The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Encyclopedia
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film
directed by Terry Gilliam
and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown
. The film follows a traveling theater troupe whose leader, having made a bet with
the Devil
, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations and present them with a choice between self-fulfilling enlightenment or gratifying ignorance.
Heath Ledger
, Christopher Plummer
, Andrew Garfield
, Lily Cole
, and Tom Waits
star in the film, though Ledger's death one-third of the way through filming caused production to be temporarily suspended. Ledger's role was recast with Johnny Depp
, Jude Law
, and Colin Farrell
portraying transformations of Ledger's character as he travels through a dream world.
The film made its world premiere during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
, out of competition. The UK release of the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009 due to its successful premiere at Cannes. The film was given a limited release in the US on Christmas Day 2009 and a nationwide expansion on 8 January 2010.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories Best Art Direction
(art directed by Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, and set decorated by Caroline Smith; lost to Avatar) and Best Costume Design (costumes designed by Monique Prudhomme; lost to The Young Victoria
).
) theatre troupe, which includes sleight of hand
expert Anton (Andrew Garfield
), confidant Percy (Verne Troyer
), and Parnassus' daughter Valentina (Lily Cole
), performs outside a London
pub. A drunkard (Richard Riddell) barges onstage and crashes through a stage mirror, where his face changes (Bruce Crawford), and he enters a journey of imagination that culminates in a choice between a torturous-looking twelve-step program and going to a pub. He enters the pub, but it explodes; in the real world, Parnassus says he has lost another one to Mr. Nick (Tom Waits
).
Mr. Nick reminds Parnassus that in three days Valentina turns 16, and her soul will be his. Drowning himself in drink and playing tarot
, Parnassus tells Valentina that, centuries earlier, he ran a monastery
where monks perpetually recited stories to sustain the world. Mr. Nick challenged their beliefs by sealing their mouths. The world survived, but Parnassus claimed it was because of stories told elsewhere. Mr. Nick bet Parnassus over who could win souls of more people, to crave either stories of imagination (Parnassus) or addictive feeble desires (Mr. Nick). Parnassus won 12 souls before Mr. Nick, and gained immortality.
As the troupe crosses a bridge, Anton spies someone hanging beneath it. They rescue the hanging man (Heath Ledger
), who spits out a golden pipe when revived.Gilliam describes this as "an homage to Roberto Calvi
, the famous Italian Vatican banker who was found hanging under that very bridge[ Blackfriars Bridge
]." Claiming to have amnesia
, the man joins the troupe as a barker
. Parnassus becomes despondent over the impending loss of his daughter. Mr. Nick visits Parnassus, revealing the hanging man is a disgraced philanthropist named "Tony". He offers Parnassus a wager: Valentina can stay with whomever wins five souls first.
Tony convinces the troupe to remodel the show as more attractive to contemporary Londoners. In an upscale mall
, Tony lures a woman wearing Louis Vuitton (Maggie Steed
) into the mirror and follows her, where they enter a pastel-colored dream-world of giant high-heel shoes, bejeweled eggs, and floating lily pads — representative of this woman's imagination. The woman's imagination also changes Tony's face (Johnny Depp
); upon discovering this, he dances elegantly with her, and they spy a motel run by Mr. Nick. However, Tony convinces the woman to take a gondola toward a pyramid alone, winning a soul for Parnassus. Soon after, Tony falls backward out of the Imaginarium, changing his face back to normal; the woman exits shortly after and writes a blank check. Three other women clamor for a turn. Each emerges elated and pays well; Parnassus wins three more souls.
Four Russian gangsters
see Tony, who owes them money, and they chase him into the Imaginarium. As they threaten Tony, who has once again transformed — into his vision of a successful man (Jude Law
) — Parnassus tempts them with a police recruitment song, promising they will enjoy being cops who can legally brutalize people. Mr. Nick lures them to a woman that takes the form of their mother with a giant babushka. It explodes; the score is four souls apiece.
Parnassus reveals to Valentina that in an hour she will belong to Mr. Nick. He finally explains he made a new pact with Mr. Nick to be youthful again, so to win the heart of a woman he loved. In exchange, any child he fathered would become Mr. Nick's property at age 16. Valentina attempts to run away, but Tony enters the Imaginarium to give his soul to Parnassus; in exchange, Parnassus must teach him the trance which powers the dream-world. Valentina returns as he tries to enter the mirror, but Anton blocks them, having discovered from a recent newspaper how Tony is a fraudulent charity scammer.
Anton jealously struggles with Tony; in the scuffle, first Valentina, then Tony, enter the mirror dream-world. Influenced by Valentina's desires, Tony's face changes again (Colin Farrell
), and with Valentina, floats along in a boat. Shortly after an impoverished child disrupts their boat trip, Tony is suddenly now a philanthropist, speaking at a fundraiser. Anton appears as an outspoken child and exposes Tony as a fraud. A mob pursues Tony as the landscape disintegrates around them. Anton falls into a void, and Tony flees into a desert.
Valentina enters a shifting landscape of broken mirrors. Distraught over her father's bargain, Valentina gives her soul to Mr. Nick. Disillusioned at his easy victory, Mr. Nick offers to trade Valentina for Tony. Chased by the mob, Tony flees to a hilltop gallows
, but Parnassus confronts him, holding two copies of Tony's pipe, which he used to brace his windpipe against the noose. Parnassus challenges Tony to choose which pipe is genuine. He chooses wrongly, and, when the mob string him up on the gallows, he finally dies. Mr. Nick keeps to his word, and Valentina is freed, but he knows not where. Nick abandons Parnassus to the wilds of his Imaginarium.
Heartbroken, Parnassus only emerges from the Imaginarium years later, where he finds that Valentina married Anton and has a daughter. He watches them from outside a restaurant window, but when tempted to join them, he is stopped by Percy, who reappears as a hotel worker. Teaming up with Percy once more, Parnassus sells toy theater
replicas of the Imaginarium on a street corner. Mr. Nick, everpresent, invites Parnassus over to him, but Percy successfully puts an end to the temptation.
and screenwriter Charles McKeown
wrote the script for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, their first collaboration since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
(1988). When he was approached with the basic concept by Gilliam, McKeown thought of the central character of Parnassus "as a semi-eastern medicine man
evolved", and in retrospect he further said about the script's sensibilities, "[i]t is about the theme of imagination, and the importance of imagination, to how you live and how you think and so on. And that's very much a Terry theme. [...] I like the idea of storytelling being the thing that sustains the universe." Gilliam described the premise as a "fun and humorous story about the consequences of our personal choices in life", and explained his goal for the film: "It's autobiographical. I'm trying to bring a bit of fantasticality to London, an antidote to modern lives. I loved this idea of an ancient travelling show offering the kind of storytelling and wonder that we used to get, to people who are just into shoot-em-up action films." Gilliam and McKeown based the character of Tony on former British prime minister Tony Blair
, who "would say the most insane things and probably he'd believe them himself".
