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The late Heath Ledger appears in his last film role as Tony in Terry Gilliam’s stylish “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.” |
Only in a Terry Gilliam movie could a major actor die during production and be replaced by three other actors all playing the same role, and still have the story make sense.
As sense goes in a Terry Gilliam movie.
Gilliam cheerfully credits his “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” as “From Heath Ledger and Friends,” in tribute to the 28-year-old Australian actor who died of an accidental drug overdose two years ago this month.
Where regular Hollywood productions might have folded or merely recast the role, Gilliam asked three actors to resume Ledger’s enigmatic character, Tony. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell filled in, and the results are chaotic, loopy and downright enthralling.
Gilliam, the single American member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, is the poet of mad visions, and he has a history of thriving in anarchy, conflict and bad luck. He is a true artist of the cinema, not because of his hit-and-miss critical track record, or because of his spotty box office receipts. But because he thinks and breathes in pure visual terms, most of them strange and the rest outrageously strange.
So, if you go to see “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,” remember you’re entering a looking-glass world where the rules governing character, plot and coherence are merely options. (Read more…)