Terry Gilliam is now officially in pre-production on his next movie, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, and has provided a full synopsis and first production art to the Dreams website. Gilliam announced his intention to make the film at the beginning of this year and he has now cast Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Tom Waits.
But what's the story? Well, if you're sitting comfortably, then we'll begin. The official synopsis runs thusly:
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day.
It tells the story of Dr Parnassus (Plummer) and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick (Waits), in which he won immortality.
Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina (Cole) is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls.
Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all..."
No details there on who Ledger will play, though he's listed as Tony, but we'd suspect he's one of the men trying to help save Valentina. And how great a Satan will Tom Waits make? He's maybe not the best actor, but dude is screwy and cool in just the way Satan should be. Not that Satan's cool, kid's. Do not worship him, otherwise you'll have to wear all black and you'll be no good at sports.
Gilliam has also provided a first look at production art, which you can see REALLY REALLY BIG here. This collage effect might be just to bring together different elements of other pictures for impressionistic purposes, but we really hope he keeps this kind of pop-up storybook aesthetic. It would seem to match Gilliam's sensibility perfectly.