Gilliam repeatedly said in interviews that the character of Parnassus was meant autobiographically, a tale of an aging man with a vivid imagination in a world that doesn't listen anymore. Still being caught in depression over the disruption of his last self-written project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, his constant struggle with the established studio system, as well as becoming aware of his progressing age, worried that he was going nowhere with his latest projects and that he might not have much time left, Gilliam put a number of references to sudden, tragic, and premature death into his script before the loss of Ledger became a reality. In fact, Gilliam felt compelled to emphasize time and again that upon the film's release many things might be mistaken as references to Ledger's fate but that the script wasn't changed apart from re-casting Tony with Depp, Farrell, and Law.
went wider than ever before on focal length with a new 8mm Zeiss lens, unusual even for a Gilliam movie which are usually trademarked by wide-angle imagery. The widest lens that had been employed before on a Gilliam film had been a 9.8mm Kinoptic. Production of the remaining computer generated imagery effects shots were carried out in Vancouver
.
, London) on the evening of December 9. The carnival scenes were shot at Potters Field between December 10–11; shooting then moved to the abandoned Battersea Power Station
for three days, where the production had set up offices nearby. After a full day of set-up, the hanging scenes at Blackfriars Bridge
were shot for three hours on the evening of December 17.
At the same time that an intimate early scene between Andrew Garfield and Lily Cole was being shot on top of the traveling Imaginarium wagon, second unit work around London was also being done for several more nights, until December 20; this change in schedule was to allow Heath Ledger a break to travel back to Australia
to visit his family. After the entire cast returned from Christmas break, the production resumed shooting for 2008 back at Battersea for one full day; this was Tom Waits' first day on set, as he would mainly be required for the subsequent Vancouver
shoot, not the London section. From January 5-6, the production filmed scenes with the Imaginarium at Leadenhall Market
; shooting on this sequence managed an average of 70 set-ups a day. The production had originally planned to shoot the Leadenhall scenes at Bond Street
, but this was scrapped, due to security concerns.
After various nighttime footage at a Homebase
parking lot in New Southgate
, and interiors behind the stage curtain (including reaction close-ups of Heath Ledger) shot at Bray Studios
in Windsor
, production finally wrapped in Clerkenwell
, with shooting on the night of January 18 being Heath Ledger's last footage shot for the film; he returned to his New York City
apartment over the weekend while the production regrouped, and was expected to appear on set in Vancouver after a week's break for the second stage of shooting.
, Gilliam, determined to "salvage" the film, initially considered using computer-generated imagery
to make Ledger's character magically change his appearance, perhaps into another character, in order to keep his final work in the film, and, if the film was made, would dedicate it to Ledger. The imagery would have been similar to transformation techniques seen on Brad Pitt
in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
and those employed on Roy Scheider
's performance in his posthumous release Iron Cross
.
Eventually, actors Johnny Depp
, Colin Farrell
, and Jude Law
were cast to replace Heath Ledger in certain scenes, portraying the new idea of transformed versions of Ledger's character travelling through magical realms, while the footage shot with Ledger would remain in the film as his character's "real-world" appearance. Gilliam told Entertainment Weekly
, "Then we made the quantum leap: What if we get three actors to replace him? [...] Johnny was the first person I called. He said, 'Done. I'm there.' Same with Jude and Colin." Depp, a friend of Gilliam's who starred in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
and the aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
, had been compared to Ledger by cinematographer Nicola Pecorini
. Law was also a friend of Ledger's and had been considered for the role of Tony, and Farrell had also been friends with Ledger.
Initially, Tom Cruise
expressed interest in being involved as another actor to replace Ledger, but Gilliam turned him down because Cruise had never been a close friend of Ledger. Gilliam stated, "I just wanted to keep this family — it's as simple as that [...] There were people even offering to come and help, they didn't know Heath. It had to be in the family somehow, I don't know why; it was my attitude."
One scene planned for the Vancouver shooting with the Tony character was scrapped; two others were altered to accommodate Ledger's absence, a third was added to plan for Colin Farrell's role in the film, and a fourth, already in the script, had a prop of Farrell in a magazine added. A fifth, with close-ups of Ledger already filmed, scrapped any major dialogue from Tony and used a body and voice double, as detailed below.
, which was to start production in Germany
on April 7.
After arriving in Vancouver on February 26, Colin Farrell joined the cast and began practicing scenes with them for several weeks while Christopher Plummer's bluescreen and interior work was done, only beginning filming proper on March 10. Farrell's work was the first of the Tonys to be done, as it was the only Imaginarium-based shooting that involved significant sets; the scenes at the charity ball were shot (at Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre), then the hanging scene, and finally the gondola sequence (rewritten from its original conception due to the now-compressed shooting schedule).
Johnny Depp's shooting on the film was the hardest to incorporate into any of the new actors' schedules, due to his contractual obligation on Michael Mann's Public Enemies at the time; in the end, Gilliam had access to Depp for one day and three hours. All of the shots involving him had to be completed in one take, in order to fit into Depp's compressed time schedule.
Finally, Jude Law arrived at the very end of shooting, on April 2, to film the Imaginarium ladders sequence, which now required more dialogue than originally planned; a key scene in the Imaginarium wagon between Tony and the rest of the cast had been reserved for the Vancouver interior shooting, and so all of the dialogue (and, thus, narrative role of that scene) had to be funnelled into a conversation between Law and Andrew Garfield's characters in the Imaginarium. This conversation proved to be the last sequence shot for the film, and involved a set completely improvised, on the day, to look like the ground at Battersea; they did not have the budget for anything better, but the production crew came away quite impressed at how well it worked.
For the first two Imaginarium sequences, a double for Ledger, Zander Gladish, was used to ease the audience into the other actors as Tony; Gladish also doubled for Ledger in wide shots and masked close-ups for another, non-Imaginarium scene, where his character tries out various costumes. Gladish wore the character's mask for his shots, and did not speak, but is still credited for his work on the film.
Depp, Farrell, and Law opted to redirect their wages for the role to Ledger's young daughter, Matilda, who had been left out of an old version of Ledger's will, and Gilliam altered the part of the credits saying "A Terry Gilliam film" to "A film from Heath Ledger and friends."
