Director Terry Gilliam's long-awaited 'Don Quixote' movie will finally be made by Amazon

Jason GuerrasioJun 11, 2015, 21:52 IST

Terry Gilliam is known best for being a member of the legendary comedic group Monty Python and directing some of the most impossibly complex movies of all time like "Time Bandits" and "Brazil."

But there are many projects the 74-year-old filmmaker has tried to pull off with no success. Most famously is a retelling of the famous Spanish novel "Don Quixote" titled "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

However, according to Gilliam, the project is back on thanks to Amazon.

In a recent interview with The Playlist, Gilliam revealed that he has signed a deal with Amazon Studios for them to release the film theatrically followed by streaming it. Amazon will also partly funding the film.

Amazon has confirmed the deal.

"I'm intrigued by their way of doing it," Gilliam said in the interview. "They go into the cinemas first and then a month or two afterwards they go into streaming. And I think that's good because you get a chance to see it on the big screen, and yet I know that more people have seen my films on DVD than they have in the cinemas and that's the reality of life now."

This is not the first time Gilliam has tried to make "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

In 1998 he went into production on the film with Johnny Depp as Toby, an advertising executive who has been thrust back to 17th century La Mancha, Spain where he goes on adventures with Don Quixote, who believes he's Sancho Panza (Quixote's sidekick in the novel).

Production on the film was doomed as it dealt with flood-like rain storms, fighter jets soaring over head and the actor playing Quixote, Jean Rochefort, injuring himself, which shut down production for good.

The '98 production of the film, and all its bad luck, was chronicled in the acclaimed documentary, "Lost in La Mancha."

According to Gilliam, Depp and Rochefort are not involved in the latest attempt to make the film. Jack O'Connell ("Unbroken") will now play Toby and John Hurt ("Snowpiercer") will play the windmill-chasing adventurer Quixote.

See for yourself the struggle Gilliam has had trying to make this movie. The trailer for "Lost in La Mancha" is below. The film is available on Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon Instant.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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Director Terry Gilliam's long-awaited 'Don Quixote' movie will finally be made by Amazon