With director Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus expanding into 500 additional theaters this Friday, it's finally time to post my video interviews with Gilliam and Verne Troyer. As most of you already know, the film is a fantastical tale set in the present day about a traveling carnival show where visitors pay to pass through a magical mirror and enter a world of their own imagination. But Doctor Parnassus long ago made a bet with the devil, which is coming due.
While I wasn't sure how Gilliam was going to pull off making this film come together after the death of Heath Ledger, not only does the film work, it's Gilliam's best work in years and you should really try and check it out. Hit the jump for my interviews:
As always, I've listed what was talked about in each interview. For a full list of theaters playing Parnassus, click here.
Terry Gilliam
- What has been his experience promoting this film. He's been at Comic-Con and Dragon Con
- Tells a great story of how Heath Ledger came to this movie
- Heath seemed really alive on camera. What was he like on set
- Are there any special editions of his previous movies coming to Blu-ray
- Don Quixote talk
Verne Troyer
- Is this a project everyone is asking him about? He talks about finishing the film after the death
- Talks about Heath's energy on set
- How did his character change after taking the break when filming
- Talks about what he has coming up
- Twitter talk
- Talks about working on set with Gilliam and how many takes he had him do
Here's the full official synopsis:
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present-day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom.
Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Doctor Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. An inveterate gambler, thousands of years ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, in which he won immortality. Centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr. Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his daughter reached her 16th birthday, she would become the property of Mr Nick.
Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr. Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr. Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr. Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win.
In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr. Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all!
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