Entirely quixotic

Most major Hollywood films have the accompanied 'Making Of' tele-feature. It's supposed to whet the appetite of potential filmgoers but in reality is nothing more than a one-hour advertisement. But if it television networks can't find late night airtime then chances are the tele-feature will then become a featurette on the future DVD release. This is what Lost In La Mancha was meant to be, an extra on a DVD.

Little did Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe realize their cameras roving behind the scenes were to be the focus of what turns out to be Terry Gilliam's (12 Monkeys, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) most unlucky and monumentally disastrous attempt to bring the story of Don Quixote to the big screen.

Quixote has been Gilliam's obsession for near on a decade, before him it was Orson Wells that was equally fixated with making Quixote a cinematic reality. Wells obsession had spanned over two decades; a film nearly achieved but one that never saw completion.

Gilliam's Quixote is to be one of the most expensive films ever made with solely European financial backing and Quixote is to be filmed in Spain. There's between thirty to forty million dollars to play with but with Terry Gilliam's mindset and pursuit of perfection in all facets of the film this amount of money is never going to be enough. The cast for Don Quixote will be led by Johnny Depp (who worked with Gilliam on Fear And Loathing), Depp's partner Vanessa Paradis and the ageing French actor Jean Rochefort (who's been learning English for seven months just to be Quixote). Gilliam also has the likes of Bob Hoskins and Christopher Eccleston lined up in supporting roles. Make no mistakes this Don Quixote is to be one major production.

But as organized as Gilliam can be with storyboarding, set designs and scripting other barriers are placed in his way, barriers that are soon to make Gilliam's dream exactly that. Is the Captain Chaos of the cinematic world asking too much, or are there darker forces at work hell-bent on preventing Don Quixote ever being seen in celluloid? Movie sets swept away by a torrent of water no amount of water cannons could match, filming scenes next door to an active NATO air base, a production crew perplexed by Terry Gilliam's vigour and vision ("A Hollywood film without Hollywood"), three grossly overweight 'giant' Spaniards stomping and growling at the camera and actors everywhere but in Spain.

Amongst all the chaos, confusion and carnage it should be noted that people have invested their finances in what turns out to be nothing more than vast amounts of money going down the plughole. There'll always be the next project for Gilliam but what becomes of these John Citizen investors? I'm sure they'd each love to have a copy of this documentary as a souvenir to share with their future generations and curse Terry Gilliam's existence.

Is Lost In La Mancha a worthwhile addition to the documentary genre, a grab-bag attempt to recoup one cent in the dollar for the investors or something that will earn just enough money for Terry Gilliam to buy back his Quixote screenplay from the insurance company thus keeping his obsession alive?

If anything Lost In La Mancha gives a rare insight into the conflicting forces that drive the mind of Terry Gilliam.

Recent film expose documentaries such as The Venus Factory and Project Greenlight proved to be entertaining especially since they had to survive financially merely off the smell of an oily rag.

Although plagued by an array of jaw dropping "acts of God" you can't help but feel that Lost In La Mancha was such a work of extravagance it would be better for all concerned not to highlight but confine it's memory to the annals of time.

Richard Scott