GILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
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Terry Gilliam had no idea what he was getting into when back in the early 80s, he finished his first draft of what became The Man Who Killed Don Quixote… history’s most accursed film..
"I'm going to try again. I think this is the seventh time. Lucky seven, maybe. We'll see if it happens. I actually just want to … get rid of it." That was Gilliam when finally able to kick-start his passion project. Hallucinatory, of course. But with certain changes. Time-travel vanished. Plus actors (three died) who started shooting or were seen, considered or signed for other versions.
Shooting began, of course - you’ve seen the two documentaries, right? - on September 25, 2000, with French veteran Jean Rochefort as the whacky knight and Johnny Depp as a Mad man. That was abandoned after 15 days due to torrential rain, NATO F-16 s overhead, money and health issues. Rochefort, 83, a supreme horseman, could no longer get on and stay upon his horse due to a double spinal disc hernia, (His pain was visible on film). After stumping up $15m in claims, the insurance company kept a tight grip on the script until 2008 plans for Depp and Gilliam’s fellow-Python, Michael Palin.
"This time, we will make a better film." Er, which this time ..?
1988: Euro money men suggested Sean Connery. Terry preferred Nigel Hawthorne with Danny De Vito as the Sancha Panza figure. They are the original odd couple, the Laurel and Hardy matrix.
2005: Unbelievably - desperately? - big, fat Gerard Depardieu was announced as the thin white Don. "We’re gonna need a bigger donkey."
2010: Robert Duvall and Ewan McGregor.
2012: Duvall, Owen Wilson.
2015: John Hurt, Jack O’Connell (or Josh Brolin, Daniel Craig, Colin Farrell, Robert Downey Jr, Sam Worthington).
2016: Palin again opposite Adam Driver. And, finally,
2017: Jonathan Pryce (in his fourth Gilliam film; he was actually in the 2000 cast) and Driver.
Even after finishing the impossible dream, a previous producer then tried to block its Cannes festival screening and release! "I’m hoping the people who have been waiting all this time will not be disappointed."
Well, of course, we are. We’ve all made the damned thing in our heads (with any of the casts - well, not Depardieu!) and Terry’s imagination is not ours. Nor his, one supposes, after 17 years of rewrites, dashed hopes, stress, pain and utter fatigue. He never gave up (though why ask Palin and not John Cleese?) and the result is that which we have far too little of these days. A film by Terry Gilliam.
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SMELLYWOOD 2: THE WOODY WITCH HUNT
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Cate Blanchett and Greta Gerwig are Martians. They know nothing of life on Earth. Same for the sudden, long line of Woody Allen bashers. From young Timothée Chalamet to ancient Michael Caine. They sing from the same hymn sheet. "I'll never work with him again" (he's not asking) and, worse: "I knew nothing of the allegations." Of course, they did! We all knew of Mia Farrow's allegation that Allen abused their daughter, Dylan. It was scandalous news from as far back as … 1992! OK, Chalamet was not born until 1995 - that's no excuse, kid. In recent years, the opening of each new Allen film has been met with a media blitz from Mia and son, Ronan Farrow. Therefore, it is impossible not to have known.
What's changed these people, once so eager to work with Allen? Dylan has been on TV and said what we'd only read she had said before. Changed nothing.
The essential fact the bashers choose to ignore, as Alec Baldwin keeps reminding them, is Allen was "investigated forensically by two states (New York and Connecticut) and no charges were filed." In fact, the 1993 report by Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare said: "It is our expert opinion that Dylan was not sexually abused by Mr. Allen." (Furthermore, after a rigorous investigation, Allen and his wife were allowed to adopt two children.)
Her elder brother, Moses was 14 in 1992, quit the Farrow nest as soon as he could, is now 50 and, ironically, a family therapist. He has said that he witnessed Mia Farrow relentlessly coaching Dylan… about her father being a dangerous sexual predator.
"Seems to have worked," says Allen, "and, sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says." His defence remains the same. "I never molested my daughter - as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago." Case closed. Except for Martians.
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THE YEAR OF HJK
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After doing almost everything on UK TV - Whitechapel, The Wire, Happy Valley, The Tunnel, Killjoys, not forgetting Violet in Cucumber and Banana and, obvioiusly, Ornela in GOT – the stunning Hannah John-Kamen is now knocking big movies out of the park. She debuted in JJ's Star Wars (helluva way to start). This year she's into a triple whammy.
We've already had Tomb Raider and Ready Player One (her F'Nale Zandor. was specially written for Spielberg's movie - she used to singalong with Steven on the set). Next, she's the bad guy, Ghost, in Ant Boy and the Wasp. Ghost was a real guy in the comix. But as HJ-K she told Hollywood Reporter: "I always say until you take the character out of a comic book and make it your own, it's still a character in a comic book. So it's up to you to bring it to life." |
NO DUET FOR SOLO!
