereWeAre #themanwhokilleddonquixote love you #TerryGilliam

A post shared by rossydpalma (@rossydpalma) on Feb 27, 2017 at 2:55am PST

A modern and satirical twist on the tale, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote stars Driver as Toby, a jaded commercials director who travels to Spain for a shoot and comes across a gypsy who gives a copy of his student film – a lyrical re-working of the Don Quixote story set in a quaint old Spanish village. Moved by the discovery, Toby sets off on a bizarre road trip to find the little village where the student student film was shot and gets caught up in a series of catastrophies.

As chronicled in the documentary Lost in La Mancha, Gilliam had previously attempted to shoot The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in late 2000 with Johnny Depp playing an ad man named Toby Grosini, who is somehow transported back in time and becomes Sancho Panza to a delusional Don Quixote. Filming was plagued by difficulties, including Quixote actor Jean Rochefort falling ill, and eventually abandoned. Years of legal wrangling to get the rights back left Depp unwilling to return, with a string of actors considered for the lead.

The original 2000 version’s screenwriter Tony Grisoni, who co-wrote Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Tideland and (uncredited) The Brothers Grimm, is still credited with the script alongside Gilliam. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is produced by Mariela Besuievsky, Gerardo Herrero, Gabriele Oricchio and Amy Gilliam, with Jeremy Thomas executive producing.

Are you excited Gilliam is FINALLY rolling cameras on the film after so many setbacks? Let us know in the comments below!