Get the Flash Player to see this player.
When word got out last year about Heath Ledger‘s untimely death, it was announced that three actors would be playing his part in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Somehow it didn’t sound right at the time, but after seeing this trailer, it really does look like an amazing experience!
Writer/director Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame had to think on his feet to save the $30 million project in early 2008, and as a result, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all play the same part of Ledger‘s original Tony. This is a character that was actually scripted to transform throughout the film, so it should come together nicely in the end.
Christopher Plummer stars as Dr. Parnassus, and his daughter Valentina is played by eerily cute newcomer Lily Cole. The daunting devil Mr. Nick is played by accomplished singer/songwriter/actor Tom Waits, who acted in movies like Rumblefish, The Fisher King, The Cotton Club and Domino, and whose songs have appeared in dozens of tv shows and movies. Verne Troyer co-stars, as well as child actors Quinn Lord (Things We Lost in the Fire, Trick r’ Treat) and Cassandra Sawtell (Good Luck Chuck, Harper’s Island).
It really does look as though Gilliam has set a new bar for fantasy with the special effects. Aside from his history with the Monty Python films, his past work includes the silly Time Bandits, the touching The Fisher King, Bruce Willis‘ futuristic hit Twelve Monkeys and the foggy Johnny Depp oddity Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He’s definitely not a one trick pony.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus will be in theaters in the U.S. on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009.
By: Dove ~Sheepish Lordess of Chaos~
Here is the synopsis from ShockYa.com
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a traveling 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, Dr. Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), in which he won immortality.
Many 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 first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina (Lily Cole) 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”¦
