God, if he exists, might not hate Terry Gilliam, but he sure has little interest in letting him make his DON QUIXOTE movie.
After nearly 20 years of development (and one spectacular car crash of a failed production), Gilliam was finally about to get going on THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE (thanks to Amazon) with John Hurt and Jack O’Connell as his stars.
Then poor John Hurt, who we all know and love, got pancreatic cancer.
Now, don’t worry. The 75-year-old actor has received treatment, and is expected to return to full health, but his illness makes him uninsurable for the time being, which puts the film right back on the back-burner.
Hurt says, “Terry seems very optimistic that we will start filming soon. Optimism is a good thing.” It’d be great if Gilliam could finally get this passion project off the ground after so much time and so many false starts, but if he’s dead set on Hurt (the way he previously insisted on Jean Rochefort and Robert Duvall for the part), then he’s going to have to wait for the two-time Oscar nominee to get better.
Obviously, we all wish Mr. Hurt the best of health, and Gilliam the best of luck with this (and all) endeavors.
