Cannes 2009’s Top 5 Items For Sale: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Written by Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown, the modern-day fantasy adventure centers on Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who has the gift of guiding the imaginations of others. With his travelling theater troupe, Parnassus offers audience members the chance to transcend reality by passing through a magical mirror. Tony steps into three different dimensions, each transporting him into a new world; worlds which will now be inhabited by four actors.

One gets the sense that The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus should have probably been picked up sometime during post production. Heath Ledger posthumously wins Oscar, this accounts as his last perf and Gilliam saves the project by asking Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to join ( a true smorgasbord for female viewers). This should have been an easy sell but the matter of the fact is: changing the frame of a film midway may have made buyers hesitant and if we take into consideration Gilliam’s recent track record in the fantasy genre (The Brothers Grimm) this might be a tough nut to crack for multiplex audiences. From what I gather the buyer’s screening might have gone well for AICN but no one has pulled the trigger on buying before Cannes – it can still be the biggest buy at the festival, but it could just as likely end up having the problems Wild Bunch had with unloading Che.