Screen Media has bought North American rights to Terry Gilliam’s troubled “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” starring Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgard, Olga Kurylenko, and Jordi Molla.
The film had its world premiere as the closing night film at Cannes 2018. Directed and written by Terry Gilliam, the film is co-written by Tony Grisoni and produced by Mariela Besuievsky, Amy Gilliam, Gerardo Herrero, and Gregoire Melin.
Amazon had been set to handle U.S. release of the film, which was embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute over its ownership, but backed out earlier this year. Gilliam started shooting the picture in 1998 with Jean Rochefort as Quixote and Johnny Depp playing a marketing executive who is sent back in time. But shooting stopped after Rochefort became ill and the film was riddled with financial difficulties and insurance problems.
The movie was the subject of a 2002 documentary “Lost in La Mancha.” The director tried to re-start the film at several different points with Robert Duvall, Michael Palin, John Hurt, Ewan McGregor, and Jack O’Connell all getting attached to the production and subsequently falling out.
Screen Media, in partnership with Fathom Events, is planning a national theatrical release for March. The deal was negotiated by Seth Needle at Screen Media with the filmmakers.
“Terry Gilliam is a true auteur and his latest film does not disappoint,” said David Fannon, president of Screen Media. “It is the perfect pairing of a film with a filmmaker, the story of Don Quixote, a man who believes in things that seemingly no one else believes in, until finally, they share his vision. Screen Media is thrilled that U.S. audiences will finally get to see Terry Gilliam’s quest.”
The film received mixed reviews from critics and achieved a 64% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety‘s Peter Debruge called it “lumbering” in his Cannes review.