Gilliam said in retrospect about the first transition from Ledger to Depp in the film:
Depp said of the experience:
Jude Law also commented on the film, saying:
Colin Farrell commented on the experience in his blog, saying,
died of cancer
, just two days after model shooting back in London had wrapped. Fellow producer Amy Gilliam, Terry's daughter, remembered, "[Bill Vince] always said, 'If you get your film in the can, you'll be all right.' And I kind of believe that he stayed with us to know that happened." Eventually, while on post-production, Gilliam himself was hit by a car, resulting in a cracked vertebra. Gilliam recalled: "So I thought, it was third time lucky - they just didn't get me. They got the star, the producer, and they were going for the director, and the fuckers failed on the last one. Whoever they are..." "They were going for the trinity [...] That would have been a tidy end to the whole thing. But they didn't kill me. I'm stuck here to tell the tale."
Gilliam finished editing the film by November 2008, and then work began on creating 647 computer generated imagery effects shots. As usual with his films, Gilliam found inspiration in particular painters for each CGI-generated scene inside the titular Imaginarium. According to Designing the "Imaginarium" published by CBSnews.com, the scene with Doctor Parnassus's attempted suicide related to the style of Odd Nerdrum
, the Ladder World with Jude Law featuring "rolling hills with simple trees" was inspired by the art of Grant Wood
, the kitsch landscape from the beginning of the sequence with Colin Farrell took inspiration from Maxfield Parrish
, and Jose Maria Sert
's mural of the Crucifixion in Rockefeller Center
inspired the scene including the final minutes of Farrell's appearance in the film.
According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter
channel launched on March 30, 2009, post-production was finished on March 31. After the production had finally come to a successful closure, Gilliam felt that "[I] didn't make this film. Forces from above and below made it. It made itself. I don't worry anymore. It's got its own relentless momentum. It just needed some human sacrifice." "It's made itself - I was just one pair of hands and there were many hands." "Don't get me into my mystical mode ... but the film made itself and it was co-directed by Heath Ledger!" "The irony is that the choices that were forced upon us improved the movie, so it was as if Heath co-directed the movie, even co-wrote it." According to Gilliam, actor Colin Farrell also went on record for saying that he hadn't been simply playing the character of Tony, but that he was rather feeling like "channeling Heath".
Filming took place at various locations in London
and Vancouver
.
Gilliam also positively recalled people's commitment to Ledger's memory: "Everyone in the cast and everyone in the crew was determined that this film would be finished and everybody worked longer, harder and somehow we got through. It was really ... people's love for Heath that propelled this thing forward." "All the actors already in the film had to change their schedules, and there wasn't a moment's hesitation. [...] They all said, 'We'll do what's necessary.' It's really a love letter to Heath by everybody involved. He was beloved by so many."
in the background (by the north bank of the Thames), and the first show is performed under the rail tracks at Green Dragon Court, directly next to Borough Market
, with Southwark Cathedral
in the background (in Borough, London, on the south bank of the Thames), where the drunken lout molests the performers and then enters the mirror. The next scene, with Tower Bridge
in the background, is just east along the riverbank, by City Hall. Tony is found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge
, and the very large disused building in which the following scene (and several later ones) occurs is the interior of Battersea power station
, farther west along the south bank of the river.
The following scenes occur north of the Thames: the Homebase
, DIY store at 3 Station Road, south of New Southgate railway station
, in New Southgate
, followed by the Horseshoe pub in Clerkenwell Close in Clerkenwell
from which the wagon flees. The restyled show makes its debut in Leadenhall Market
, where the stylish women gather to watch. Bray Studios
near Windsor was used for model shooting and additional photography.
The remaining scenes were filmed in Vancouver. The fantasy scenes were filmed at Bridge Studios in Burnaby, while the charity gala occurs at the Orpheum Theatre, and the glass-walled "mall" is the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library
, the curved arcade being the library's entrance foyer.
.jpg)
and Jeff Danna
who had previously worked on Gilliam's Tideland
. Gilliam wrote lyrics for the two songs "We Love Violence" and "We Are The Children Of The World", the latter of which spoofed Michael Jackson
's famous "We Are the World
" and was nominated for a 2009 Satellite Award in the category "Best Original Song".
The song "We Love Violence", performed in the film by policemen in drag, was sung by Gilliam, Mick Audsley
(who edited the film), the musician Ray Cooper
, Ed Hall (who was also the Visual Effects Editor), and Andre Jacquemin (who was Supervising Sound & Design on the film).
Tracklist
and other distributors had declined to release the film in the US. Eventually, the film's US distribution rights were acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
, which released the film in the US through Sony Pictures Classics
. In fact, the US was the last territory in which the film was sold.
, the film debuted at #3 on its first weekend at the UK box office. The film debuted at #2 in both France and Italy, generating the year's third-best box office return on an opening weekend in Italy. Said Roberto Proia, distribution chief of the film's Italian distributor Moviemax, about its surprisingly warm reception, "Almost two years after his death, Ledger has a huge fanbase which, along with the rest of the stellar cast, certainly contributed hugely. [...] We also found out that teenagers massively love Gilliam, and we did not expect this. He really has rock star status." Eventually, the film had earned about $54,119,168 theatrically in the countries outside North America
.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus earned $415,233 on its North American limited opening Christmas weekend (December 25–27, 2009), being presented in 48 theaters with an average of $8,651. The second weekend of Parnassus (January 1–3, 2010) set an average of $7,684 with a gross of $368,836 which made for a total of $1,029,821 domestically. Releasing in 607 North American theaters, Parnassus took eleventh place on its opening wide release box office weekend (January 8–10, 2010) with earnings of $1,762,637, an average of only $2,904 and a total of $2,989,290. Eventually, the film had earned $7,689,607 theatrically in North America.
According to the working partner of William Vince
, the film had already made its budget back even before it opened in North America.
. Supplementary material includes audio commentary and an introduction by Gilliam, deleted scenes, wardrobe test for Heath Ledger, visual FX feature, and three featurettes titled "Behind the Mirror," "Building the Temple," and "UK Premiere."
The DVD was released in the US on April 27, 2010.
reports that 64% of 184 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
of 6 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Terry Gilliam remains as indulgent as ever, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus represents a return to the intoxicatingly imaginative, darkly beautiful power of his earlier work, with fine performances to match all the visual spectacle." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" the film holds a 56% "rotten" rating.
Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 65 based on 30 reviews.
.
