The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

A certain film director returns to a village where he once shot his thesis film about Don Quixote and finds the actor who played the lead role—a delusional old cobbler who believes himself to be a real knight-errant. He mistakes the young man for his squire Sancho and embarks on a strange journey with him, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.

The story of the production of Gilliam's "Don Quixote" is one of the examples of what is called "production hell" in the film industry. It all started back in 1989, when Terry Gilliam got the green light to adapt Cervantes' novel. That's when he first read the book, cover to cover, and deemed it unadaptable.

But! Nevertheless, for the next 29 years, he spent trying to prove himself and others wrong! It took a long time before Gilliam rewrote the script, changed the title, and started shooting again. And again unsuccessfully: producers changed, actors fell ill, funding was cut off, shooting would stop and start again—in general, hell. During this time, many actors came and went. For example, Johnny Depp was supposed to play the squire, but he had to be replaced by Adam Driver. Depp aged and no longer fits the role.

A documentary film titled "Lost in La Mancha" was edited in 2002 about Gilliam's unsuccessful attempts to film "Don Quixote".