Heath Ledger’s death halted production of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in February 2008. But the show must go on, and several elite Hollywood actor stepped up to fill the vacant role.
Ledger plays a sweet-talking huckster who meets a travelling “magic” show and gets involved with the daughter of an old man. As Digital Journal wrote in the review, picture The Adventures of Baron Munchausen meets Alice in Wonderland.
For the first time, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell have released statements, obtained by Digital Journal, to the media about Ledger and working on the fantastical film (due for release Dec. 25).
Depp has only positive sentiments about the late actor: “He was the only player out there breathing heavy down the back of every established actors neck with a thundering and ungovernable talent that came up on you quick, hissing rather mischievously with that cheeky grin, ‘hey… get on out of my way boys, I’m coming through…’ and does he ever!”
On the film, Depp says, “‘The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus’ is a uniquely ingenious, captivating creation; by turns wild, thrilling and hilarious in all its crazed, dilapidated majesty.”
He adds: “To help Terry finish his film was an honour paid to a man I adore. I had a great time on the job.”
Colin Farrell, who figures prominently in the last quarter of Imaginarium, admits “being part of this film was never about filling Heath’s shoes as much as seeing them across the finish line…More than anything though – more than the sadness and shock, the vulnerability and un-suredness as to whether it was right to complete the film or not – was an incredible sense of love.”
He notes how working on the film was “such a gift and an honor, from Heath, to be a part of the trail that he left behind.”
