Terry Gilliam Quashes Persistent Depp Rumor For ‘Quixote’; Director Says No “A-Prime” Actors For Leads

When rumors of Johnny Depp’s involvement in “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” resurfaced recently — even though the actor had explicitly expressed that take two on the notorious film wasn’t in the cards for him — we hesitantly reported it, but some of us internally couldn’t help but evince a lot of skepticism (we argued within, heh).

Depp’s schedule — as Terry Gilliam himself noted when he struggled to find two free days with the actor for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — is hectic and nuts. He’s locked into several projects and his life is pretty much scheduled years in advance (see as far into February 2011 when he’ll reteam with Serbian auteur Emir Kusturica for a take on Pancho Villa). Depp even took out a score-card with MTV once and basically blocked out his life for the next several months (‘Quixote’ wasn’t on it).

So yeah, Depp back in Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” especially when it’s supposed to shoot this spring (rumored for an April release; and it’s pretty well known that “The Tourist” starts shooting in the spring)?. Not gonna happen. And in an interview with the AV Club, Gilliam himself has quashed the persisting rumor and also said there won’t be any major names for the lead.

“I’ve got Robert Duvall, I’ve got another good actor involved, and it’s the old money game that I’m running now. Just trying to put the pieces together, because I don’t have Johnny Depp, which would make it very easy. No A-prime actors.”

But “A-prime” actors is a relative term and it doesn’t necessarily mean that Gilliam will be hiring an unknown in Depp’s old role. It seems to mean he won’t have any superstar actors and hey, that’s probably OK with him and all of us. Here’s what he describes as the “A-Prime” actors that get projects greenlit.

“That’s what’s so frightening about it. But [producers/studios] all want the same name. That’s what’s so absurd about this game at the moment. You’ve got A-list actors, but then you’ve got A-prime. That’s all they want, is the A-prime boys. And there’s only five of them, maybe six. Brad Pitt, John Depp, and George Clooney. And Will Smith.”

Well, we don’t think anyone would expect any of those actors to star in the project either (though Pitt obviously worked on “Twelve Monkeys” back in the day, but his schedule isn’t clear either not to mention his nasty habit of dropping out of films at the last minute).

So who will they get? Someone hopefully and probably interesting. Let’s not forget Gilliam hired Heath Ledger as a lead for “The Brothers Grimm” far before he was a leading man (or had proved his comic abilities) and Matt Damon was just peaking (“The Bourne Supremacy” was released the year before, but ‘Grimm’ shot around 2003 and was delayed forever). Gilliam’s faltered of late, but he’s got good raw instincts. We’re hoping to hear a lead, and the word of funding and a greenlight, hopefully soon.

Say what you will about Terry Gilliam films in the last decade (and we and others sure have), but we can probably agree he’s had enough bad luck and bizzarro circumstances for two careers and could probably do with some lady luck on his side. So again, what is in the cards for Johnny Depp this year? Probably three projects. “The Tourist,” “Pirates 4″ in the summer and “Dark Shadows” with Tim Burton in the fall (which he hinted at again in recent interviews in Europe; follow the trail….).