As much as I hated Terry Gilliam's last film, Tideland, I still consider him my favorite living filmmaker (Tideland was the first to completely disappoint me) and was looking forward to his next feature, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus more than possibly any other film in the works. Unfortunately, Parnassus lost its star when Heath Ledger died suddenly last week, and there was lots of talk that Gilliam's latest would be scrapped. Anyone who has followed Gilliam's career knows that would be more than tragic, because Parnassus would be the second major work of Gilliam's to go unfinished after shooting had begun (see the depressing documentary Lost in La Mancha for the story on his shut-down project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote). Well, after rumors that Ledger would be replaced by Johnny Depp, who would come in and reshoot the late actor's scenes, there is a new claim that Gilliam is going to keep Ledger's footage and continue the shoot using special effects magic.

The claim comes from Parnassus co-star Christopher Plummer, who spoke to People magazine and had this to say: "Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI..." Plummer, who plays the title character in the film, also mentioned that Gilliam wants to finish the film for his friend (Ledger) and dedicate it to him, too. Additionally Plummer spoke on the working conditions of the Parnassus shoot in London and on Ledger's health prior to his leaving the set, further providing for speculation that Ledger's death was of non-narcotic causes. Anyway, about the finishing with CGI Ledger, that is excellent news, and something I've been expecting to happen all along (if it was good enough for The Crow 14 years ago, it's good enough now). I absolutely loved Ledger in The Brothers Grimm (the first of Gilliam's films to somewhat disappoint me), and I can't wait to see him and his computerized clones in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

When it comes to Terry Gilliam, you always have to take his word with not only a grain of salt, but sometimes the whole shaker. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, the director spoke about his next project, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. The story would center on a traveling circus with the added bonus of allowing audiences to enter the mind of the shows headlining star -- It doesn't exactly take Freud to work out some of the symbolism on that one does it? As most fans know, Gilliam has had a troubled history when it comes to studios and finding financing, he says, "The cost of marketing a film is so high now that they'd rather gamble on a $US150 million [$180 million] film that they can market well than four, say, $US40 million films. Because the gamble, if it pays off, goes gangbusters. If it doesn't, you lose your shirt." Although, on the upside, at least when Don Quixote fell apart we got a documentary out of the deal. Interestingly, Gilliam says in the piece he's still keen to get Don Quixote made, despite the long and tortured history of his involvement with the project.

Gilliam has a number of activities in the works, which he discusses in the piece: he will be working with the animated band Gorillaz this September on a film that will serve as the band's swan song, and he is also still holding out hope for his long-suffering adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Good Omens and there have even some vague rumblings of a return to Don Quixote with Johnny Depp back in the lead. That is quite the action-packed schedule if he can keep to it. As much as I admire his enthusiasm, you know one of these will drop by the wayside, the only question is; which one should it be?