Terry Gilliam needs cash for his next film

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Terry Gilliam is trying to get another project off the ground – but once again, financing is proving to be a problem.

Back in April we covered a story which said that Terry Gilliam was hoping to make his first film since 2018’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Given that the latter took him decades to finish (partly because of funding issues, but not exclusively) there was always the worry that Gilliam would similarly struggle with his planned next project, The Carnival At The End of Days and unfortunately, that seems to be the case.

Gilliam has often struggled with financing his films in the latter stage of his career, and this time around seems to be no different with the filmmaker openly disclosing at the Lumière Film Festival that he can’t find financial backing for the project. The film looks no further forward than when he was talking about it before.

Gilliam’s story idea sounds wonderful and ripe for a filmmaker with such imagination.

“It’s a very interesting premise,” Gilliam told the fan website Giliamdreams back in April. “God has decided to wipe out humanity, which he does. The person who tries to stop it is Satan. Because Satan needs humanity, because his job is to tempt and seduce him. He’s the one who tries to convince God: OK wipe them out, but let me provide a new Adam and Eve to start again, and maybe this time it will work better…”

Gilliam is looking for $30m in financing, a request that doesn’t seem too much considering he’s the filmmaker behind such classics as 12 Monkeys, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and of course, Brazil. Still, given that he’s openly mooted retirement in the past because of frustrations stemming from financing, there might come a point when he decides there are better things to do with his time. We’ll keep you posted as and when we hear more.

World of Reel