The Costume Designers Guild of America
named The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus for Best Fantasy Film
of the year with costume designer Monique Prudhomme receiving the award. In addition, it was also nominated for two BAFTA awards
, including Best Production Design
(Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro and Caroline Smith) and Best Make Up & Hair (Sarah Monzani
), but lost both to Avatar and The Young Victoria
respectively. It holds two nominations at the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards
(Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Best British Film) voted by the public and was nominated
for two Saturn Award
s, in the categories Best International Film
and Best Make-up
(Sarah Monzani
).
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for Best Achievement in Production at the British Independent Film Awards
, but lost to Bunny and the Bull
. It was further nominated for three International Press Academy
Satellite Awards, in the categories Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction & Production Design, and Best Original Song, and Monique Prudhomme won the award for Best Costume Design. The film was also voted Best Fantasy Film of the Year by readers of the Total Sci-Fi Online magazine.
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
directed by Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown
Charles McKeown
Charles McKeown is a British actor and writer, perhaps best known for his collaborations with Terry Gilliam. The two met while shooting Monty Python's Life of Brian, while McKeown was doing bit parts in the film.-Screenwriting career:...
. The film follows a traveling theater troupe whose leader, having made a bet with
Deal with the Devil
Deal With The Devil is the fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Lizzy Borden released in 2000 .A return to form, featuring a cover by Todd McFarlane.2 covers were recorded...
the Devil
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations and present them with a choice between self-fulfilling enlightenment or gratifying ignorance.
Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
, Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
, Lily Cole
Lily Cole
Lily Luahana Cole is an English model and actress. Cole's modelling career was launched by a chance encounter with Benjamin Hart in Soho, London when she was 14....
, and Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
star in the film, though Ledger's death one-third of the way through filming caused production to be temporarily suspended. Ledger's role was recast with Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
, and Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
portraying transformations of Ledger's character as he travels through a dream world.
The film made its world premiere during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
2009 Cannes Film Festival
The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Pixar's film Up would open the festival...
, out of competition. The UK release of the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009 due to its successful premiere at Cannes. The film was given a limited release in the US on Christmas Day 2009 and a nationwide expansion on 8 January 2010.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(art directed by Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, and set decorated by Caroline Smith; lost to Avatar) and Best Costume Design (costumes designed by Monique Prudhomme; lost to The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria is a 2009 period drama film based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Sarah, Duchess of...
).
Plot
The ancient Doctor Parnassus' (Christopher PlummerChristopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
) theatre troupe, which includes sleight of hand
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....
expert Anton (Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
), confidant Percy (Verne Troyer
Verne Troyer
Verne J. Troyer is an American stand-up comedian, actor, stuntman and performer, best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series...
), and Parnassus' daughter Valentina (Lily Cole
Lily Cole
Lily Luahana Cole is an English model and actress. Cole's modelling career was launched by a chance encounter with Benjamin Hart in Soho, London when she was 14....
), performs outside a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
pub. A drunkard (Richard Riddell) barges onstage and crashes through a stage mirror, where his face changes (Bruce Crawford), and he enters a journey of imagination that culminates in a choice between a torturous-looking twelve-step program and going to a pub. He enters the pub, but it explodes; in the real world, Parnassus says he has lost another one to Mr. Nick (Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
).
Mr. Nick reminds Parnassus that in three days Valentina turns 16, and her soul will be his. Drowning himself in drink and playing tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
, Parnassus tells Valentina that, centuries earlier, he ran a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
where monks perpetually recited stories to sustain the world. Mr. Nick challenged their beliefs by sealing their mouths. The world survived, but Parnassus claimed it was because of stories told elsewhere. Mr. Nick bet Parnassus over who could win souls of more people, to crave either stories of imagination (Parnassus) or addictive feeble desires (Mr. Nick). Parnassus won 12 souls before Mr. Nick, and gained immortality.
As the troupe crosses a bridge, Anton spies someone hanging beneath it. They rescue the hanging man (Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
), who spits out a golden pipe when revived.Gilliam describes this as "an homage to Roberto Calvi
Roberto Calvi
Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...
, the famous Italian Vatican banker who was found hanging under that very bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
]." Claiming to have amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, the man joins the troupe as a barker
Barker (occupation)
A barker is a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events, such as a circus or funfair, by exhorting passing public, describing attractions of show and emphasizing variety, novelty, beauty, or some other feature believed to incite listeners to attend entertainment...
. Parnassus becomes despondent over the impending loss of his daughter. Mr. Nick visits Parnassus, revealing the hanging man is a disgraced philanthropist named "Tony". He offers Parnassus a wager: Valentina can stay with whomever wins five souls first.
Tony convinces the troupe to remodel the show as more attractive to contemporary Londoners. In an upscale mall
Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market is a covered market in the City of London, located at Gracechurch Street but with vehicular access also available via Whittington Avenue to the north and Lime Street to the south and east and additional pedestrian access via a number of narrow passageways.-History:The market dates...
, Tony lures a woman wearing Louis Vuitton (Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed
Maggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:...
) into the mirror and follows her, where they enter a pastel-colored dream-world of giant high-heel shoes, bejeweled eggs, and floating lily pads — representative of this woman's imagination. The woman's imagination also changes Tony's face (Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
); upon discovering this, he dances elegantly with her, and they spy a motel run by Mr. Nick. However, Tony convinces the woman to take a gondola toward a pyramid alone, winning a soul for Parnassus. Soon after, Tony falls backward out of the Imaginarium, changing his face back to normal; the woman exits shortly after and writes a blank check. Three other women clamor for a turn. Each emerges elated and pays well; Parnassus wins three more souls.
Four Russian gangsters
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
see Tony, who owes them money, and they chase him into the Imaginarium. As they threaten Tony, who has once again transformed — into his vision of a successful man (Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
) — Parnassus tempts them with a police recruitment song, promising they will enjoy being cops who can legally brutalize people. Mr. Nick lures them to a woman that takes the form of their mother with a giant babushka. It explodes; the score is four souls apiece.
Parnassus reveals to Valentina that in an hour she will belong to Mr. Nick. He finally explains he made a new pact with Mr. Nick to be youthful again, so to win the heart of a woman he loved. In exchange, any child he fathered would become Mr. Nick's property at age 16. Valentina attempts to run away, but Tony enters the Imaginarium to give his soul to Parnassus; in exchange, Parnassus must teach him the trance which powers the dream-world. Valentina returns as he tries to enter the mirror, but Anton blocks them, having discovered from a recent newspaper how Tony is a fraudulent charity scammer.
Anton jealously struggles with Tony; in the scuffle, first Valentina, then Tony, enter the mirror dream-world. Influenced by Valentina's desires, Tony's face changes again (Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
), and with Valentina, floats along in a boat. Shortly after an impoverished child disrupts their boat trip, Tony is suddenly now a philanthropist, speaking at a fundraiser. Anton appears as an outspoken child and exposes Tony as a fraud. A mob pursues Tony as the landscape disintegrates around them. Anton falls into a void, and Tony flees into a desert.
