‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ had such a long development that it generated its own documentary
development hell is the term used to refer to the limbo in which films stuck due to production problems remain, sometimes with only a finished script, on other occasions with the film practically assembled. But few who have suffered it are comparable to ‘The man who killed Don Quixotewhich you can watch for free on the RTVE website and which had Terry Gilliam, director of ‘Brazil’ and ’12 Monos’, no less than 29 years trying to finish it.
Gilliam began working on it in 1989, but it was not until 1998 that he managed to complete pre-production, with a cast that included Jean Rochefort as Don Quixote and Johnny Depp as his squire (who is not Sancho Panza). Filming began in 2000 in Navarra, but there were all kinds of weather problems: floods, Rochefort became ill, serious problems occurred with insurance and finally, the project was cancelled. The odyssey was such that it generated its own documentary, ‘Lost in La Mancha’which was released independently in 2002 and can be seen on Filmin.
In subsequent years Gilliam tried to get the film back on its feet, casting Depp again, Ewan McGregor, Robert Duvall, Michael Palin and John Hurt. Some like Depp quit, others died, like Hurt. Eventually, Adam Driver took over from Depp and helped produce it, and Jonathan Pryce played Don Quixote. Filming ended in 2018, although there was still a legal battle with the producer, and it could only be released in some countries. It did not arrive for others until 2020.
The film is a reformulation of Cervantes’ novel, always under the particular and dreamlike prism of Gilliam: a cynical young advertising director. He finds himself involved in the delusions of a Spanish shoemaker who believes himself to be Don Quixote.. As their journey together progresses, the young man will face the repercussions of a film he shot when he was young. A dreamlike and absurd epic that we can finally see. And Gilliam can rest.
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