Terry Gilliam’s struggle to get his passion project, THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, made has been a long and trouble-filled one, now epitomized in the documentary LOST IN LA MANCHA. From budget cuts to scheduling conflicts to actor’s health issues and even Mother Nature’s sting, Gilliam’s film was thought to be never resurrected after it was abandoned during early production.

That was until recently, when Gilliam began to get the windmill turning again on QUIXOTE. A few months ago, he said that he thought he had found his man to play the absent-minded knight. That man being the all-too-perfect Robert Duvall, who could take over for the previous Quixote, French actor Jean Rochefort.

In a recent interview, Duvall stated, “I may work with Terry Gilliam next – if they get the money – to play Don Quixote de la Mancha.”

While Duvall is pitch perfect, that “if they get the money statement” is a big if. The film is currently listed as in pre-production and is said to commence shooting next spring, but until that actually happens, it is as real as the ferocious giants that Quixote himself fought. With the original effort, Gilliam attempted to solely use European financing and ended up having his budget slashed from $40 million to $32 million. While $32 million is of course still a large chunk of change, shaving $8 million off a film’s budget can really knock it off its horse, so to speak.

Let us hope that we will finally one day get to see Gilliam’s vision of QUIXOTE, complete with Duvall to put the character back on the saddle.

As a side note, it is unknown at this time what Johnny Depp’s involvement is this time around. He was at one time cast in Gilliam’s original go-round as an advertising executive who somehow travels back in time to Quixote’s day, ultimately becoming the self-prescribed knight’s sidekick Sancho Panza.

Source Collider