Valentina enters a shifting landscape of broken mirrors. Distraught over her father's bargain, Valentina gives her soul to Mr. Nick. Disillusioned at his easy victory, Mr. Nick offers to trade Valentina for Tony. Chased by the mob, Tony flees to a hilltop gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
, but Parnassus confronts him, holding two copies of Tony's pipe, which he used to brace his windpipe against the noose. Parnassus challenges Tony to choose which pipe is genuine. He chooses wrongly, and, when the mob string him up on the gallows, he finally dies. Mr. Nick keeps to his word, and Valentina is freed, but he knows not where. Nick abandons Parnassus to the wilds of his Imaginarium.
Heartbroken, Parnassus only emerges from the Imaginarium years later, where he finds that Valentina married Anton and has a daughter. He watches them from outside a restaurant window, but when tempted to join them, he is stopped by Percy, who reappears as a hotel worker. Teaming up with Percy once more, Parnassus sells toy theater
Toy theater
Toy theater, also called paper theater and model theater, is a form of miniature theater dating back to the early 19th century in Europe. Toy theaters were often printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater...
replicas of the Imaginarium on a street corner. Mr. Nick, everpresent, invites Parnassus over to him, but Percy successfully puts an end to the temptation.
Cast
- Heath LedgerHeath LedgerHeath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
as Tony, a mysterious outsider who joins the group. When Ledger died in the midst of production, the role was recast for certain scenes to have Johnny DeppJohnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Colin FarrellColin FarrellColin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
and Jude LawJude LawDavid Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
portray "physically transformed versions" of the character within the eponymous Imaginarium. - Christopher PlummerChristopher PlummerArthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
as Doctor Parnassus, a former monk, and the 1,000-year-old leader of a travelling theatre troupe. - Andrew GarfieldAndrew GarfieldAndrew Russell Garfield is an American-English actor who has appeared in radio, theatre, film, and television. His early roles include the films Lions for Lambs, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Boy A, which garnered him the 2007 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Actor".Garfield achieved...
as Anton: a member of Doctor Parnassus' troupe. - Verne TroyerVerne TroyerVerne J. Troyer is an American stand-up comedian, actor, stuntman and performer, best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series...
as Percy, Doctor Parnassus' confidant. - Lily ColeLily ColeLily Luahana Cole is an English model and actress. Cole's modelling career was launched by a chance encounter with Benjamin Hart in Soho, London when she was 14....
as Valentina, Doctor Parnassus' daughter. - Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
as Mr. Nick, a personification of the Devil. - Peter StormarePeter Stormareis a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :...
as the President, a world statesman - Maggie SteedMaggie SteedMaggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:...
as Louis Vuitton Woman - Mark BentonMark BentonMark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
as Dad - Simon DaySimon DaySimon Day is a British comedian most famous for his roles in the sketch show The Fast Show, sitcom Grass and a series of comedic adverts for Powergen.-Life and career:...
as Uncle Bob - Paloma FaithPaloma FaithPaloma Faith is a British singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober", then her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album...
as Sally - Richard Riddell as Martin
- Montserrat LombardMontserrat LombardMontserrat Lombard is a British actress best known for playing WPC Sharon 'Shaz' Granger in the BBC Drama series Ashes to Ashes.Lombard was born in London. She is half Spanish and half Italian...
as Sally's friend - Bruce Crawford as Face Changed Martin
Writing
Director Terry GilliamTerry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
and screenwriter Charles McKeown
Charles McKeown
Charles McKeown is a British actor and writer, perhaps best known for his collaborations with Terry Gilliam. The two met while shooting Monty Python's Life of Brian, while McKeown was doing bit parts in the film.-Screenwriting career:...
wrote the script for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, their first collaboration since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a 1988 British adventure comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Robin Williams.-Plot:...
(1988). When he was approached with the basic concept by Gilliam, McKeown thought of the central character of Parnassus "as a semi-eastern medicine man
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
evolved", and in retrospect he further said about the script's sensibilities, "[i]t is about the theme of imagination, and the importance of imagination, to how you live and how you think and so on. And that's very much a Terry theme. [...] I like the idea of storytelling being the thing that sustains the universe." Gilliam described the premise as a "fun and humorous story about the consequences of our personal choices in life", and explained his goal for the film: "It's autobiographical. I'm trying to bring a bit of fantasticality to London, an antidote to modern lives. I loved this idea of an ancient travelling show offering the kind of storytelling and wonder that we used to get, to people who are just into shoot-em-up action films." Gilliam and McKeown based the character of Tony on former British prime minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, who "would say the most insane things and probably he'd believe them himself".
Gilliam repeatedly said in interviews that the character of Parnassus was meant autobiographically, a tale of an aging man with a vivid imagination in a world that doesn't listen anymore. Still being caught in depression over the disruption of his last self-written project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, his constant struggle with the established studio system, as well as becoming aware of his progressing age, worried that he was going nowhere with his latest projects and that he might not have much time left, Gilliam put a number of references to sudden, tragic, and premature death into his script before the loss of Ledger became a reality. In fact, Gilliam felt compelled to emphasize time and again that upon the film's release many things might be mistaken as references to Ledger's fate but that the script wasn't changed apart from re-casting Tony with Depp, Farrell, and Law.
Filming
The film received a budget of $25 million at first, but its final budget was about $30 million. For The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Gilliam and his cinematographer Nicola PecoriniNicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
went wider than ever before on focal length with a new 8mm Zeiss lens, unusual even for a Gilliam movie which are usually trademarked by wide-angle imagery. The widest lens that had been employed before on a Gilliam film had been a 9.8mm Kinoptic. Production of the remaining computer generated imagery effects shots were carried out in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
London filming
Production started in December 2007, beginning with various shots of the Imaginarium wagon moving about the London suburbs (to be more specific, Bounds GreenBounds Green
Bounds Green is an area in the north of London, in the London Borough of Haringey. Parts of Bounds Green are also known as New Southgate, but most of New Southgate lies in the London Borough of Enfield to the north west....
, London) on the evening of December 9. The carnival scenes were shot at Potters Field between December 10–11; shooting then moved to the abandoned Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, South London. The station comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built first in the...
for three days, where the production had set up offices nearby. After a full day of set-up, the hanging scenes at Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
were shot for three hours on the evening of December 17.
