Heath Ledger’s final bow
Ledger (left) and co-actors in the film.
The movie world is saying goodbye to Heath Ledger with one more curtain call.
Terry Gilliam's sinister funhouse fantasy "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" premiered recently at Cannes, featuring the final screen role for the posthumous Oscar-winner -- a young man named Tony who gets entangled with a mystical family (led by Christopher Plummer) who control a portal to and from reality.
In a spirited press conference, the cast including model Lily Cole (who plays the Doctor's cursed daughter) and Mini-Me actor Verne Troyer kept the mood light with cheers and jokes for each other as they were introduced, but the serious question was the first to be asked: what happened behind-the-scenes when Ledger passed away from an accidental drug overdose midway through the production last year?
"The first and obvious choice I made was to close the film down," Gilliam said. "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, and that was it. But fortunately I was surrounded by really good people who insisted that I couldn't be this lazy. And I better go out and find a way of finishing the film for Heath."
Alternate realities are a specialty for the director of "12 Monkeys" and "Brazil" so he chose to use the film's natural fantastic twist to bring in a trio of other actors to play Ledgers character when he passes into fantasy realms. Those also added some major names to the cast list -- Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.
"We discussed for a long time whether one actor could take the part, and I felt that was impossible and didn't think it was respectful," Gilliam said. "I didn't think it would work at all. And because we had the magic mirror (a plot device in the film) and Heath goes through it three times I thought okay -- three actors, that would be the way to approach it. I think it's more surprising.
Depp, Farrell and Law each got a call from Gilliam, explaining the situation with what was already filmed and what was not, and detailing how they could help.
"I was basically just calling people who knew and loved Heath, that had to be the nature of what we were doing," Gilliam said. "It was quite extraordinary. Everybody in the cast and crew was determined that this film would be finished. It was really people's love for Heath that propelled this thing forward."
Preserving Ledger's work and not letting it fall by the wayside gave the director special satisfaction. "I've been very lucky because, while Heath died over a year ago, I've been working with him almost every day in the cutting room so he's been alive and well," Gilliam said. "It's slightly different for me. He doesn't seem to be that long departed from us. He's just the guy I work with daily.”
Compiled by Cultural Correspondent
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