He Dreams of Giants (2019) - full transcript

Nobody's getting up.

Okay, go back to start!

Wakey, wakey, folks!

I thought this was rehearsed, fuck!

Cut, cut, cut.

What's going on?

- Ladies and gentlemen,
just listen up for a second.

There's a large bunch of lightning

and a storm about to hit us.

Terry!

- I never, never, never



seen such a sum of bad luck.

I'm
going to refuse to shoot

with Jean Rochefort on a horse,
until he's medically fit.

Ah, I'm
apoplectic, you can hear me.

The movie is paramount.

It's ahead of my children,
ahead of my wife.

- We can't make the film,

not the film you want to make,

and you know, I'm sorry to be, as always,

the bearer of fucking bad tidings.

- It's almost like I've
forgotten about this film.

It's like it doesn't exist.

It can't exist, because if it
does exist, it's too painful.

I've done the film too often
in my head too many times



that I've seen it.

I've been through it.

I know how it goes.

Is it better to just leave it there?

I really don't know.

I literally do not know.

Why does anybody create?

Because we can,

because we don't have a choice.

It's hard.

Life is hard, art is hard,

and the idea that it should be fun,

who the fuck invented that story?

- I mean, I'm amazed
you still want to do it.

Are you--
- I don't want to do it.

I just want to, as I tell
people, this not a film.

This is a medical condition.

I have what is like a brain
tumor that must be removed

so I can get on with my life.

I gotta get myself physically
up to this fucking thing.

- We're all older now.

- It's old men fumbling in the dark.

- Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Oh.

This is my old Quixote
with Doré Illustrations.

There we are, the dead
mule, which is in the movie.

There's Quixote.

The problem has always been
trying to find a Quixote

as thin and gaunt and aged

as Doré drew him.

Doré's illustrations are
so brilliantly conceived,

thought out.

The costumes, everything
about it is well researched.

So it's the most cinematic in that sense.

These are just storyboards,

but, God, they're amazing.

God, hmm.

"Too much sanity may be
madness," said Don Quixote.

"but the maddest of all
is to see life as it is

"and not as it should be."

Well, I ask the question,

where is the film now?

- We've been, for the last year,

dealing with some German
and French lawyers.

This has been going on and on and on,

and we're getting very close
now to getting the rights back.

So with any luck, it could be
within the next month or so.

We almost got all the pieces

of "The Man Who Killed Don
Quixote" back together again.

The plan is start shooting in September,

Ewan McGregor and Robert Duvall.

"The Man
Who Killed Don Quixote"

has been delayed once more,

this time due to John Hurt's
pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

- Just when you think you're there,

another disaster befalls.

The film finally
seemed to be moving forward

after seven failed attempts
in almost two decades.

- This just keeps coming
up again and again,

and it keeps crashing.

So it's the Sisyphean moment of my life.

Whether I really should be
continuing even trying to do it,

I don't know. My wife
says walk away from it.

The project is on again,

and this time, it stars Adam
Driver and Michael Palin

and is scheduled to shoot in autumn.

Terry Gilliam's

"The Man Who Killed Don
Quixote" has been delayed

only days before production
was due to begin.

It looks very much like

we've got the money this time.

- Hey, how are you?

Good to see you.

Yeah, gosh.

- The relationship that I have with Terry

has gone all the way back to "Brazil."

I couldn't say no, really.

Everything that went wrong
was just waiting for me

to get old enough to play Don Quixote.

- "Brazil" was such a, you know,

important film in what
I loosely call a career,

and Quixote might be the
end of the whole circle.

So the circle might be complete,

and I can then relax,

because it's been such
a long, long obsession,

the idea of making this film.

- You've got to be possessed

to want to continue making a movie

under those kind of circumstances.

- Yeah, the problem is once
you start on these things,

it's hard to stop.

What is the attraction

of the tale of Don Quixote?

I mean, why persist?

- It's, I think, the need to dream,

the need to have battles to
fight that are greater than you.

Stand your ground foul and fearsome giant!

I am Don Quixote de la Mancha!

- Hey, how are you?
- Hi.

Nice to meet you.

When'd you get in?

- When was it?
- She got in two days ago.

- Two days ago, yeah.
- Something, yeah, yeah.

- You met today in the morning, right?

- Wait 'til you see her blonde.