At the same time that an intimate early scene between Andrew Garfield and Lily Cole was being shot on top of the traveling Imaginarium wagon, second unit work around London was also being done for several more nights, until December 20; this change in schedule was to allow Heath Ledger a break to travel back to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to visit his family. After the entire cast returned from Christmas break, the production resumed shooting for 2008 back at Battersea for one full day; this was Tom Waits' first day on set, as he would mainly be required for the subsequent Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
shoot, not the London section. From January 5-6, the production filmed scenes with the Imaginarium at Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market is a covered market in the City of London, located at Gracechurch Street but with vehicular access also available via Whittington Avenue to the north and Lime Street to the south and east and additional pedestrian access via a number of narrow passageways.-History:The market dates...
; shooting on this sequence managed an average of 70 set-ups a day. The production had originally planned to shoot the Leadenhall scenes at Bond Street
Bond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...
, but this was scrapped, due to security concerns.
After various nighttime footage at a Homebase
Homebase
Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...
parking lot in New Southgate
New Southgate
New Southgate is a residential suburb in the south-east corner of the London Borough of Barnet and the south-west corner of the London Borough of Enfield in North London, England....
, and interiors behind the stage curtain (including reaction close-ups of Heath Ledger) shot at Bray Studios
Bray Studios (UK)
Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...
in Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, production finally wrapped in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, with shooting on the night of January 18 being Heath Ledger's last footage shot for the film; he returned to his New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
apartment over the weekend while the production regrouped, and was expected to appear on set in Vancouver after a week's break for the second stage of shooting.
Effects of Heath Ledger's death
Production was disrupted by the death of Heath Ledger in New York City on January 22, 2008. Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing. Gilliam was presiding over concept art when he was informed by a phone call that Ledger had died. His initial thought about the production was: "The film's over, it's as simple as that." Although production was suspended indefinitely by January 24, according to Christopher PlummerChristopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Gilliam, determined to "salvage" the film, initially considered using computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
to make Ledger's character magically change his appearance, perhaps into another character, in order to keep his final work in the film, and, if the film was made, would dedicate it to Ledger. The imagery would have been similar to transformation techniques seen on Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (film)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy-drama film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald...
and those employed on Roy Scheider
Roy Scheider
Roy Richard Scheider was an American actor. He was best known for his leading role as police chief Martin C...
's performance in his posthumous release Iron Cross
Iron Cross (film)
Iron Cross is a 2011 British thriller film. The film is written and directed by British film director Joshua Newton and is slated for release in March 2011...
.
Eventually, actors Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
, and Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
were cast to replace Heath Ledger in certain scenes, portraying the new idea of transformed versions of Ledger's character travelling through magical realms, while the footage shot with Ledger would remain in the film as his character's "real-world" appearance. Gilliam told Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, "Then we made the quantum leap: What if we get three actors to replace him? [...] Johnny was the first person I called. He said, 'Done. I'm there.' Same with Jude and Colin." Depp, a friend of Gilliam's who starred in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name....
and the aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a planned feature film by director Terry Gilliam. As documented in Lost in La Mancha, production originally commenced in October 2000, but stopped within a week due to a serious injury to Jean Rochefort, who had been cast for the title role of Don Quixote...
, had been compared to Ledger by cinematographer Nicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini
Nicola Pecorini is an Italian-born cinematographer.Pecorini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He founded, with Garrett Brown, inventor of the steadicam, the Steadicam Operators Association, Inc. , in 1988. Pecorini moved to the States in 1993...
. Law was also a friend of Ledger's and had been considered for the role of Tony, and Farrell had also been friends with Ledger.
Initially, Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
expressed interest in being involved as another actor to replace Ledger, but Gilliam turned him down because Cruise had never been a close friend of Ledger. Gilliam stated, "I just wanted to keep this family — it's as simple as that [...] There were people even offering to come and help, they didn't know Heath. It had to be in the family somehow, I don't know why; it was my attitude."
One scene planned for the Vancouver shooting with the Tony character was scrapped; two others were altered to accommodate Ledger's absence, a third was added to plan for Colin Farrell's role in the film, and a fourth, already in the script, had a prop of Farrell in a magazine added. A fifth, with close-ups of Ledger already filmed, scrapped any major dialogue from Tony and used a body and voice double, as detailed below.
Vancouver filming
With the role recast, and the script restructured accordingly, filming resumed in Vancouver on February 24, 2008, a month later than originally planned. Exteriors required for the film's ending, featuring Christopher Plummer and Verne Troyer, were shot during this time; the location work also required the presence of Tom Waits (on the first day) and Lily Cole (on the second). All of Plummer's scenes, including exterior flashbacks shown early on in the film, had to be filmed first in the Vancouver schedule, within three weeks, as he was due to leave to begin filming on The Last StationThe Last Station
The Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
, which was to start production in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on April 7.
After arriving in Vancouver on February 26, Colin Farrell joined the cast and began practicing scenes with them for several weeks while Christopher Plummer's bluescreen and interior work was done, only beginning filming proper on March 10. Farrell's work was the first of the Tonys to be done, as it was the only Imaginarium-based shooting that involved significant sets; the scenes at the charity ball were shot (at Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre), then the hanging scene, and finally the gondola sequence (rewritten from its original conception due to the now-compressed shooting schedule).
Johnny Depp's shooting on the film was the hardest to incorporate into any of the new actors' schedules, due to his contractual obligation on Michael Mann's Public Enemies at the time; in the end, Gilliam had access to Depp for one day and three hours. All of the shots involving him had to be completed in one take, in order to fit into Depp's compressed time schedule.
Finally, Jude Law arrived at the very end of shooting, on April 2, to film the Imaginarium ladders sequence, which now required more dialogue than originally planned; a key scene in the Imaginarium wagon between Tony and the rest of the cast had been reserved for the Vancouver interior shooting, and so all of the dialogue (and, thus, narrative role of that scene) had to be funnelled into a conversation between Law and Andrew Garfield's characters in the Imaginarium. This conversation proved to be the last sequence shot for the film, and involved a set completely improvised, on the day, to look like the ground at Battersea; they did not have the budget for anything better, but the production crew came away quite impressed at how well it worked.
For the first two Imaginarium sequences, a double for Ledger, Zander Gladish, was used to ease the audience into the other actors as Tony; Gladish also doubled for Ledger in wide shots and masked close-ups for another, non-Imaginarium scene, where his character tries out various costumes. Gladish wore the character's mask for his shots, and did not speak, but is still credited for his work on the film.
Depp, Farrell, and Law opted to redirect their wages for the role to Ledger's young daughter, Matilda, who had been left out of an old version of Ledger's will, and Gilliam altered the part of the credits saying "A Terry Gilliam film" to "A film from Heath Ledger and friends."
