The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a 2018 adventure–comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and Tony Grisoni, loosely based on the 1605/1615 novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Gilliam tried to make the film many times over 29 years, which made it an infamous example of development hell.
Gilliam started work on the film in 1989 but was unable to secure funding until 1998 when it entered full pre-production with a budget of $32.1 million without American financing, with Jean Rochefort as Quixote, Johnny Depp as Toby Grummett – a 21st-century marketing executive thrown back through time – and Vanessa Paradis as the female lead. Shooting began in 2000 in Navarre, but difficulties such as sets and equipment being destroyed by flooding, the departure of Rochefort due to illness, problems obtaining insurance for the production and other financial difficulties led to a sudden suspension of the production and its subsequent cancellation. The original production was the subject of the documentary film Lost in La Mancha, which was intended to be a making-of but was released on its own in 2002.
Gilliam’s repeated attempts to relaunch production between 2003 and 2016 included Depp, Ewan McGregor and Jack O'Connell as Toby; and Robert Duvall, Michael Palin and John Hurt as Quixote. All were cancelled for various reasons, such as failing to secure funds, Depp's busy schedule and eventual loss of interest in the project, and Hurt being diagnosed with cancer that eventually led to his death. After yet another failed attempt, it was reported in March 2017 that filming had finally started, with Adam Driver, who was confirmed as Toby in 2016 and helped secure funding, and Jonathan Pryce, who had been part of the original 2000 production in a different role, as Quixote.
On 4 June 2017, Gilliam announced that the shooting of the film was complete, 17 years after it originally started. The final version of the film is set in modern-day rural Spain and features Toby as a director, shooting commercials; and "Quixote" as an insane shoemaker convinced that he is the character from Cervantes' novel. The film premiered on 19 May 2018, simultaneously acting as the closing film at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and being released in French theaters.
Gilliam faced difficulties in the process of releasing the film worldwide, partially due to a lengthy legal dispute with former producer Paulo Branco. Subsequently, the film was only released in a few other countries in 2018; it was released in the US and Canada on 10 April 2019 and in the UK and Ireland on 31 January 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its creativity and Driver and Pryce's performances but found it "messy". It was a commercial failure, earning $2.5 million against a budget of €16 million (about $18.5 million), plus its original budget of $32 million from 2000. The documentary He Dreams of Giants, a follow-up to Lost in La Mancha, follows the making of the final version of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. It was released in 2019.
Plot Toby Grummett, a director, is in rural Spain, struggling with the production of a commercial featuring Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. After an unsuccessful day of shooting, Toby's superior, the Boss, introduces him to a Romani street merchant who sells him an old DVD of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film he wrote and directed ten years earlier as a student. Toby watches the film while in bed with the Boss's wife, Jacqui. When the Boss returns to the hotel room, Toby barely escapes without being recognized.
A flashback shows student Toby casting elderly cobbler Javier Sanchez as Don Quixote. Javier initially falters in his characterization, but upon rushing to defend teenage waitress Angelica when a member of Toby's crew plays a prank on her, succeeds in embodying that "I am Don Quixote".
Toby realizes that his current shoot is near the shooting location of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Taking a motorbike to Los Sueños, he learns that Angelica has moved away from her father Raul. Toby meets Javier, now working as a tourist attraction. He discovers that Javier has become convinced that he is the real Don Quixote, and that Toby is his squire, Sancho Panza. Quixote accidentally causes a fire that spreads through the town, as Toby escapes on the motorbike.
On the set, police are investigating the "break in" of Jacqui's room. The police notice that Toby's bike was the one spotted in Los Sueños and take him in for questioning. En route, they encounter Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante, who demands that the officers release Toby. When they dismiss him, Quixote attacks, culminating in one of the officers being shot and the Romani man stealing the police car. Quixote supplies Toby with a donkey and clothes from the set, and they set off for adventures.
Quixote notices a windmill and believes it is a giant attacking a woman. Receiving a head wound after being knocked by one of the windmill's blades, Quixote and Toby are led by the woman to a decrepit ruin occupied by impoverished people. The leader, Barbero, welcomes them warmly but locks them in an attic. That night, Toby comes to suspect that they are secretly terrorists, but soon finds that the ruin has transformed into a 17th-century village and its inhabitants are Moriscos hiding their Muslim faith from the Spanish Inquisition. Toby manages to evade the inquisitors, then awakens the next morning, the night's events having seemingly been a dream, and learns that the residents are not terrorists but fearful undocumented immigrants. Quixote, having experienced Toby's "dream", is regaling them with a tale of it.
Moving on with Quixote, Toby finds a bag of old Spanish gold and attempts to hide it, but accidentally falls down a ravine into a cave. There he re-encounters Angelica, who tells him that she works as an escort. She mounts a horse and rides off, with Toby chasing her.
