About a month ago, we covered some relatively unkind, or at least typically unfiltered words Terry Gilliam had in regards to dealing with Johnny Depp and his handlers for the shooting of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” In the Vanity Fair article, the notoriously candid filmmaker said, “Our friend is an empire now…that’s the sad thing about success.”
Well, here we go again. Gilliam sat down to an interview with HitFix at Comic-Con and once again expressed his distaste for Depp’s new found status and his recent work. Here are some excerpts:
“He’d better start making some good films.”
“I’m not a great fan of ‘Public Enemies,’ because I think he’s a fucking extraordinary filmmaker, but personally I didn’t think Johnny had enough room to act.”
“Come on. You’ve got the power to make some really good films happen. Why are you doing this shit?”
Could this just be resentment that Depp is now too busy to return to “Don Quixote“? Possibly? Or perhaps as we noted in the Vanity Fair piece, Gilliam just doesn’t know how to censor himself for better or worse. But either way Gilliam doesn’t seem to be a big fan of the road Depp has been going down. He actively bashes both “Public Enemies” and “Alice in Wonderland” in the same interview but then goes on to mention his interest in “The Rum Diary” and how it might be good (by his standards) considering it’s Depp’s production company that’s making it. Depending on his opinion of how ‘Diaries’ turns out (and how much he expresses it in the press), this relationship could become even more strained in the near future. Terry, we know you’re on the eternal quest for truthiness and everything, but you might wanna put a lockdown on your shit for at least the next few weeks. [HitFix]
It's damn refreshing that someone speaks the truth. It's so rare in Hollywood. Then again, that might be why Mr. Gilliam has to struggle desperately to pull together tons of independent financing to fund his films. And while I love Gilliam, he should be careful about the films he criticizes. He did make Tideland, which may have been the worst movie I've seen all decade.
Yea but Terry still has that fucking ponytail.
Public enemies is the best acting depp's done in years. Gilliam is just sour because he can't get him to committ to whatever baroque soufle he has on the cards next.
lol.
I think Gilliam is just still pissed he directed Tideland. He's gotta take it out on somebody.
One needs to read the ENTIRE interview, not just excerpts. I saw no bitter grapes, just a man saying that Depp is one of those rare actors who has the range and talent to make great moves and that he'd like to see him make some of the kinds of films he made when he was paving his road in the industry. The risk taking fabulous roles that no one can do like Depp. If you read the entire interview you will find that Gilliam is referring to articles and statements made by others in many of these statements that are being solely attributed to him. It's best to get the WHOLE story as opposed to carefully chosen excerpts.
TS