Johnny Depp Being Asked To Carry On Ledger’s Work In The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Posted by Rodneyon 25. 01. 2008in News Chat
Well it looks like the people behind The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus have come up with a plan to complete their project - and his name is Johny Depp. We get the scoop today from our friends at monsters and critics:
Johnny Depp is set to replace Heath Ledger in the tragic star’s latest film role. Heath, who was found dead in his hotel room earlier this week, was just six weeks away from wrapping ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’.
Director Terry Gilliam is keen for Johnny to shoot the remaining scenes as he thinks the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star would be the perfect replacement. A source said: “There is a point in the film when Heath falls through a magic mirror. He could change into another character after that and that is where Johnny would come in. “It’s a weird, fantasy, time-travel movie so Heath’s character could easily change appearance. It would be a poignant moment. Johnny’s not working at the moment so everyone is praying he will do it.”
Well I think this could be the best choice out of a myriad of unfortunate options. I really did not enjoy the when the oracle was switched in the third Matrix film, the line of dialogue that they added to address her change of “shell” was awkward and I wish they just went ahead as if nothing had changed. To switch actors in the same film should be even more awkward, but if anyone can pull it off - it would be Mr. Depp.
If the film is very, very wacky and a magical mirror is involved, then perhaps they can make this work. Travolta and Cage were able to switch characters with great effect in Face Off and If Depp can nail the mannerisms of Ledger’s character - who knows, this could save the film and surprise us all.
Depp has not yet confirmed the role so we will see if he is up to the task. It is certainly a heavy request at an awkward time, but I for one hope Johnny will give this one a go.
International friends, do you think that this film can be saved? Do you think that this is the best idea possible or do you have other ideas/suggestions that you deem superior?
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wtf…change actors midway thru the movie. Sounds really weird but that actually makes me more interested in seeing it.
it totally will. but you cant tell the difference
Hopefully this will work out.
Hey, David Lynch did it in Lost Highway. Bill Pullman turned into Balthazar Getty in that one. Being that Gilliam often flirts with the surreal, it seems like he could pull it off…
Hopefully they can manage to salvage the film. Poor Terry Gilliam — if I was the superstitious type, I’d say he’s cursed.
Eh. I sort of hope he doesn’t do it. Can’t put my finger on it, but as soon as I read this I thought, “Hope not.” Turning into another person midway through the film would just…how can I put this…it would blatantly display the need to replace Heath, and it would immediately conjur up bad memories of his death. Either way, it’s an uncomfortable position.
You know, Heath Ledger’s death is first of all a great tragedy and a huge loss for all who knew and loved him.
But I really feel bad for Terry Gilliam as well.
Somehow that kind of shit always seems to happen to his projects. For everybody interested, I highly recommend to check out the documentary “Lost in La Mancha”. It’s about Gilliam’s attempt to realize his dream project about Don Quichote and how it all fell apart because so much stuff going as wrong as it possibly could.
I hope this doesn’t happen as well here and this project can be saved.
If anyone can do it, Johnny can.
While it might feel odd to have another actor take over Heath’s role it very well could work given the nature of the story.
I would rather see this film saved for Terry Gilliam and all the other actors and crew involved. $30million is a lot of money to say “oh well” and put what has been filmed in the can.
I’m sure this isn’t an easy decision, but a solution was needed.
Maybe Depp can give the money he gets (if he does it) to charity like what Christian Slater did in ‘Interview with the Vampire’ after River Phoenix passed away.
I second the recommendation for “Lost in La Mancha”. I also think Depp would be a perfect fill-in for the rest of the movie. Not only would he do a great job, but I would see it as a way to symbolically break Gilliam’s “curse”. For those who don’t know, Depp was the main actor involved with Gilliam’s Quixote project.
I think Depp could pull it off and agree with what Terry Letourneau said earlier that he could just donate the money he makes to charity or maybe towards Heath’s kid?
ok.johny depps an actor. he can do the joker. if jack nickolson did it, johny depp can
(wow im not saying johny depp is a bad actor or that jack nickolson is- im saying nickolson pawned at being the joker and johny depp would fit in better)
Can Johnny do no wrong??!! Johnny come home Johnny!!
From the sounds of it, the possibility is there for this to make some kind of sense within the context of the film. If that’s the case, then this is a good way to salvage the film.
If it seems too forced and makes no real sense, then maybe it’s a bad idea. Without knowing the context, it’s hard to comment really. I just hope it works because it would be a shame to see what looks like a very interesting film dropped totally.
It would also be a shame if Ledgers final work was never shown. So if this also helps get Ledger onto the screen one final time… I’m all for it.
And Depp is a fantastic actor, so I’m pleased whenever I see him involved with something. Given his great talent and ability to play some bizarre roles, I’d have great confidence that he could pull something like this off.
wait! hes being- oh i thought the joker- durf! batm- ahg- i misdisfunctionated…maaaah bad hehe
I hope Johnny does it and this movie gets finished I love Terry Gilliam movies but mainly I wanna see this because I’m such a huge fan of Tom Waits both for his music and for his acting.
Come on Johnny!
yea man - i was pumped to see waits involved in the project as well
make it so!
(please!!!)
I don’t know it sounds weird, Oracle wasn’t the main character in the martix trilogy so the fact that they change the actress there was not so weird as this one. Maybe Mr. Gilliam must make the scenes of over again with a new actor.
I hope he does it. If you check out, supposedly, Heath’s last picture on set, him and Johnny look fairly similar.
http://www.derekhail.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/heath-ledger.jpg
Honestly, I don’t see why not.
Everyone knows what happened…so what the hell let Johnny do it and please leave Heath’s part in as a tribute.
well.. maybe is not a bad idea after all, but i don’t think that Depp is going to accept this part… is just to risky for his career
depp risking his carrer with this?? come on! its a terry gilliam movie with heath ledger in the main role!! anyway the man is done already. there is no way to ruin his carrer with ANYTHING. everyone will know that he is doing a huge favor to his friend terry. so, do it johnny!!