Screen Media finally released a trailer Monday for Terry Gilliam’s long-delayed film, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” a passion project that has taken the director nearly two decades to get to the screen.
The film stars Jonathan Pryce as the title character alongside Adam Driver, Stellan Skarsgård, Olga Kurylenko and Jordi Mollà. Driver plays a frustrated filmmaker and disillusioned advertising executive who becomes pulled into a world of time-jumping fantasy when a Spanish cobbler (Pryce) who believes he is Don Quixote mistakes Toby for his trusted squire Sancho Panza. Pulled further into the cobbler’s world, Toby gradually becomes unable to tell his dreams from reality.
In 2018, Gilliam lost a legal dispute when a French court ruled that he would have to pay one of the film’s former producer, Paulo Branco, €10,000 ($11,600) for breach of contract. Branco also sought an injunction to prevent “Don Quixote” from being released and from premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, though he was denied that request.
Despite that clash that nearly blocked the completed film from screening, Gilliam’s project finally made its premiere as the closing night film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival in May. But even before it screened, Amazon Studios dropped its planned U.S. distribution of the film.
This is all just the cherry on top of what has historically been one of the most plagued film productions ever, dating all the way back to the late ’90s and including everything from on-set injuries, flash floods, cast changes and even more lawsuits. You can read all about the film’s storied production history here.
Directed and written by Gilliam, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is co-written by Tony Grisoni and produced by Mariela Besuievsky, Amy Gilliam, Gerardo Herrero and Gregoire Melin.
Watch the video above.