How many
incarnations of this film

have you been on, Nicola?

- I have, like, seven folders.

So seven different years.

So
seven different attempts.

- Yeah.

- Nicola.

Hello, how are you?
- Hey, hello there.

Are you ready
for this new adventure?

- Yeah, fucking same old adventure.

- We've got to have him in the film.

I mean, he's just too much.

I hope he's okay, because
he was so fantastic.

Oh, that would be good,
because, I mean, we all,

Nicola, everybody wants, Benjamin,

we all say Raul has to be in
the film somehow.

Bye, bye.

He's great.

What's nice about the film at the moment,

we've got the original Sancho Panza.

He's back.

- It's not a giant.

It's a windmill.

- Benjamin Fernandez,
the original designer.

It's a great reunion of
slightly older people.

This time, we've gotta
do it, finally.

Some people think it's heroic.

More truthful, it's foolish and stupid,

but that's what obsessions are about.

They just let them lead
you down the garden path

to the abyss.

I had a mini stroke.

A mini stroke, which is
actually what they're called.

It's an eye stroke is what it is.

So it affected my vision a little bit.

That's all.

So I guess that's a yes, yeah?

- Yes, please.
- Okay.

N, Jesus, N, B, H, E, Z, U.

That one below that?
- Yes.

- E, C.

Is it N, V.

- Now, try to find your
nose with your eyes closed.

Okay, very good, very good.

Okay, very good.

And just look to the light.

- Quixote struck me more powerfully

when I reached middle age,

because that's what I thought
Quixote was very much about.

It's like a last hurrah.

The tale of this old man
whose body was failing,

Who, at the same time, his spirit

and willpower was thriving, flourishing.

He's an older man.

He has one last chance to
make the world as interesting

as he dreams it to be.

Anybody's got a better idea
than this script, do mention it.

- Okay.

A great shadow
swoops across Don Quixote

and Sancho like a black wing.

Quixote looks up.

- A giant with arms six miles long.

She is in great danger.

Quixote lowers his
lance and charges the windmill.

- Prepare to die, foul and
fearsome giant.

- Boom, the lance impales the sail,

boom, and Quixote is
wrenched from Rosinante.

- Whoa!

Action, more,
harder, go, go, go, go, go!

- Quixote gathers his
energy, throws himself

into it slashing, running, and yelling!

- Help, I'm in here, help!

- The farmer flings
himself at Toby's feet,

clings pathetically to Toby's leg.

That an ignorant
peasant should find interest

in a book he cannot read.

- There's a nice feeling, oh,
we're making a movie again,

but then I also have this other knowledge

of our limited budget and time.

The money hasn't come in.

The deals we've been doing,

the marketplace has got
no faith in this movie,

and I began to wonder whether I should

even be doing the movie.

It's better to leave a ruin.

The people can imagine what
the cast would've looked like.

Bruegel has always fascinated me,

because I think if he had been living now,

he would've been making films,

because his paintings
are just full of stories

on top of stories on top of stories.

They're full of amazing characters.

When we did "Holy Grail"
and "Jabberwocky",

it was really Bruegel that we
were trying to put on film.

What I love about them, the
people are just full of life.

Everything is going on in them,

and we just literally stole as many ideas

as we could from him with
have no shame at all.

- We still have too much to color.

- It looks very good, the nose.

- Yeah, the rest of the face.

Just this, it just has a
little bit rather than

such a straight line.

It just a slight,
slight, slight concavity.

It's there, but it could, I
just think, right at this point,

right in there, a tiny bit more.

Okay.

- Is it too narrow?

Let's ask the question.

- Too narrow?
- Yeah.

Too thin, what do you think there?

Yeah.

Yeah, this is the romantic scene

the audience has been waiting
for, an unspoken love.

- Not the nose.

Stay away from the nose.

- Let's do nose comparison shots.

Two profiles, see who's
got the better nose.

Bit more, John, yeah.

Come on, guys.

Get that camera.

Get the noses.

Look at that.

Bit more, John, that way.

Lovely, great, thanks.

She's doing what?

"There's no money." is
what he keeps saying,

and that's why Amy's money has got to come

in fast this week.

Stupid.

- Amy, I'm feeling your dad's pain.

I mean, it sounds like things
are a little bit shaky.