Gilliam said in retrospect about the first transition from Ledger to Depp in the film:
Depp said of the experience:
Jude Law also commented on the film, saying:
Colin Farrell commented on the experience in his blog, saying,
Post-production
Principal photography in Vancouver wrapped, as planned, on April 15, but the production was soon beset by further tragedy when producer William VinceWilliam Vince
William Vince was a Canadian film producer who produced Air Bud , Dead Heat , Saved! and Capote – for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. His alternate name are Bill Vince and William D...
died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, just two days after model shooting back in London had wrapped. Fellow producer Amy Gilliam, Terry's daughter, remembered, "[Bill Vince] always said, 'If you get your film in the can, you'll be all right.' And I kind of believe that he stayed with us to know that happened." Eventually, while on post-production, Gilliam himself was hit by a car, resulting in a cracked vertebra. Gilliam recalled: "So I thought, it was third time lucky - they just didn't get me. They got the star, the producer, and they were going for the director, and the fuckers failed on the last one. Whoever they are..." "They were going for the trinity [...] That would have been a tidy end to the whole thing. But they didn't kill me. I'm stuck here to tell the tale."
Gilliam finished editing the film by November 2008, and then work began on creating 647 computer generated imagery effects shots. As usual with his films, Gilliam found inspiration in particular painters for each CGI-generated scene inside the titular Imaginarium. According to Designing the "Imaginarium" published by CBSnews.com, the scene with Doctor Parnassus's attempted suicide related to the style of Odd Nerdrum
Odd Nerdrum
Odd Nerdrum , is a Norwegian figurative painter. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative, while primary influences by the painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio place his work in direct conflict with the abstraction and conceptual art considered acceptable in much of his...
, the Ladder World with Jude Law featuring "rolling hills with simple trees" was inspired by the art of Grant Wood
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
, the kitsch landscape from the beginning of the sequence with Colin Farrell took inspiration from Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the twentieth century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.-Life:...
, and Jose Maria Sert
Jose Maria Sert
Josep Maria Sert i Badia was a Catalan muralist, the son of an affluent Catalan textile industry family and friend of Salvador Dalí....
's mural of the Crucifixion in Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
inspired the scene including the final minutes of Farrell's appearance in the film.
According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
channel launched on March 30, 2009, post-production was finished on March 31. After the production had finally come to a successful closure, Gilliam felt that "[I] didn't make this film. Forces from above and below made it. It made itself. I don't worry anymore. It's got its own relentless momentum. It just needed some human sacrifice." "It's made itself - I was just one pair of hands and there were many hands." "Don't get me into my mystical mode ... but the film made itself and it was co-directed by Heath Ledger!" "The irony is that the choices that were forced upon us improved the movie, so it was as if Heath co-directed the movie, even co-wrote it." According to Gilliam, actor Colin Farrell also went on record for saying that he hadn't been simply playing the character of Tony, but that he was rather feeling like "channeling Heath".
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
.
Gilliam also positively recalled people's commitment to Ledger's memory: "Everyone in the cast and everyone in the crew was determined that this film would be finished and everybody worked longer, harder and somehow we got through. It was really ... people's love for Heath that propelled this thing forward." "All the actors already in the film had to change their schedules, and there wasn't a moment's hesitation. [...] They all said, 'We'll do what's necessary.' It's really a love letter to Heath by everybody involved. He was beloved by so many."
Locations
The film opens with St Paul's CathedralSt Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
in the background (by the north bank of the Thames), and the first show is performed under the rail tracks at Green Dragon Court, directly next to Borough Market
Borough Market
Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest food markets in London, and sells a large variety of foods from all over the world.-Information and History:...
, with Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge....
in the background (in Borough, London, on the south bank of the Thames), where the drunken lout molests the performers and then enters the mirror. The next scene, with Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name...
in the background, is just east along the riverbank, by City Hall. Tony is found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
, and the very large disused building in which the following scene (and several later ones) occurs is the interior of Battersea power station
Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, South London. The station comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built first in the...
, farther west along the south bank of the river.
The following scenes occur north of the Thames: the Homebase
Homebase
Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...
, DIY store at 3 Station Road, south of New Southgate railway station
New Southgate railway station
New Southgate railway station is on the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Enfield in north London, and is in Travelcard Zone 4...
, in New Southgate
New Southgate
New Southgate is a residential suburb in the south-east corner of the London Borough of Barnet and the south-west corner of the London Borough of Enfield in North London, England....
, followed by the Horseshoe pub in Clerkenwell Close in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
from which the wagon flees. The restyled show makes its debut in Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market is a covered market in the City of London, located at Gracechurch Street but with vehicular access also available via Whittington Avenue to the north and Lime Street to the south and east and additional pedestrian access via a number of narrow passageways.-History:The market dates...
, where the stylish women gather to watch. Bray Studios
Bray Studios (UK)
Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...
near Windsor was used for model shooting and additional photography.
The remaining scenes were filmed in Vancouver. The fantasy scenes were filmed at Bridge Studios in Burnaby, while the charity gala occurs at the Orpheum Theatre, and the glass-walled "mall" is the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library
Vancouver Public Library
The Vancouver Public Library is the third largest public library system in Canada, with more than 2.5 million items in its collections, 22 branches, approximately 375,000 cardholders, and nearly nine million item borrowings annually...
, the curved arcade being the library's entrance foyer.
Music
The original motion picture soundtrack of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was composed by Mychael DannaMychael Danna
Mychael Danna is a Canadian film composer.-Life and career:Mychael Danna is the brother of fellow composer Jeff Danna. He has been scoring films since his 1987 feature debut for Atom Egoyan's Family Viewing, a score which earned Danna the first of his thirteen Genie Award nominations. He has won...
and Jeff Danna
Jeff Danna
Jeffrey W. “Jeff” Danna is a composer and musician noted for his work in film scores.A reluctant piano student at age eight, he found solace in the guitar at age eleven. Danna began playing professionally at fifteen until a hand injury in 1987 curtailed his performance career...
who had previously worked on Gilliam's Tideland
Tideland (film)
Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...
. Gilliam wrote lyrics for the two songs "We Love Violence" and "We Are The Children Of The World", the latter of which spoofed Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's famous "We Are the World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
" and was nominated for a 2009 Satellite Award in the category "Best Original Song".
The song "We Love Violence", performed in the film by policemen in drag, was sung by Gilliam, Mick Audsley
Mick Audsley
Mick Audsley is a British film and television editor with more than 30 film credits. Audsley has had a notable collaboration with the director Stephen Frears from 1982 to their latest, Tamara Drewe...
