Documentary about the cancelled 2000 film The Man Who Killed Don Quichote by director Terry Gilliam and Johnny Depp playing Toby that was cancelled because of ilness, hailstorms, NATO bombing raids http://inadepptrance.wordpress.com/feed











 

LOST IN LA MANCHA

2002

Toby; himself

Filmposter
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2 discs
v
Soundtrack by
Miriam Cutler

Director: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe


Writers, credited: Terry Gilliam, Toni Grisoni

 




With : Jeff Bridges (narrator), Bernard Bouix, Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis, Jean Rochefort



 Tagline: "They've got a story...but have lost the plot"


Rating: R


Awards and nominations:

2003 BAFTA AWARDS:

- Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer: Lucy Darwin, Producer (Nominated)

2002 BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS:

- Best Foreign Film, English Language (Nominated)

2004 CHLOTRUDIS AWARDS:

- Best Documentary (Nominated)

2002 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS:

- Best Documentary: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe (Nominated)

2002 EVENING STANDARD BRITISH FILM AWARDS:

- Peter Sellers Award for Comedy: Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (Won)|

2003 INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION:

- IDA Award - Feature Documentaries: Lucy Darwin, Louis Pepe, Keith Fulton (Nominated)

2004 ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARDS:

- Best Documentary (Nominated)

2004 SATELLITE AWARDS:

- Best Documentary DVD (Won)

- Best Motion Picture - Documentary (Nominated)




 





 

 

 


  

























SYNOPSIS - THE UN-MAKING OF A FILM


 "Making a film is essentially about two things: belief and momentum"
Terry Gilliam

Lost In La Mancha may be the first 'un-making of' documentary. In a genre that exists to hype films before their release, Lost In La Mancha presents an unexpected twist: it is the story of a film that does not exist. Instead of a sanitised glimpse behind the scenes, Lost In La Mancha offers a unique, in-depth look at the harsher realities of filmmaking. With drama that ranges from personal conflicts to epic storms, this is a record of a film disintegrating.

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In September 2000, when the cameras began rolling on Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Don Quixote, the production already had a chequered past including ten years of development, a series of producers and two previous attempts to start the film. Gilliam had achieved the difficult task of financing the $32 million budget entirely within Europe - a feat that would provide him with freedom from the creative restrictions of Hollywood. The uphill journey was not, however, inconsistent with Gilliam's career: his more than fifteen year history of battling the Hollywood machine had cast him, like Quixote, as a visionary dreamer who rages against gigantic forces.

Joining the Madrid based production team eight weeks before the shoot, Lost In La Mancha directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe witness the successes as well as the failures. Problems are quick to emerge: the multilingual crew struggles to communicate detailed ideas; actors remain absent as they run over schedule on other projects; and everything from untrained horses to a sound stage - that isn't sound-proof - threatens the film. But through it all, there is the palpable, mounting excitement that Gilliam's ideas will finally come to fruition: the crew watch test footage of marauding giants; puppeteers rehearse a troop of life-size marionettes; Gilliam and Johnny Depp brainstorm over the script. By the time Jean Rochefort straps on his Quixote armour, success, though far off, seems almost possible.

Not long into production disaster strikes: flash floods destroy sets and damage camera equipment; the lead actor falls seriously ill; and on the sixth day production is brought to its knees. Uniquely, after Quixote's cameras have stopped rolling, the documentary continues to record events as they unfold: the crew waits, insurance men and bondsmen scramble with calculators and interpretations of 'force majeure' and behind it Gilliam struggles to maintain both belief and momentum in his project.

In the best tradition of documentary filmmaking, Lost In La Mancha captures all the drama of this story through 'fly-on-the-wall' vérité footage and on-the-spot interviews. Gilliam's plans for the non-existent film come alive in animations of his storyboards, narrated and voiced by co-writer Tony Grisoni and Gilliam himself. And with the camera tests of the leading actors and the rushes from the only six days of photography, Lost In La Mancha offers a tantalizing glimpse of the cinematic spectacle that might have been.

Lost In La Mancha is less a process piece about filmmakers at work and more a powerful drama about the inherent fragility of the creative process - a compelling study of how, even with an abundance of the best will and passion, the artistic endeavor can remain an impossible dream.







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QUOTES FROM JOHNNY DEPP

"I'd love to do it again…well, I don't want to do that again. If there's any way to avoid the curse, that would be better. I'd love to do the film, if at all possible, and I stress that 'if at all possible' because it was really going to be good, that was the thing we all felt. It was really sad. It was really going to be good, like the best of Terry Gilliam. I felt really good about my character, and the good news is that if he wants to go back and do that, I already know the character, so I have less homework to do."
Johnny Depp, Dark Horizons, september 14 2005

'It wasn't just rain, it was enormous rocks of hail which hit me on the head and filled the pockets of my coat full of ice. I've been in torrential downpours before but this was insane - I've never seen anything like it, it was epic, it was like Noah's Ark or something."
Johnny Depp, Daily Telegraph, august 2002

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The character of Toby ('a really mean guy,' said Depp cheerfully) was written for Depp. 'Gilliam wanted to expose to the whole world that I am much s******r than they think I am."  Gilliam actually confirmed this.

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'So apart from the weather, we were dealing was bombing raids,' says Depp. 'Nato were using it for target practice. The set was here..'(he places his tobacco on the table) 'and base camp, the trailers and stuff, was here ..' (he puts his Zippo down) 'and these bastards were coming in and dropping bombs right here ..' He pokes a long, elegant finger in the space between the tobacco and the Zippo and laughs. 'I remember thinking, hey - I hope they don't **** up'.
Johnny Depp, Daily Telegraph, august 2002

'Terry was so excited, you know how he is - big and broad and just exploding with excitement and giggling constantly. He's an insanely passionate, curious and knowledgeable man. And he was loving it, just loving it - then, day by day, you'd see him shrink. It was hard to see Terry like that; he looked beaten - and Terry's a hard guy to beat."

Johnny Depp, Daily Telegraph, august 2002

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.. Only when Jean Rochefort was diagnosed with a double herniated disc, the crew and cast finally understood they were doomed. ...
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"One of the things I hope Lost in la Mancha will do is kill all those myths about Terry being a renegade and a sort of careless wackadoo filmmaker; spend, spend spend"
Johnny Depp, Daily Telegraph, august 2002

(Sadly) "'I think I was one of the last to leave"
Johnny Depp, Daily Telegraph, august 2002



QUOTES FROM OTHERS

'If it's easy, I don't do it. If it's virtually impossible I have a go at it .. Without a battle I don't know how to approach it."

Terry Gilliam

"I know that Terry still wants to make it and he probably will never give up on trying to make it."
Louis Pepe, About.com, 2005

'It was a fantastic role because it allows him to start off as complete asshole and eventually reach a transcendental state. I wanted to take the entire range of Johnny and who he is and what he's capable of, and play with it. He tends to get these parts where he's lovely or innocent or whatever, and I thought, let's stretch him and let him really play on a broad canvas. He's much more interesting than the world knows. There's a sting to Johnny's tail that most people haven't seen, and I thought we should incorporate some of that.'
Terry Gilliam, Daily Telegraph, august 2002





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