Yeah, it's always about the money.

- Yeah, someone said, I
don't know, a while back,

"Oh, Terry could have made
this a few years ago."

The truth is is no.

There's never been enough money,

because people might read the script.

- Yeah.
- People don't read the script

with Terry's eye.
- Yeah.

- Every film I do, I've storyboarded.

It comes from being a cartoonist.

I draw it out so I can
actually visualize the film.

It's like, I close my
eyes, I can see the film.

So I just start drawing that,

and that's the way it starts happening.

Do you see
what you do as a filmmaker

any different, you think,
than most other directors?

- I think I work hard at trying to,

at least, offer up a different
perception of the world.

- 43 million buckaroonies.

- Fantasy isn't easy.

It's hard work creating
these incredible worlds,

60 foot high people with
detachable heads don't come easy

or cheap.

$40 million
and all these problems

with Baron Munchausen.

It was regarded

as one of the biggest
flops in movie history.

- How do you follow
that if anybody lets you

after all that money you've spent?

- There are a lot of stories
waiting to trap you out there,

and I got caught in the
film disaster story.

I don't see how we get through this.

My stomach is now in my
throat is where it is,

because I've been here 17 years ago

with this kind of ridiculous bullshit.

The budget on this thing is $32.1 million,

which by European standards
without American investment

is a big chunk of change.

For what we're trying to do,

it's half the money we
would need.

And now we're back at about $16 million.

It's about half of what it was

when we were doing Johnny Depp.

This is crazy.

- And it's god awful.

Fine, this isn't real.

It's just a dream.

It doesn't hurt, doesn't hurt.

Ow, Jesus Christ!
- Isn't that lovely?

What a great film.

Whatever happened to that film?

- It may happen that before
we pass six days together,

I shall conquer a number of kingdoms.

Fuck you, we had a deal.

What a film that would've been.

This is, like, too long.

The sleeves are too long.

Yes, I know that this is too small.

These are too tight.

- No, this, I think...

I don't know.

Yeah, I know.

It's just interesting.

- Want to try that on this?

This is what they normally wear.

Can we take a picture and make it twice?

see something with this.

It's not what it should be.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, I know.

It's not,

when you really look at it.

- I mean, it looks...

Yeah, I mean, this is
not at all what we wrote.

- Yeah, yeah.

Wntkt.

- They've got two more days
work on that is what I think.

I need to show you all
so everybody can look at

what the fucking thing
is supposed to look like.

- He hasn't seen a camera
since December 2012.

That's a long fucking time,

and therefore, together
with 20 years in the making,

it boil up.

Listen, I'm very happy to do fire works.

It's one less shit.

- It's fine, yeah.

See, we're back on budget
with that decision.

- As I say, back on budget,

when something has been
taken outta the budget,

- That was not the budget.
- that was something

that was never in the budget.

- Come on, give us a break.

We didn't know that.

It's in the script.

It must be in the budget.

When it's in the script,
it's in the budget.

Where is the money gonna
come to make this movie is

what I'm wanting to know?

Because if all this is true,

everything is costing much
more than we'd planned,

and I don't see how we're
gonna make the movie.

Is now the point this stage
that I'm getting really nervous

about everything,

- Okay, if they don't have one,

we'll take it.
- and I'm not a nice person

when I'm nervous.

I'm no longer an A-list director.

Over the years, it's been
more and more frustrating.

I've got too many ideas that don't conform

to whatever the current thinking is.

I get the films made and
then they don't get seen.

- You're already dead.

And the last several
films haven't made any money.

So that kind of clinches the deal.

Whatever, we can show them.

So, hey, when there are no answers.

I would like to have an answer.

It was a production part.

- Don't do this, Terry, don't do this.

Leave it as a dream.

My nightmare is that we're gonna
disappoint a lot of people.

Is it gonna be good enough to, at least,

match people's expectations?

It's something that I've always feared.

I don't see that there
should be any limitations

to what you can do in films,

and I like the idea of just
going absolutely over the top,

see how far we can go, see how
many people we can drag in,

amaze, astound, and for a
couple hours out of their lives,

they get to live in other worlds.

- We cannot fly to the moon.

We cannot defy death.

We must face the facts,

not the folly of fantasists like you

who do not live in the real world.

Tada.

- Fuck, this is good.

