‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ Can Play at Cannes, Court Rules

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/movies/terry-gilliam-cannes.html

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CANNES, France — Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” a comic fantasy that’s been in the making for the last 18 years, will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival after a French court ruling Wednesday, the festival said.

The movie is caught up in a protracted legal dispute with the producer Paulo Branco. Mr. Branco had sought to prevent the Cannes festival from screening it on May 19 as this year’s closing movie, but a French court threw out the request today, so that the red-carpet showing in Cannes will go ahead, said the movie’s French distributor, Philippe Aigle.

“Terry is extraordinarily relieved after today’s court ruling,” Mr. Aigle said in a telephone interview, adding that the judge had “broken the spell” that the film was under.

Mr. Aigle also said that despite suffering “slight health issues” recently, Mr. Gilliam will come to Cannes on May 17 to present his film and meet the press.

According to a report in the French newspaper Nice-Matin, Mr. Gilliam suffered a stroke over the weekend and was briefly hospitalized in London before his release. The movie’s publicists, DDA PR, would not confirm reports of the stroke.

“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is the story of a modern-day advertising executive named Toby who meets an elderly Spanish cobbler who believes himself to be Don Quixote. Reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred. The role of Toby is played by Adam Driver, and Jonathan Pryce plays Don Quixote.

The making of the film has been something of a saga in itself. Production began in 2000, but was hit with problems from the start, such as slashed budgets and ill health among cast members — so much so that, by 2003, a documentary about the troubled project was released, called “Lost in La Mancha.”