Here are two pictures of the titular Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus from director Terry Gilliam.
We first told you about Gilliam’s latest film back in October, when we noted that the director’s description of the film’s lead character Dr. Parnassus – “A person with eternal life who’s basically a storyteller, but the world has moved on and his brand of storytelling is of no interest” – seems to have just the faintest whiff of autobiography about it. It’s an assertation that Gilliam confirmed last week in a Variety article noting the film’s start of principal photography.
It’s autobiographical. I’m trying to bring a bit of fantasticality to London, an antidote to modern lives. I loved this idea of an ancient travelling show offering the kind of storytelling and wonder that we used to get, to people who are just into shoot-em-up action films. Parnassus is trying to bring amazement to people, and not doing a very good job of it, because they aren’t paying attention to him. But if they will enter his mirror, and allow their imagination to mix with his, they enter these extraordinary worlds, and they come back transcendent — or they strangely disappear.
Production on the film has already commenced in London (Just Jared has a couple of spoilerish pictures featuring star Heath Ledger) and we can expect The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus in theaters in early 2009.
Via (a semi-retired) Film Ick.