That's fantastic.

I mean, look at this.

Look at everything.

I wonder how many people
were working how many days

to do all this stuff?

It fits me.

- Oh, Gabriel told me in Italy that today,

I mean, 17 years later, it's so expensive

- Yeah, to do this, yeah.
- to do this.

- All these costumes, all these years,

Gabriela had kept
sequestered in some dark part

of Tirelli Costumes in Rome.

Nicola called Carlo, Gabriela's assistant,

who happened to be, at that moment,

looking at the Quixote
costume, and I said,

"Let's get it over here."

"Dear Gabriela and Carlo,

"Can't thank you enough
for keeping Quixote alive

"and safe in a box all these years.

"I can't believe how beautiful it is.

"The amount of detailed working,

"and it is absolutely fantastic.

"It would've been impossible on our budget

"to make anything like it.

"We just tried the Don Quixote
costume on Jonathan Pryce

"and it works.

"Needs a few adjustments, but
it's great to have the chance

"to finally be able to
use it in a finished film.

"You'll be our good luck charm,

"and you will be part of the film."

Maybe this is the kind of luck
the film needs to have some

of the original magic included.

Go and get 'em, Harry, quick.

- Yah!

- Can you fly?

Can you fly?

Here we go.

Go fly, Captain Planet,
ready?

Woo, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
woo.

Are you a grandchild to somebody?

You
know, I remember in 1995,

you said to Lou and me
"filmmaking is about two things,

"belief and momentum."

- Yes, I'm worried about
both at the moment.

Other people seem to
believe more than I do.

So maybe that'll get us through it.

I've become an old cynic.

That's what I become,
a doubter, a worrier,

and what are you gonna be?

Today is a very important day.

The last signature in
the financing contract

has been signed.

So now everything's in
place and everybody's happy

except for me, who now
has to make the film.

There's no way out.

I'm trapped.

I thought the only way it's
gonna be is I'm gonna have

to die or get seriously ill

or have another stroke, just
something to get out of it.

Well, this is
what you wanted like this.

- Well, never get what
you want is the thing one

should remember, because okay, now,

after all these years
of making it, however,

knowing our limitations,
it won't be as good

as I've been imagining it.

I think I said before, it's
the weight of expectation,

my own and the fans.

That is the hardest thing to get past

that one is not delivering

what people are capable of imagining.

So Terry, why are
you still sticking with it?

Do you feel you've got to prove something?

Where
are we in time right now?

- We're on the last day before the weekend

before the first day of shooting.

So you
start shooting on Monday then.

Only three days to go.

- We're dead.

We're gonna die horribly.

It's--

- I think we just have to get started.

Once we--
- No, once we get started,

because I've forgotten everything.

I'm at that stage.

It's just, you're about to go on stage,

and you've forgotten all your lines.

I have forgotten my lines.

- No, because you haven't
gone on stage yet.

The moment you go on stage,
it'll all come like, oh,

That's the dream.

- that's the hope,

but then, I'll try to remember
to say cut as well.

- Yeah, don't worry, because it's digital.

- It's digital, yeah, exactly.

I'll tell you, it's gonna take me a week

to get back into rhythm.

It's like I'm so far out,
so much out of training.

- Oh, no, don't worry.

- We go.
- It begins, it begins.

Actually, this is just day
six of our previous shoot.

Mentally, I've got myself in that state.

I mean, we're just picking up
where we left off, I think,

- Exactly.
- maybe location,

different cast but we managed.

The
German dentist just left.

- Oh you must be joking.

Look at all these cameras.

Yeah, the sun's shining.

Let's shoot, let's shoot.

Okay, now this is good.

This is good.

This is excellent.

Where are the actors at?

Set and action!

I shall
conquer several Kingdoms,

and I shall crown you king
of one of them, King Sancho.

Cut, cut.
- Cut!

- That was a good take, yeah.
- That's a good one.

- Fuck, it's 10 o'clock.

We're doomed.

That's good.

- There not, oh, fuck, sorry.

It just, can we undo
this for a moment, quick.

We are fucking ourselves right now.

Okay, now, we need, that's done.

Put the hat on.

Let's go.

It's perfect!

Let's go, now!

Don't fiddle anymore, folks.

We are late.

- Set.
- And action!

Okay, stop.

