Gilliam Stunned by Lack of Interest in Depp/Williams Film


Movie maverick Terry Gilliam is amazed that a planned movie starring Johnny Depp and Robin Williams is still on the shelf - because American investors can't raise $15 million. The former Monty Python member was thrilled when international money men offered him $45 million to make the film Good Omens with Depp as a demon and Williams as an angel. But he was shocked to discover that Americans didn't have the same sort of faith in the project, and they failed to raise the extra cash he needed to start work on the project - an adaptation of fantasy writers Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's book. Gilliam tells US magazine Entertainment Weekly, "I couldn't get 15 with Johnny and Robin... These two guys, who would have been brilliant were not worth $15 million in America. That was the moment where I went, 'I don't understand this game. I don't understand this town (Hollywood). I don't understand any of the rules. All I know is I don't like it.'" Gilliam's last project with Depp, the ill-fated Quixote, became one of the biggest movie-making disasters in history when illness and storm-wrecked sets prompted financiers of the film to pull the plug as costs soared. The film, which was never completed, was turned into hit disaster documentary Lost in La Mancha. Gilliam hopes to complete his Don Quixote epic with Depp next year.

http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2005-08-30/#2

He could save himself some money and do us a favor by changing the cast. Depp is not too bad but Williams is all wrong, his not at all what a lot of people picture Aziraphale as. (admittedly I'm basing this statement on fan art but it's still valid).

If filmmaking was an inherently democratic art, then most of the results wouldn't be very interesting. If Gilliam thinks that Williams will work in *his* version of Good Omens, then I trust him. I don't want Gilliam to make *my* version of the book either.

I might have a different opinion on this if the director were someone without a style of his own - someone like Brett Ratner - because then the casting decision would probably be based on "Who will fill seats?" But with a director like Terry Gilliam the last thing I'd expect or indeed want would be something that doesn't feel like a Gilliam movie in every single frame.

If Depp is in it, it'll be the first Terry Gilliam film I have no desire to see... I'm sick to death of him and the way he tries soo hard to be 'different'...

I also agree that Williams is 'wrong' for the role...

So you had no desire to see Fear and Loathing?

quote:

Originally posted by spam:
So you had no desire to see Fear and Loathing?

Keep in mind that that was 1998 - seven years ago! I can understand getting sick of Depp in recent years, especially after seeing Charlie & Choc Factory

Wow, Gilliam seems perfect. I like his movies, he's a wonderful director. I am a big Johnny Depp fan, and personally I think his wierdness would seem to fit Crowley... Williams on the other hand... well, I can't really say if he's a good or bad choice, because you never know. Sometimes he's good, sometimes he's bad... but I can't picture him as Azerphael really... It just doesn't seem to fit...

I don't know whether terry gilliam would probably make a good director...I liked the whole mood of his new movie, the brothers grimm, like in the enchanted forest, it's dark, and full of magic, like Neil Gaiman's novels... But I think Johnny Depp would definitely fit as crawley, or maybe Jason Isaacs. I guess robin Williams mite be ok, but maybe Kevin Costner or ralph fiennes would be better for the job.

*crowley not crawley haha