Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is FINALLY filming

What a journey director Terry Gilliam has been on to get his passion-project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote onto the big screen. After numerous failed attempts that fell through due to delays, budget changes and lots of natural elements, the 12 Monkeys director is finally back behind the camera as filming is set to begin on the film, reports IndieWire.

Originally set for release around 2000 with Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort cast, the filming was met with thunderstorms, overhead harrier jets and insurance issues which saw it cancelled after filming had only just begun – a horror story for any director but one which made its way to the screen in some form in the acclaimed documentary Lost In La Mancha, which chronicled the making-of and un-making of the film.

In recent years, Gilliam tried and tried to get the film made, which such stars as Ewan McGregor, Jack O’Connell, Robert Duvall, Michael Palin and John Hurt at one time or another cast in the lead roles. The new version has secured Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Silence) to star in the Depp role while Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, Tomorrow Never Dies) will play Quixote. Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) and Stellan Skarsgård (Thor: The Dark World) are also on-board.

The film is described as “a modern and satirical twist on the tale, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote stars Driver as Toby, a jaded commercials director who travels to Spain for a shoot and comes across a gypsy who gives a copy of his student film – a lyrical re-working of the Don Quixote story set in a quaint old Spanish village. Moved by the discovery, Toby sets off on a bizarre road trip to find the little village where the student film was shot and gets caught up in a series of catastrophes.”

No release date has been set yet for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote – presumably so as not to jinx it again…