Let's move to the rest of the scene.

It's not working.

These camera positions are all wrong.

We're in the wrong place.

We're doing everything completely wrong.

I mean, we're fucking
up the rest of the scene

is all I know is what
we're doing right now.

It's just--
- Quick, it's quick.

- Yeah, so let's move.

Fuck this!

No, we're fucking the day
is what we've just done.

We are gonna get stuck,
because we will not get

through the next part of
the scene, that's all.

So everyone can just
go home, I think, fuck.

- I mean, I believe we are all different

from what we were 17 years ago.

We different in physical aspect,

we're different in the
amount of experience,

we are different in
amount of burns we got,

but I think that both in
my case and Terry's case,

we've been quite
consistent in being fucked

up the way we are.

- What, get on the
fucking, where's the mic?

- Dial in the walkie-talkie.
- Give me the walkie-talkie.

- What the fuck is going on?
- Here, here, here, here.

Here, here, tell him.

- Nicola, what do I need
to do, push something?

Thank you.

This one?

- This one.

- I'll do it.

Nicola, Nicola, Nicola?

Nicola, you there?

- Nicola?

I am listening, over.

- Can you hear me?

I've pushed this.

I want dune bear.

That's what I want the
shot, him talking like that.

There we go.

Now, hold him, hold
him, hold him, hold him.

That's good.

And cut.
- Cut.

- What is it, what is it?

- You know what?

Tell him to look more above camera.

- Yeah, I think that's--

- This is straight above camera.

Literally straight

above camera.
- Yeah, that'll do it.

Yeah, above it.

And action.

Blasphemer!

Our God in heaven rose
me, not the filthy paw

of a grubby peasant!

- Okay, okay, okay,

okay, I apologize.

- And cut.
- I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

- Okay, chicos, that's a wrap.

- Bravo, Quixote vive!
- Day three.

- Fantastic, thank you, crew.

Thank you, actors.

Thank you, everybody, bravo.

Good, it looks great.

Yeah, it's good.

Well, yeah, okay.

That's great.

Cut, once again, straight away.

I want it tighter!

We just lost a lot of
the light that we liked.

This is gonna happen every fucking day

is what's gonna happen.

Jesus.

Are you
feeling more confident today,

at least?

- I'm actually feeling nothing,

which is probably a healthy choice.

Oh God.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it.

One more.

I fucked up badly here.

It's me that's the problem.

Sorry.

Date marker!

- Go for lunch.
- Mark it!

The thing
I don't get is why no sense

of giddiness or relief.

- Well, I'm here to suffer.

I'm here to suffer like Quixote in this.

You
want me to get a strap out

and whip you on the back?

- No, I'm normally doing that myself.

- Mr. Terry Gilliam, Mr. Gilliam.

Terry, Terry, Terry, Terry!

- Mr. Terry Gilliam,

we have just completed
day seven of Don Quixote.

- A record.

- This is the furthest you have ever been,

- Thank you, thank you.

- and there's so stopping us now.

48 more days, and you will
have Don Quixote in the can.

- Hell, listen, everybody.

Everybody's been fantastic.

- Cheers to you.

- Well, there you go.

That's it.

It's done.

- Go back to learn.

- I mean, I think it's bad Luck

to celebrate too early, personally.

Fellini's "8 1/2" is, to
me, the film that captures

what it actually is like
to be a film director,

to make a movie.

Clearly what has happened here
is that Fellini was working

on a movie, he didn't know
really how to finish it.

It wasn't coming together,

and so he wrote a movie
about making a movie,

about a director who
doesn't know how to make

or finish his movie.

I first saw "8 1/2" in my early 20s.

I was astonished by the use
of time and storytelling.

Everything is fluid.

Everything is happening at the same time,

and whether it's your childhood,

whether it's the problem on the film,

I think it's the way I
seem to see the world.

There are always moments in this film,

and it will stand up against
anything else out there.

There are little bits
of shrapnel that go in

in a moment of just sheer
clarity and brilliance and magic.

He's left more of those
bits of shrapnel in my brain

than most people have.

There's something that
won't let go inside of me

that thinks I'm still a kid.

There's still is the guy
inside that thinks he's still

in his 20s with all sorts
of things ahead of him.

And I think, as you're
running, if you can,

try it so you're really, fuck!

