Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus doesn't screen at the Cannes Film Festival until a week from tomorrow, but he's staying plenty busy on the Croisette. After announcing he'll soon return to his infamously cursed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (with or without his original star Johnny Depp), he's not wasting any time selling Parnassus to both buyers and -- he hopes -- Academy voters who took so kindly to Heath Ledger's previous performance.
Wait a second: Terry Gilliam? Courting a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger? Since when?
Is this the same Terry Gilliam who excoriated Warner Bros. last year for mounting an awards campaign on Ledger's behalf for The Dark Knight? The one quoted as saying, "They'll do anything to publicize their film. That's just what they do and you can't get upset because it's bullshit. They're like a great white shark which devours whatever it can"? Because that Gilliam seems to have had a staggering change of heart, now telling the Times he'd push Parnassus for a Fall '09 release. And why?
"We want to be in that last third for the Academy Awards! Maybe we'll get another award for Heath. We're going to get as many awards as possible for him, long after he's gone."
Look out, Cannes -- you're gonna need a bigger boat.
ยท Terry Gilliam on Heath Ledger's death and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [Times Online via The Playlist]