Quixote finds Toby, and joins him on a quest to find Angelica, but soon enters a jousting match with the "Knight of Mirrors", revealed to be Raul. He and several Los Sueños townspeople had been disguising themselves in an attempt to get Javier to come home. After Quixote rides off, Raul punches Toby for indirectly causing his daughter to become an escort.
Waking up, Toby finds Quixote whipping himself with thorns to prove his love to Dulcinea del Toboso. Healing his wounds by a river, Toby is found by Jacqui on horseback, dressed for a costume party thrown by Alexei Miiskin, a Russian vodka company owner entering a business deal with the Boss. Arriving at Miiskin's castle, Toby learns that Angelica is Miiskin's "property" and sees him behave cruelly towards Angelica and Quixote. Toby tries to convince both of them to leave but Quixote refuses and Angelica is captured. Toby rescues Angelica, but finds it is Jacqui wearing a mask, who reveals that Angelica is being burned alive by Miiskin as part of his entertainment. Toby accidentally knocks Quixote out of a window; dying on the ground, Quixote regains his sanity, asserting he is shoemaker Javier Sanchez and gives Toby his sword, telling him that he never truly saw him as lowly. Angelica's burning is shown to be a special effect and Quixote dies while Toby recalls Quixote's claim of immortality.
The next morning, Toby and Angelica are returning Javier's body to his village for burial. Toby, now Quixote, attacks three windmills, believing them to be giants, with Angelica at his side. The two agree to call her Sancho Panza and they ride into the sunset.
Cast Adam Driver as Toby Grummett, a director who comes back to the village where he filmed his student film ten years ago, and whom Quixote mistakes for his trusted squire Sancho Panza. Robin Williams, Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor, and Jack O'Connell were all previously cast in the role. Jonathan Pryce as Javier Sanchez / "Don Quixote", an old Spanish shoemaker who played the part of Quixote in Toby's old student film, but has since become convinced he is actually the famous literary character. John Cleese, Jean Rochefort, Michael Palin, Robert Duvall, and John Hurt were all previously cast in the role; Pryce was also a part of the original 2000 production, in a different role. Stellan Skarsgård as The Boss, Toby's superior. Olga Kurylenko as Jacqui, the Boss' wife. Joana Ribeiro as Angélica Fernández, a young woman who played a supporting role in Toby's film ten years earlier. Óscar Jaenada as the Gypsy, a mysterious character who keeps crossing paths with Toby. Jason Watkins as Rupert, Toby's ambitious agent. Sergi López as the Farmer. Rossy de Palma as The Farmer's Wife. Hovik Keuchkerian as Raul, Angélica's father. Jordi Mollà as Alexei Miiskin, a cruel oligarch.
Production Origins (1989–1997) Terry Gilliam first read the novel in 1989, and started conceptualizing an adaptation right away. He saw a personal project in adapting Don Quixote, as it embodies many of the themes that run through his own work—such as the individual versus society, and the concept of sanity. Instead of a literal adaptation, Gilliam's film was about "an old, retired, and slightly kooky nobleman named Alonso Quixano [who] reads too many chivalric romances. Taking leave of his senses, he sets out to fix the world and revive chivalry, clad in makeshift armor and accompanied by a donkey-owning farmer named Sancho Panza, who serves as his squire".
Gilliam signed a deal with Phoenix Pictures as the studio to make the film in 1990 under the name Don Quixote. Sean Connery was in talks to star as Quixote, but Gilliam disliked the idea because "Quixote is air and Sean is earth". Nigel Hawthorne and Danny DeVito were also in talks to star as Quixote and Panza respectively. However, Gilliam ultimately decided that the budget the studio offered him was too low and dropped from the project to focus on The Defective Detective, another film he ultimately failed to make. Phoenix Pictures chose Fred Schepisi to replace Gilliam, with John Cleese as Quixote and Robin Williams as Panza, and Steven Haft, Quincy Jones and David Salzman as producers. This version would have been based on an old screenplay by Waldo Salt. However, it was officially cancelled in 1997.
In 1997, Gilliam stated, "The years I wasted on this one! I was so frustrated with Hollywood, I went after European money, needing $20 million. And they said, 'You're on.' But I found out I needed more money. [...] That really hurts, that I let a project I'm convinced I'm the best director on the planet to do, slip by."
Original aborted production (1998–2000) Writing After Schepisi's project collapsed, Gilliam resumed working on the film with co-writer Tony Grisoni, giving it the new name The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Instead of featuring a man named Alonso Quixano and Sancho Panza, this new version would instead feature Toby (in early versions "Toby Grisoni", as a joke between Gilliam and co-writer Tony Grisoni), a 21st-century marketing executive thrown back through time and who meets Don Quixote. Their version would also have borrowed elements from Mark Twain's 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, including its time travel elements; after having failed Don Quixotes original attempt, Gilliam had unsuccessfully tried to adapt A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court into a film.
Development