Fuck, it's gonna, Jesus!

Get down.

I never give line readings
but action readings I do.

- And then it's like, fuck!

- Ah!
- It's coming over it.

- Fuck me!
- Oh no, it's coming over it.

Oh fuck, run!

And then you can turn around, fuck!

A giant, a giant

with arms six miles wide!

She is in great danger.

That's a windmill.

- Rosinante!

I still get
excited about things.

I want to make things.

I want to make things.

- Terry, what advice do you
have for people out there

who want to make film animations?

- Well, Bob don't.

Keep well away from it.

It's dangerous, nasty stuff.

And the arms come off.

You can get
cutouts anywhere actually.

You get them from old pictures.

I use old pictures a lot.

These here ladies, Duke of Wellington fits

on very nicely and works.

This man's on wheels.

Oh, what a lovely little--

What
is the meaning of life?

- We'll get one like that and
hold two, I think, hold two,

and then it starts going
away, and then let them go.

You basically stand and
let the cart goes away,

and then inch your close through.

Sancho, what's happening?

They're taking
you back to your village.

You'll be safe there.

No, I will die there.

Sancho, help me.

Sorry, I can't.

- How do two people who've
never directed a film before

in their lives direct a film?

- Well, I dunno.

We're really learning as we do it.

That's what's nice.

We've been given a whole
feature film to learn

how to make films on.

- Are you enjoying yourself?

Hello, oh, look at that.

They've made a nice new building.

Oh, that's good.

He's good, yeah.

It's addicted, yeah.

Fantastic, yeah.

That's great, yes.

You're gonna be right on
the ground down there.

.

Action, now get blades, blades, blades.

Oh, John, don't do that.

- You okay?
- Yeah.

I'm fine, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to fall.

- I didn't really matter.
- I really fell over.

Boom, boom, you get that,

and then so if we got you
doing a gallop like that,

it would be very nice.

- Right.

That's a good speed,

because that's not trotting a lot.

I'm just worried about his back.

He's got a bad back, and we
don't want him pulling it,

any of those things.

That's really the problem.
- Sure, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, and action!

- Prepare to die fowl and fearsome fiend!

- Fucking great!

You said you
couldn't do it, you bastard.

Okay.
- Are you happy?

- I'm happy.

Get all that, then walking
up there, catch the knight,

going to a two.

- Where's it gonna be, the joust?

- He starts up here.

You're down there in the
green patch down there

amongst the sheep.

It's very funny, suddenly.

Yeep, bang, it's over.

Right?

- Is that good for the knight?

- Harry.
- Look at them.

I got a lot of them.

Yeah, but you have to look

at the monitors.

- Oh, I like doing this, though.

This is fun.

- Okay, question.

And action!

Release me
from my torment!

- And cut.

I think we did very well.

We got through it.

- Congrats.
- We're a day

ahead of schedule.

Last time, we
were four days behind.

- And it's never happened ever
before in any film I've done.

- No.
- To win a day.

To win a day.

I've never won it anywhere.

We pulled it off.

Everybody pulled it off.

Yeah, well I don't, I'm
not gonna get excited yet.

We gotta get a few more.

We gotta get a few more
under our belt, okay.

Yep, okay, great, fantastic.

Thanks, thanks.

Bye, bye, bye.

A happy dad.

It's something done,
and it's beautiful here.

So it's nice to be in
places that are special

and actually achieve something worthwhile.

It's probably the last time
I'll say anything like that.

Oh, fuck.

And how's that light gonna work?

Well I go up when you tell me

to go up.

- What's your line before the light?

I don't deserve this.

- I don't deserve this,

- Yeah.
- and then boom.

Can we bring it up slowly?

Yeah, if you throw the signal.

- Okay, yeah.

I can throw me a temper tantrums.

- Yeah, okay.

We've got time

for one really quick last question.

It looks like this film

will be finally finished.

Once you're
finished, you are judged.

It can sometimes feel

like fighting against windmills.

It's totally that.

I mean, the whole thing
has been ridiculous.

What drives you?

- What drives me?

- I don't know.
- Yeah, since your fall

back projects?

- If I could understand
why I keep doing this,

I would be a happier person.

It was like all the weight of history was

on this production.

It's hard work.

I really don't like making movies,

but I don't know how else to do it.

