Verne Troyer Assumes Heath Ledger's Role at Parnassus Presser

Much in the style of his previous work like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King, Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus screened for the press this morning. While the film fails to overwhelm, the standout performances by Tom Waits and Christopher Plummer make it an exceptionally fun ride.

Set in modern-day London, the film tells the tale of Dr. Parnassus (Plummer), who — with his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), Anton (Andrew Garfield), and sidekick Percy (Verne Troyer) — has the ability, with the help of his magic mirror, to awaken people's imaginations. In shopping malls and urban settings, the group sets up their flip-down stage and performs for the masses. In order for Parnassus to possess such wonder, he made deal with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), who is to collect Valentina on her 16th birthday. When the group comes upon Tony (Heath Ledger) hanging from a bridge, Mr. Nick makes a final deal with Parnassus, which puts Tony through the magic mirror three times.

Elements of the film's back story -- most notably, of course, Ledger's death during production -- almost eclipse the movie itself; not surprisingly, a majority of this morning's press conference was focused on Ledger and the process of replacing him.

"The choice I made was to the close the film down," said Gilliam, recalling his initial reaction to his star's death. "I didn't see how we could finish it without Heath, because we were in the middle of production and he had done approximately half of his role. But fortunately, I was surrounded by really good people who insisted that I shouldn't be such a lazy bastard, and I better go out and find a way to finish the film for Heath. And that's what we did."

In practice, though, Gilliam realized that simply replacing Ledger wasn't going to work out. "We debated having one actor take the part," he said, "but I didn't think that was respectful. And because we had the magic mirror and Heath goes through it three times, we decided on three actors. So I started calling friends: Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. I was calling people who knew and loved Heath."

Choosing three actors to replace one might have had repercussions for the other actors. Not so, according to Garfield. "It wasn't really difficult for us to be working with the alternate Tonys," he said. "It was extremely difficult for the three guys who came in. It was generous and brave of them to step into this huge void of energy that Heath left."

"And they were all friends of his and were missing him, too," added Cole.

One of Imaginarium's most inspired casting choices is Tom Waits as the devil. Gilliam explained how the legendary musician came aboard. "A Dutch animator friend asked me if I knew Tom Waits and if I could get in touch with him about Tom doing the voice for his animated film," he said. "I wrote Tom and he said no, but he wrote back and asked, 'Do you have any work for me?' We were just finishing the script for Parnassus and I said, 'OK, I have a part for you, you're the devil.' He took the part without reading the script. And you couldn't ask for a better devil. I think Tom is the great American poet."

But clearly the film will be remembered as the one featuring Ledger's final performance. Eerily, Ledger's introduction here features him dangling from a bridge with a noose around his neck. "The scene is an homage to Roberto Calvi, the Vatican banker who was found hanged under that very bridge," said Gilliam. "But the character of Tony was initially based on Tony Blair, a person I love, dearly," he added sarcastically.