07/07/2003

The audience was well and truly captivated by a documentary about Terry Gilliam’s fallimentary attempt to transform the story of Don Quixote into a feature film. Lost in la Mancha was screened during a retrospective of the American director’s work at Paris Cinéma The documentary about the $31m budget film The Man who killed Don Quixote was directed by Keith Fulton and Luis Pepe (and produced by Quixote Films and Low Key Pictures).
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote got off to a great start, with a cast headed by Jean Rochefort, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, natural locations in the Spanish sierra, a detailed story-board, top quality crew, costumes and director. A TV documentary about the making of this film was always on the cards, only nobody ever expected The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to go pear shaped and become one of the biggest disasters in film history.
Gilliam’s problems began when he tried to fit the actors’ schedules together. He managed and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote went into production in August 2000. Shooting was not made easier by almost constant overflights by F16 fighters, followed by torrential rain which turned the set into a sea of mud that swept away both sets and equipment. Then came the real tragedy: French veteran Jean Rochefort hurt his back and was forced to leave the set for a number of weeks. In spite of the cast and crew’s best efforts, filming was halted on the 6th day. The film was definitively abandoned two months later with the insurance companies taking ownership of the rights.
Lost in La Mancha is scheduled for release onto 60 French screens on 16 July, distributed by Haut et Court.

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(Translated from French)