So thank you all.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

- Do you feel you're in control now, sir?

- Nobody's in control.

Why do you think?

There's no control.

No, it actually gets more
terrifying the closer we get

to the end.

We might actually finish the film.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It was much easier when
we knew there was no chance.

- Yeah, and then you

will have fulfilled your
dream, and then what?

- Then what, that's it, no dream anymore.

You just go, pugh, yeah, that's it.

I wake up in the middle of the night,

and it's like can't go back to sleep.

They say it's historical.

How wonderful it's gonna be that, finally,

I've achieved my dream.

I mean, I really think
this is the last film.

Once it's done, there's a
great void waiting for me,

and that scares the shit out of me.

My name is Don Quixote.

It's not easy living so long,

but I cannot die,

unless, perhaps, I could
rid myself of my dreams.

- I suppose, like Quixote,
you get to a point

where you just want to give up.

It's just been too hard.

You just want to go to your bed and die,

but I'm not ready for that yet,

and I'm not willing to
give up the madness.

And action!

I am dedicated to two of you

You do not frighten me
with your hellish whaling.

Action!

So
we need something here. Yes.

From their feet moving

up is where
it needs to be, yeah.

- So you're going to--
- So, and we don't have that?

- No.
- Okay.

I mean, there's so many things
wrong when I look at these.

This is basically clear
what it's supposed to be.

Well, there's something wrong in this.

This is not even complete.

- I dunno if that's good or not.

We should be lower.

Lower, yeah.

We don't see the legs.

That
should be fairly easy to reshoot.

- Yeah, but we don't,
no, nothing is reshoot.

We don't have any time.

I wish people would
understand these simple facts.

We're out of time.

Yes, we can shoot forever.

We won't get through the rest of the film

unless we're finished.

All right, that's not what we're doing.

- No, early in the sequence.

It's all the same so.

- I guess it's like this
when you're doing any great

adventures towards the end.

You're sitting there pondering,
did you achieve anything?

Did you change the world?

Did you make a difference?

I mean, at one point, I
want to make great films,

whatever that is, films
that have meaning to people,

that actually change
their view of the world,

things that inspire them.

- I don't know where you
get the energy all the time

to keep doing it.

I mean, the stories are
Legion of you and the fights.

- Somewhere along the line,
I discovered filmmaking

should be an adventure, and
the whole idea is to go out

and try to do the thing that
everybody says you can't do.

- Your last movie, "Brazil",
you had a lot of trouble

with that as well.

- They weren't gonna release my film.

We actually did something
that hasn't been done

in living memory in Hollywood.

We actually took on the studios.

I eventually took out an ad
in Variety, a full page ad,

directed to the boss at Universal saying,

"Dear Sid Sheinberg, when are you going

"to release my film, "Brazil"?"

They started cutting
the film, changing it.

They wanted a happy ending.

We actually won.

We got the film released as we made it.

- How could you possibly do that?

What about future prospects?

Aren't they gonna think
of you as a troublemaker?

- Yeah.

Every film is like an experiment to see

what one can get away with.

I think that's what's kept
me going is just sheer

perverseness and because
the easy path is that way.

If the next film is an easy
film, you know it's over.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

And action!

Cut!

Oh, fuck, the weather's gonna kill us.

The clouds have come in, winds howling,

and I got a bad stomach.

You
feeling better today?

- You mean physically?
- Yeah.

- About the same, I dunno what it is.

I think I've finally earned an ulcer.

It's not nausea.

- Yeah, it's a stomach
that just will not settle,

and it's not just nerves and all of that.

Is
there nausea involved?

- No, not really.

There's a dryness to the mouth.

There's a soreness to the kidneys.

I think I need dialysis is what I need.

Take one, roll sound!

Cut, once again.

How many times does one have to say it?

Let's just get the shot.

Yeah, let's do it.

Let's do it.

Okay, cut, cut!

Jesus, fuck this.

- You are panicking.

- Of course, I'm panicking.

- So don't because you press it to him.

- Of course.
- And if he panics,

we are fucked.

- I know.
- So do, .

- Oh, this stomach is not getting better.

It's shit.

Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.

Don't do it.

We don't need a horse.

We don't need a horse!

We need actors, actors!

Everybody up there walking
up the hill is in 1-0's shot!

