TIFF Report: Q&A: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Terry Gilliam wants to entertain you (be sure of that), entice you to go down the dark alley that he inhabits – he literally wants your soul for the running time of his films. At 69, he is a filmmaker that has verve for storytelling and a sense of imagination that Hollywood couldn’t grow on trees. He made me into a believer. I’ve never been a fan of his: to me he has always been a curiosity, in that he can make a hit or a famous miss. Although, this film is probably his most accessible one (not like 2005’s polarizing film Tideland) it is a challenging, surreal beauty that stands on its own and as a brilliant tribute to Heath Ledger’s final performance.
This Q&A, from the second screening held at the historic Elgin Theatre, contains spoilers:
The conception of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus:
“The last sort of films I’ve done have been adaptations of other people’s work, I thought it was time to see if I actually still had any decent ideas inside me. I wanted to do something original. There was a symbolism, I didn’t even have a real idea, the only thing we had in mind was this palm beach and this travelling circus arriving in a modern city. I had reached a certain point in my life; I didn’t have to keep trying to dig down deep and have some fun. That’s how it started. The fun was short lived; the rest is good.”
Evolution through production:
“Once we recovered from Heath’s death, I was under a lot of pressure, not from the money people – they wanted their money back, obviously, because there is no way you finish the film after the star dies right in the middle – but my daughter (Amy Gilliam), who’s ones of the producers, and cinematographer, Nicola Pecorini, they just kept beating me up, saying no were gonna have to finish this thing and you won’t be allowed to go home until you fix it. There was pressure of: let’s get another actor. I said there is no way a single actor could replace Heath. Then I said – oh, Tony (Heath Ledger) goes in the mirror three times, maybe we’ll get three actors. That’s what happened. Before I had worked out what we were doing, I called Johnny, he was very close to Health as well – we were commiserating, and he said whatever you want man, I’ll be there. That was the moment the film was saved, because the money smelled Johnny Depp. I didn’t realize that until later, about a month or so later, that I realized that was the key moment, otherwise it would have been over. So once Johnny had said he would be there, I started calling other actors, who were friends of Health – had to be a part of the family – and Colin and Jude were basically, possibly, available to the schedules of ours; then it was a matter of just trying to get going again, without a clear schedule. We were only able, ultimately, to get Johnny in thanks to Michael Mann, because his film Public Enemies was delayed by one week. We grabbed Johnny in that week, because he’d been rehearsing and he was not allowed to leave the penitentiary where they were working – because of a one week delay we got him and that’s why I said there’s demi gods at work.”
His phenomenal imagination:
“I wish they were from drugs, because I could then sell them. Human mutation, I think topic mutation probably – its genes gone funny. I have no idea where it comes from. Some of us get stuck with this kind of stuff in our head and the rest of you can lead normal lives.”
His public perception:
“I want people to like what I do, but I want to do what I want to do, and hopefully I can bring them down into the dark alley that I habitat. Too many artists pretend: oh we don’t care, we are just expressing ourselves, it’s not true, everyone wants to be loved – but it’s gonna be on my terms.”
In control of his vision:
“To me it’s exactly what I intended to do, it became more probably surprising with the addition of the three actors playing the part. I spent ages trying to work this out so it’s absolutely precise, under control, and then people come along and think it’s tattered, but that’s what life is about. What’s interesting with this one, what this magic mirror created, the possibility once you change the idea that when you go through the mirror your face can change, because we’ve established the idea that if you’re in there with somebody else, it’s completely your imagination. With the drunk at the beginning we just made sure his face changes, allowing me the freedom to jump Colin and Jude. The dialogue in the film, almost all of it, was exactly what was written, except for adlibs and things like that, but little changes, like so: Johnny appears and the woman says I’ve dreamed you’d always look like this – that’s a new line to deal with the situation – but they all sat in reasonably easily. A lot of people think that the scene with Johnny talking about the princes dying and Valentino, all was written as kind of a eulogy for Health, no it was all in there, everything. Sometimes I worry about, you know, be careful what you write, because things can happen. That’s very much about mortality this film, death is essential to it. Chris Plummer didn’t want to say one particular line, which he was doing after Health died, a monastery scene talking about stories that could be – a story that could be about a romance, a comedy, a tale of unforeseen death. He didn’t want to say it and I said you got to say it, that’s what we set out to do – it’s right. The thing that surprised me, I realized a couple of months ago – this is a very spooky experience, this film, it’s something real – the last shot of Heath as the Joker it’s a man hanging upside down, just like the tarot card. It’s really, really weird, and it happens on all my films, I feel like it’s some other force that’s making it, and I’m just the guy who’s doing the writing – it felt more so than anything else I’ve ever done.”
Tom Waits as the Devil:
“Basically, there is an animator friend that wanted to get Tom to do a voice over in a cartoon he did. I sent it to Tom, and Tom said, no I don’t really want to do it, but he sent an e-mail back, he said, do you have anything for me? We were writing Parnassus at the time, I said how about the devil? He said ‘done’ – he didn’t even read the script. The interesting relationship between Chris and Tom in the film is just extraordinary; the two of them are magic together. “
Heath’s Scenes:
“Basically everything that was outside the mirror, involved Heath – most of it was done. There was a couple scenes, one I just was forced to cut out – it was a good decision to chop it up. That’s why I kept saying at one point it was going to be co-directed by Terry Gilliam and Heath Ledger because he created situations we couldn’t get around to, in some instances, and he forced us to make choices that were probably better for the film. Some of it we cut out, there was one I had pushed onto the other side, a scene with Jude when he is telling the supposed truth about the charity – it used to take place on this (reverse) side of the mirror. Originally, what was happening when we were shooting, I thought I could beat that scene somehow with maybe a double Heath, do something with that scene that’s suppose to take place inside the little wagon. I said this is ridiculous: I threw it on the other side, it became just a scene between the characters of Anton and Tony – there the two are fighting over everything and it works so much better. These just kept happening. Some things I could fix, other things I couldn’t. I pulled this out and it ended up what it is. When I look, it looks like… this is the way we’d written and intended it – to me there’s nothing missing, it works seamlessly. “
The Weight of Imagination:
“As long as gravity exists, then imagination can never go too far. There is always gravity in my world no matter how weird and wonderful you get. I don’t know how too far would be, probably gutted and maggots crawling all over your eyes. That’s a horror film, I don’t like horror films. I think it becomes like what your dreams do, I think, you should take those places and you should go. What’s wonderful about this film, in particular, I’ve had kids as young as 7, 8, 9 watching, and they just love it. Then I find adults: oh it’s just too clever, it’s too sophisticated, it’s too complicated – it’s not. Children are open, they’re not frightened. Adults as they get older, close things in, they build structures, they try to get everything in a line, explain it. I spend the first half hour or two of the film trying to break down all your preconceptions, deconstruct the way you see the world, and then enter the destination, was the plan. You know the old phrase 8-80, 7-70, that’s the kind of films I prefer to make – I think this is one of them.”
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Categories: Fused Movies