(who edited the film), the musician Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper
Ray Cooper is an English musician. He is a session and road-tour percussionist, and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, and Elton John. Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow...
, Ed Hall (who was also the Visual Effects Editor), and Andre Jacquemin (who was Supervising Sound & Design on the film).
Tracklist
- Once upon a Time
- The Imaginarium
- The Tack
- Tony's Tale of Woe
- The Monastery
- Book & Story
- Sympathy for the Hanged Man
- The First to Five Souls
- Escape from the Pub
- The River
- Suicide Attempt
- Tango amongst the Lilies
- Victory in the Lilies
- Four through The Mirror
- The Ladder World
- We Love Violence
- Top of the Wagon
- We Are the Children of the World
- Tony's World Collapses
- The Devil's Dance
- Tony's Salvation
- Parnassus Alone
Release and box office performance
Before The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was finished, the film had already received healthy interest from worldwide distributors and the film sold out across the world. However, the film received lukewarm response from many distributors in the United States. Gilliam said that Fox Searchlight PicturesFox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1998, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox...
and other distributors had declined to release the film in the US. Eventually, the film's US distribution rights were acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The company specializes in acquiring and producing films for a wide variety of distribution platforms, but the group's main focus is non-theatrical markets .SPWA was formerly a division of Sony Pictures Home...
, which released the film in the US through Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
. In fact, the US was the last territory in which the film was sold.
Box office
According to ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, the film debuted at #3 on its first weekend at the UK box office. The film debuted at #2 in both France and Italy, generating the year's third-best box office return on an opening weekend in Italy. Said Roberto Proia, distribution chief of the film's Italian distributor Moviemax, about its surprisingly warm reception, "Almost two years after his death, Ledger has a huge fanbase which, along with the rest of the stellar cast, certainly contributed hugely. [...] We also found out that teenagers massively love Gilliam, and we did not expect this. He really has rock star status." Eventually, the film had earned about $54,119,168 theatrically in the countries outside North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus earned $415,233 on its North American limited opening Christmas weekend (December 25–27, 2009), being presented in 48 theaters with an average of $8,651. The second weekend of Parnassus (January 1–3, 2010) set an average of $7,684 with a gross of $368,836 which made for a total of $1,029,821 domestically. Releasing in 607 North American theaters, Parnassus took eleventh place on its opening wide release box office weekend (January 8–10, 2010) with earnings of $1,762,637, an average of only $2,904 and a total of $2,989,290. Eventually, the film had earned $7,689,607 theatrically in North America.
According to the working partner of William Vince
William Vince
William Vince was a Canadian film producer who produced Air Bud , Dead Heat , Saved! and Capote – for which he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. His alternate name are Bill Vince and William D...
, the film had already made its budget back even before it opened in North America.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom (Region 2) on March 29, 2010, by Lionsgate Home EntertainmentLionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment and most former Artisan Entertainment releases. Its library of more than 8000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios...
. Supplementary material includes audio commentary and an introduction by Gilliam, deleted scenes, wardrobe test for Heath Ledger, visual FX feature, and three featurettes titled "Behind the Mirror," "Building the Temple," and "UK Premiere."
The DVD was released in the US on April 27, 2010.
Critical reception
Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 64% of 184 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
of 6 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Terry Gilliam remains as indulgent as ever, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus represents a return to the intoxicatingly imaginative, darkly beautiful power of his earlier work, with fine performances to match all the visual spectacle." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" the film holds a 56% "rotten" rating.
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 65 based on 30 reviews.
Awards and nominations
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for two Academy Awards, in the categories Best Costume Design and Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
.
The Costume Designers Guild of America
Costume Designers Guild
The Costume Designers Guild , IATSE LOCAL 892 was founded in 1953 by a group of 30 motion picture costume designers. In 1986, the Costume Designers Guild joined the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and added Local 892 to its name...
named The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus for Best Fantasy Film
Costume Designers Guild Awards 2009
The 12th Costume Designers Guild Awards, honoring the best costume designs in film and television for 2009, were given on February 25, 2010. The nominees were announced on January 26, 2010.-Film: Contemporary Film:...
of the year with costume designer Monique Prudhomme receiving the award. In addition, it was also nominated for two BAFTA awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
, including Best Production Design
BAFTA Award for Best Production Design
List of winners of the BAFTA Awards from 1964 to the present in the category "Best Production Design".-1960s:Best British Production Design - Black and White1964: Dr...
(Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro and Caroline Smith) and Best Make Up & Hair (Sarah Monzani
Sarah Monzani
Sarah Monzani is a make-up artist. Her work in Quest for Fire earned her an Academy Award for Makeup as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup.-External links:...
), but lost both to Avatar and The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria
The Young Victoria is a 2009 period drama film based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Sarah, Duchess of...
respectively. It holds two nominations at the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards
Empire Awards
An Empire Award is an accolade bestowed by Empire, Britain's biggest selling film magazine, to recognize excellence of professionals in the locale and global film industry. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine and in an annual ceremony, the Empire Awards, the winners are presented...
(Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Best British Film) voted by the public and was nominated
36th Saturn Awards
The 36th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television in 2009 were presented on June 24, 2010, in Burbank, California. The most awards of the night were won by Avatar, winning all ten of its nominations...
for two Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
s, in the categories Best International Film
Saturn Award for Best International Film
The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best International Film....
and Best Make-up
Saturn Award for Best Make-up
The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Make-up:...
(Sarah Monzani
Sarah Monzani
Sarah Monzani is a make-up artist. Her work in Quest for Fire earned her an Academy Award for Makeup as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup.-External links:...
).
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for Best Achievement in Production at the British Independent Film Awards
British Independent Film Awards
The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
, but lost to Bunny and the Bull
Bunny and the Bull
Bunny and the Bull is a 2009 British comedy film from writer-director Paul King. It stars Edward Hogg and Simon Farnaby in a surreal recreation of a road trip...
. It was further nominated for three International Press Academy
International Press Academy
The International Press Academy is a large and diverse association of professional entertainment journalists, representing both domestic and foreign markets in print, television, radio, cable and new media outlets. The academy was founded in 1996 by Mirjana Van Blaricom...
Satellite Awards, in the categories Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction & Production Design, and Best Original Song, and Monique Prudhomme won the award for Best Costume Design. The film was also voted Best Fantasy Film of the Year by readers of the Total Sci-Fi Online magazine.
External links
- Dreams on Dr Parnassus – Behind-the-scenes articles and exclusive interviews with cast and crew, by Phil Stubbs