Get the fuck outta there!

Lay down on the road!

Get out of our shot!

Jesus, fuck.

I've really lost it today.

I finally, finally cracked.

You just realize you're
not who you used to be.

You're not sure what
your capabilities are,

because that other guy, the young one

that was really talented and
energetic and fast on his feet,

ain't that anymore.

He's long dead, that one.

Hey, Terry, it's Keith calling.

We're all down here at the bar.

People are asking where you are.

Come on down.

I think you'll have fun.

You're almost through
it, almost at the end.

All right, hope to see you, bye.

Hey, Terry, it's Keith calling.

Lou and I are down here in Plaza Alamillo.

We thought you would be here to meet us.

I'm hoping that everything's okay, bye.

That's so much closer.

Yep.

Hello, Amy, it's Lou.

Look, I just heard that
Terry's at the hospital.

Lucia told us, and she also
mentioned the catheter,

which sounds awful.

So when you talk to him,

just tell him we hope
he feels better soon.

I was in my little service flat,

and I'm getting ready for
bed, brushing my teeth,

and I was getting colder,

and I saw just this
bag of blood on my leg.

There's not so much urine coming out,

just seems to be blood is
pouring out of my body.

I'm thinking, am I dying here?

I'm on my own after all of this time,

on the film finally getting there,

and I die before we finish it,

and it was quite a while
before I finally called my

assistant and said, "I think
I better go to the doctor.

"I may be dying."

The first thing that came

to your mind is I can't
leave this film unfinished?

Making this film
is what I need to survive,

just the animal will to survive.

What day of production is this?

- 50 something or other, 56, 57, 58.

No sense of
optimism, coming relief?

- Not really, it's just endless,

endless.

I am trust.

Toby on the fork,
and that one, once again, Toby.

Joseph.
- Yes sir.

- Looking at all this, neither
of us still think we're gonna

get it all today.

The producers are saying,
"Oh, this is the last day."

Well, it's clearly not the last day

if the shots are not getting done,

but maybe that's the new
thinking, don't finish it.

Leave it as a dream.

Would it be unfair of me to say

that you don't want to finish this film?

- Yeah, that would be unfair.

I want the fucker out of my life.

Let's go.

Here, come on.

We gotta get this shot.

It's too clean.

It's too fucking clean.

Exactly, fuck it, yeah.

Our last chance to make a mess.

Yeah, good, excellent, better.

Sorry I'm gonna water you.

Good!

Oh fuck, this is the end
of principle photography.

- Ready?

- Set, set.

- And action!

Go!

Cut!

- That was good, I think.

I think that was excellent.

What do we think?

Last chance to change anything.

And that debates principle photography

of "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote".

Okay.

- I can't believe it.

- You more than anyone.

Congratulations.
- Thank you.

Get all teary-eyed in these
things once they're done.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, thanks.

Fuck this.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it.

I dunno what the fuck it is, yeah.

It's very weird.

I don't actually feel anything.

It's very weird.

The world.

This is my room, and it's
supposed to be my room.

It was designed to sit on top
of the house to separate me

from the family.

I'm not sure who it's keeping
from whom, but we're separate.

She is in terrible danger.

At this point, how
would you answer the question,

is the film better left in your head?

I think it's
a relief to get it out.

So you feel it was worth it?

- I'm very pleased with
the film that we've made.

I just want to empty
my head out right now,

and it's getting there

and just see if there's another world.

I mean, it's like multiple universes,

and I'm just leaving one right now,

and I'm going into one that
I have no idea what it is,

but that's also dangerous,
because if I don't keep some form

of adrenaline coursing
through me, which is,

the adrenaline comes from
ideas, from frustrations,

from anger, from whatever.

Without that, I'm a dead man.

Why does anybody create?

It's hard.

Life is hard.

Art is hard.

Doing anything worthwhile is hard.

I think what really matters is
you get involved in the work,

and you lose everything.

Once the work has taken
you over, and it does,

it's like you're in the zone,

and it's you and the idea, and that's it,

and the zone is the
best drug on the planet.

It's painful.

It's not all butterflies
and sunsets and all that.

It's like, fuck!

But you're out of your ego.

Your ego has vanished.

Your self-awareness disappears,

and I think those are the moments

which are the most addictive.

I want to be back in there.