The “curse” that seems to follow The Man Who Killed Don Quixote still goes on. The director, Terry Gilliam, who just suffered a stroke, will not be able to make it to Cannes.
After two decades of attempts, the director finally managed to finish his film and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was ready to be presented in Cannes. Unfortunately, Terry Gilliam was hit by a stroke and will not be able to attend the French Festival.
The story of the “doomed film” began in 1998 and it has been full of unexpected events. After having chosen the shooting location in a desert area of Spain, it was discovered that the territory was used for military exercises, which made it difficult to shoot the scenes. In addition, a violent storm prevented the shootings to continue. After that, the film’s main character Jean Rochefort became seriously ill and the film was eventually abandoned. The backstage story of this film never made would actually become the object of a documentary titled Lost in La Mancha.
After long twenty years, everything seemed ready for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to be released and presented in Cannes. At that point, the producer Paulo Branco, claiming to hold the rights of the film, asked the jury to ban the screening of the film. However, the board of the Cannes Film Festival, awaiting the verdict of the jury, took the side of the director.
