Doctor Parnassus: Heath Ledger's Legacy

1 month ago 10th Oct 08:15

It is not unusual for a film to be overshadowed by its star, but with 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus', the title of Terry Gilliam's fantasy epic has become synonymous with the untimely death of Heath Ledger. In the aftermath of the actor's passing from an accidental prescription drugs overdose in 2008, while many people could correctly identify what film he was working on - 'The Imaginarium' - few could explain even the basics of the plot at the time, yet none the less, it became one of the most hotly-anticipated movies of the coming years.

The movie follows Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), the leader of a travelling show who is cursed by a dark secret - after making a deal with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) for immortality, he later makes a new deal, trading his everlasting life for eternal youth, on the condition he gives his first-born child to Mr. Nick on her 16th birthday. With Valentina (Lily Cole) rapidly approaching her milestone age, the Doctor is desperate to save her soul and promises her hand in marriage to the person who helps him win a soul seduction bet.

I think Parnassus is my magnum opus, I think it's fantastic. I don't normally feel that about stuff that I do. It feels like Parnassus is a compendium of everything I've done,

With Heath's character Tony popping in and out of a magical mirror to a land of fantasy, it opened up the possibility of recasting the role after his death. The actor had already filmed most of his 'before' scenes, set in the real world, but even so, director Terry Gilliam had his work cut out in making alterations to make the transformation believable. "There was one thing I did which was when the first guy goes through the Imaginarium, I had his face changed so we've established the idea that people's faces could change in there. There were scenes that Heath hadn't finished filming, which I either dropped or put them on the other side of the mirror," he explained. "I kept saying that Heath was directing this film posthumously because he created a situation in which there were only a couple of answers to the problem and so forcing me to do these things. And most of them worked for the better."

Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Johnny Depp eventually stepped in to take over different incarnations of Heath's role, with Terry and others involved in making the film - including the director's daughter Amy, an executive producer - deliberately choosing actors who had known the late cast member, feeling it a fitting tribute to continue with the movie, despite initially wanting to scrap the project.

"My initial reaction was to just close the film down, because I couldn't even imagine that we could continue without Heath. Luckily I was surrounded by people like my daughter, and they just said we've got to finish this thing for Heath. To throw away his last performance is unacceptable. They beat me up until I started going forward again," said Terry. "I was incredibly distraught. Finally it came out that we should get three actors to replace him, and then it started making sense. I was only calling friends of Heath, people who knew him, and ended up with Johnny, Colin, and Jude. This kind of thing has never happened before. It's a real testament to just how special Heath was."

Even after recasting the role, Terry was still unsure about continuing, but his doubts were soon quashed by Johnny Depp. "Johnny's brilliant. What he does and what I do matches beautifully when we're working together. In this instance he was the first person I called after Heath died because I didn't really know what I was going to do. I asked if I could count on him, and he said sure whatever you want I'll be there. That's what saved the film, Johnny's involvement," he admitted.

While their closeness to Heath bonded the three newcomers to the set - the trio even donated their fees to Heath's daughter Matilda - they initially found it difficult and uncomfortable stepping into his shoes, as did the stars they were appearing with. "Colin was good friends with Heath so it started to feel like the right thing to do. It honoured the work and effort Heath had put in for the last few months. But I remember just crying on the first day of doing it, because it was such a bizarre thing," recalled Lily. "It was strange for Colin too. You've lost a friend recently and you're having to look at clips of your friend's performance and mimic him. It was an incredibly brave and lovely thing for him to do and I think he found it an incredibly hard week."