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Lost In La Mancha
2002
Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, LOST IN LA MANCHA documents Terry Gilliam's disaster-prone attempt to make THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, a film largely based on the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The movie first encounters difficulties in its preproduction stage, starting with an uncomfortably small European-.. Read more
| Starring | Terry Gilliam, Jean Rochefort, Johnny Depp |
|---|---|
| Director | Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe |
| Genres | Documentary |
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Lost In La Mancha
Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, LOST IN LA MANCHA documents Terry Gilliam's disaster-prone attempt to make THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, a film largely based on the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The movie first encounters difficulties in its preproduction stage, starting with an uncomfortably small European-funded budget. Then Gilliam must wait for the lead actors, Johnny Depp and French actor Jean Rochefort, to show up on location in Spain. When Depp and Rochefort finally arrive, shooting commences, but within the first few days a torrential rainstorm hits the set, washing away much of the equipment and significantly altering the dry desert landscape. And to make matters much worse, Rochefort, who plays the central role of Don Quixote, falls ill and returns to Paris for medical treatment. As the days of the Quixote-less production go by, tensions among the crew members increase and Gilliam faces the frustratingly real prospect of scrapping the film.
LOST IN LA MANCHA provides a fascinating look into both the mind and the method of maverick director Terry Gilliam. No stranger to film production problems (most notably with BRAZIL and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN), Gilliam sets out to make DON QUIXOTE with imagination and determination that echoes the noble delusions of its title character. As in the story, however, fantasy finds a fierce opponent in the form of reality, and Gilliam and his crew must decide what to do with a production that seemed jinxed from the start. The fly-on-the-wall footage, candidly captured by Fulton and Pepe, makes for an intriguing film within a film that combines behind-the-scenes frustration and heartbreak with genuinely funny moments.
| Starring | Terry Gilliam, Jean Rochefort, Johnny Depp |
|---|---|
| Director | Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe |
| Studio | OPTIMUM HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 33 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Documentary |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 24 Feb 2003 Production year: 2002 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Opening with clips from Orson Welles's ill-fated attempt to bring the Cervantes classic to the screen, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's “un-making of” documentary account of the derailment of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is made up from over 80 hours of video footage, widescreen rushes and animated storyboards. With Jean Rochefort as the eccentric knight and Johnny Depp as a time-traveller mistaken for Sancho Panza, everything looked set. But an air of Munchausen madness pervades both pre-production and the brief shoot, leaving one to lament the loss of a potential masterpiece and marvel at the terrifying unpredictability of the movie business.
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With a leading actor taken ill, a storm destroying the sets and jet fighters screaming overhead, this is an object lesson in how not to make a big budget feature. For those not involved the six days before the project was abandoned resemble a surreal come
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Most helpful member's review
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14 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Compelling, funny, sad...
I've always been a fan of Cervantes' Don Quixote and when I heard that Terry Gilliam was adapting it for the screen, my eyes lit up. Sadly, Lost In La Mancha may be the closest we'll get to seeing the director's vision. Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe's fascinating documentary was originally intended to be a 'Making Of...' feature (think of The Hamster Factor on the Twelve Monkeys DVD) to accompany Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It instead stands as a memorial to Murphy's Law. From the beginning, Gilliam seems subdued. He's complaining that the film's budget is half of what he needs. He's complaining that no one can track down co-star Vanessa Paradis. Then the filming starts.... We're treated to unrehearsed extras, prima donna horses, electrical storms, a flying visit from the Spanish Airforce and a guest appearance from poor Jean Rochefort's aforementioned prostate (which causes the actor understandable pain and to fly back to Paris for days on end for treatment). Lost In La Mancha unfolds like a horror film with a mounting sense of dread as each new catastrophe hits the production and to see Gilliam visibly wilting onscreen makes for uneasy viewing. Terry Gilliam has, of course, been through this all before with The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988) - an epic fable, beset by problems but differing from The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in that it actually limped over the finish line. To make matters worse, the filmed scenes we see look like classic Gilliam - big close-ups, fantastical design, slapstick etc. Rochefort (health permitting) was perfect as Don Quixote, Depp seemed kooky as ever and Vanessa Paradis was..well...stunning as ever. You've got to feel for the director, thwarted in making a movie that he'd spent years thinking about but it's compelling viewing. As the man himself said - 'I am getting tired of these fights [with backers.] Each time you get into a fight the world closes in a bit. You start losing an innocence, a belief that everything is possible. Terry Jones thinks I'm belligerent and egotistical, and that I've got to get into a fight to keep me going. It does keep me awake. But I limit it to the fights that are worth it nowadays.'
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Most recent members' review
View all -
14 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Compelling, funny, sad...
I've always been a fan of Cervantes' Don Quixote and when I heard that Terry Gilliam was adapting it for the screen, my eyes lit up. Sadly, Lost In La Mancha may be the closest we'll get to seeing the director's vision. Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe's fascinating documentary was originally intended to be a 'Making Of...' feature (think of The Hamster Factor on the Twelve Monkeys DVD) to accompany Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It instead stands as a memorial to Murphy's Law. From the beginning, Gilliam seems subdued. He's complaining that the film's budget is half of what he needs. He's complaining that no one can track down co-star Vanessa Paradis. Then the filming starts.... We're treated to unrehearsed extras, prima donna horses, electrical storms, a flying visit from the Spanish Airforce and a guest appearance from poor Jean Rochefort's aforementioned prostate (which causes the actor understandable pain and to fly back to Paris for days on end for treatment). Lost In La Mancha unfolds like a horror film with a mounting sense of dread as each new catastrophe hits the production and to see Gilliam visibly wilting onscreen makes for uneasy viewing. Terry Gilliam has, of course, been through this all before with The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988) - an epic fable, beset by problems but differing from The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in that it actually limped over the finish line. To make matters worse, the filmed scenes we see look like classic Gilliam - big close-ups, fantastical design, slapstick etc. Rochefort (health permitting) was perfect as Don Quixote, Depp seemed kooky as ever and Vanessa Paradis was..well...stunning as ever. You've got to feel for the director, thwarted in making a movie that he'd spent years thinking about but it's compelling viewing. As the man himself said - 'I am getting tired of these fights [with backers.] Each time you get into a fight the world closes in a bit. You start losing an innocence, a belief that everything is possible. Terry Jones thinks I'm belligerent and egotistical, and that I've got to get into a fight to keep me going. It does keep me awake. But I limit it to the fights that are worth it nowadays.'
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News and features
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Depp pulls out of Don Quixote movie
- 06 Aug 2009
Johnny Depp has pulled out of starring in a movie about Spanish literary legend Don Quixote - after a series of disasters delayed the filming schedule by a decade. Eccentric director Terry Gilliam lined up Depp and Jean Rochefort to appear in the film back in 2000, and his attempts to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote were chronicled by filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe in 2002 movie Lost in La Mancha. The filming of the oddball epic was set back by scheduling and financial issues and... Read more
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Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, LOST IN LA MANCHA documents Terry Gilliam's disaster-prone attempt to make THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, a film largely based on the classic novel by Miguel ... -