Report: Terry Gilliam Hospitalized As The Cannes Decision Whether To Debut ‘Quixote’ Looms

In our latest installment of the soap opera titled “As ‘Don Quixote’ Turns,” we have yet another wrinkle to report about the long-awaited Terry Gilliam film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” Yesterday, two parties presented their cases in a courtroom, which will decide whether or not the 25-years-in-the-making film will see its debut as the closing film of the Cannes Film Festival. However, one person didn’t make it to the courtroom – Terry Gilliam.

READ MORE: Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ Cannes Premiere Might Still Be In Jeopardy

The man at the center of the production was not in court due to, reportedly, suffering a minor stroke over the weekend. According to the French publication Nice-Matin, Gilliam was supposed to appear in court but was unable to attend. They also report that, even if ‘Don Quixote’ gets the go-ahead to premiere at the prestigious film festival, Gilliam may not be able to make it to France to introduce the film.

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Unfortunately, there are conflicting reports about the severity of Gilliam’s health issues. While Nice-Matin reports that Gilliam had a “stroke,” Le Point reports that the director suffered from some “discomfort” this weekend but didn’t elaborate on the exact health issue. We hope that it’s not nearly as bad as Nice-Matin reports, as it would be tragic for Gilliam to not be able to attend the premiere of his biggest passion project.

READ MORE: Terry Gilliam Talks Criterion Release Of ‘The Fisher King,’ Working With The Late Robin Williams, More [Playlist Interview]

Of course, as mentioned above, the premiere itself is still up in the air. While we were expecting a court decision yesterday, it appears that we won’t hear the final ruling until this afternoon, at the earliest. The courts are now in the midst of deciding whether or not the rights to ‘Don Quixote’ belong to Gilliam or his ex-producing partner Paulo Branco. We’ve reported that Cannes has agreed to respect whatever decision comes from the judge, which leaves the festival’s closing subject to change.

We’ll keep you posted as more news breaks about “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.”