Comic-Con: Heath Ledger remembered at 'Imaginarum'

By Hanh Nguyen

    

July 23, 2009 7:56 PM ET

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Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" strikes a bittersweet chord at Comic-Con with more posthumous glimpses of Heath Ledger in his final movie role.

Several clips and a trailer feature Ledger as the white-suited Tony, who meets with Doctor Parnassus' traveling Imaginarium that dares audiences to use their imaginations. After Ledger's death, three actors -- Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell -- played various versions of Tony after a series of mysterious and magical transformations.

Check out Zap2it's Comic-Con 2009 pictures.

The crowd gathered in Hall H Thursday is raucously receptive to the colorful, fascinating and mildly disturbing clips, a balm for Gilliam whose last film "Tideland" was seen by very few. The director is also presented with Comic-Con's Inkpot award for achievement in film arts before the crowd.

"One of things I have difficulty with making a film is that I got ideas that are determined to get out there and I don't want them fiddled with by studio executives, which always means I don't have the kind of money that other far more talented film directors can work with," says Gilliam. "So one of the ideas with Parnassus is that there's a world that takes place in the real world, but you enter the Imaginarium and each time you go in, it's a completely different world, so we can get in and get out before the audience gets too bored was my theory.

Check out pictures of "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasssus."

"It started from the idea that I was feeling sorry for myself because 'Tideland' wasn't a great success. I thought, 'Nobody wants to listen to the kind of stories I'm telling anymore. So 'Parnassus' grew out of that. There's a man with a traveling show, who's trying to get people to let their imagination blossom. And nobody's paying attention."

And even though Gilliam says the film is mainly about Parnassus, the director acknowledges that audiences want to -- and rightfully so --- know more about Ledger and working with him on his final film project. Gilliam discusses how, even with Ledger cast in the film, studios still weren't interested in backing the film.

"One day [the crew of the Imaginarium] stumble on somebody new, a character called Tony," explains Gilliam, "which was inspired by Tony Blair, one of the great Prime Ministers of England who got us into one of the silliest wars imaginable, working with and for a fellow named Bush in America. Let's do a character who's a chameleon, a guy with a silver tongue and charm and even believes what he says when he says it. He enters the world.

"We didn't write it with Heath in mind," adds Gilliam. "Heath was working on the Joker at the time. I put him up in a little workspace in our special effects company in London. There was one day when I was showing my storyboards to the effects guys, and he's just sitting there working, and in the middle of this, [Heath] slipped me a note, 'Can I play Tony?'

"We went out to get the money based on Heath being our lucky charm really. I rail about Hollywood, but we went around with this wonderful script, beautiful artwork and Heath, and we couldn't get any money. This was after 'Brokeback Mountain.' I was saying, 'Do you understand that in Summer 2008 'The Dark Knight' is going to come out, and Heath is going to be the biggest star on the planet.' Even the Hollywood executives couldn't understand what the future was going to bring, which always amazes me but doesn't amaze me at the same time."

Check out videos featuring Heath Ledger in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

Verne Troyer, the only cast member on hand at the panel, plays Percy, one of the members of the Imaginarium traveling show. Troyer shares a few words about his former co-star as well.

"I feel lucky to have had that brief moment of getting to know Heath," says Troyer. "It was a tragic accident what happened. Just having that short time that we did and the personality that Heath has, the nice and generous person that he is, he raised that feeling that you've known him for such a long time. That's the way I felt and still feel, that he had been my friend for years. It was just an honor and a privilege."

Gilliam offers final words about Ledger:

"Heath was an exceptional actor and an exceptional human being. He was very old. I always thought Heath was 100 years old or 200 years old, a wisdom that was far, far beyond his years. A very special person and each film he did he was getting better and expanding, he was playful, he was fearless, and we won't ever get to see what that was going to be. I think he was the greatest actor of his and a couple other generations."

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which also stars Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole and Tom Waits, has yet to receive a release date in the U.S.

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