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Well, that was Solo, that was. Been and gone, lightspeed style. A bitter disappointment How can you fail with Han Solo? That’s like failing with 007! Disney’s Lucasfilm might now learn that slapping the Star Wars logo on any film does not make it good or a new franchise. They should pace these things (like Marvel) or or we’ll be into C3P0 - The College Years before we know it.
Hopefully, Alden Ehrenreich will recover from the mess - hardly his fault. How happy his beaten rivals must be feeling … They included Scott Eastwood, Taron Kingsman Egerton, Ansel Divergent Elgort, Tom (Draco Malfoy) Felton, Rami Malek (TV’s Mr Robot, cinema’s Freddie Mercury), Jack O’Connell (almost in Don Quixote), Miles Teller, Max Theriot, Ed Westwick. Plus the unknown Emery Cohen, actor-singer Blake Jenner and Nick Robinson.
So, Richie Cunningham’s daughter is better box-office than old Pop. And Solo will never be a duet. Not for a decade or more. Who knows it might have been better if Ron Howard hadn’t messed around with the Phil Lord- Christopher Miller version. Disney thought that stank. How come they didn’t sniff the the same about Howard’s take? Simple. It’s called corporate greed.
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GODPOP Shakespeare icon Laurence Olivier as Mafia Godfather Don Corleone – fuhgeddaboudit!
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LITTLE SHIRLEY
After lavish tests of Shirley Temple for 1949's Little Women, MGM chose Janet Leigh as Meg.
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TOM JONES
How Indiana Jones was supposed to look. With Steven Spielberg's first choice. Tom Selleck.
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BEST
SELLARS
"What role?" "All of them!" said Stanley Kubrick. Sellers never finished this fourth ...
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GERIATRIC SEVEN
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The Magnificent Seven made new generation stars out of Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, etc. But it was first aimed in 1959 at old hats Clark Gable, Glenn Ford, Stewart Granger. And just two newer guys: Anthony Franciosa, Dean Jones. All to be directed by Yul Brynner … who wanted to call the Seven Samurai re-make: The Magnificent Six. Like re-making Ben-Hur as Ben-Herbie.
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This is the film that bred this site ... after Robert Redford told me he'd planned a little black-white version - with Robert De Niro, and Michael Moriarty as Woodstein.
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WELCOME to a unique directory of what you never saw on-screen. The films the stars did not make. The movies that never were. The most definitive collation of casting stories ... Check up on all the films - of yesterday, today and tomorrow - that your favourite stars never made... A cast of thousands - 7,333 actors - to click on... More than 40 years in the making!! And 2,077,693 words of spirited text. The ultimate in movie trivia ... Better! Exactly the kind of history that Hollywood deserves. Back to front. Upside-down. Inside out. Full of flashbacks, close-ups, tracking shots (and, alas some badly edited sequences - sorry about that!) forming a fascinating, new and often bizarre flip-side perspective on your treasured movies and stars.
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BOND BABE
The UK's Rome pinup Gloria Paul was among the Domino wannabes testing for Thunderball.
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| WHERE TO FIND ..? |
PERFECT GRYSHENKA
How Hollywood ruined Marilyn Monroe's dream role in The Brothers Karamazov is on Marilyn's page - item #17
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TORN APART
Why didn't Rip Torn make Easy Rider - see his blue section on his page.
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FULL METAL HALL
For the fullest story of why Anthony Michael Hall did not make Stanley Kubrick's 'Nam classic, go to Hall's page. (The blue section).
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STREEP KONG
Meryl v Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis. Read all about it - in her first item.
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Photo ©redits:
All The President's Men montage: Reg Oliver, 1976.
Marlon Brando: Pennebaker/Paramount Pictures, 1960.
Hannah John-Kamen: GK Films-MGM-Square Enix-Warner Bros, 2018.
Alden Ehrenreich: Disney/Lucasfilm, 2017.
The Godfather montage: Reg Oliver, 1976.
Shirley Temple: Selznick International Pictures, 1946.
Tom Selleck: Belisarius Productions/Glenn A Larson Productions/Universal TV, 1988.
Renée Zellweger: BBC Films-Calamity Films-Pathé, 2018.
Gloria Paul: Eon Productions, 1965.
TC sketch: Graham Marsh, 1976.
Plus enormous thanks to The Man: Daniel Bouteiller.
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DOWN THE HATCH
During his final film, The Captain Hates The Sea, 1933, John Gilbert's alcoholism was not exactly helped by being in a cast of boozers, particularly during the shooting at sea. Columbia czar Harry Cohn cabled director Lewis Milestone: "Return to studio. The cost is staggering." Milestone replied: "So is the cast!"
WHAT'S GOING ON?
Some pages have muddling changes of typefaces, colours, spaces, and somewordssqueezedtogether ... Extremely sorry! As Valmont said: "Beyond my control." This follows improving security. Long story. Corrections are happening.
Fair Use Notice: This CCC site is operated under the assumption that its not-for-profit policy constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. All photos, audio/video clips and information taken from selected videos, books, magazines and internet resources are for entertainment and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond the interpretation of fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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