It is impossible to write about this entry into Terry Gilliam's oeuvre without acknowledging the tragic death of Heath Ledger. Cast as the film's inciting character, Heath Ledger's untimely death spawned and air of sadness that blankets the film, especially considering the tragic nature of his character.
Of course, as they say, the show must go on, so "The Imaginarium" did as well. in an outpouring of cinematic industry kinship, Johnny Depp ("Fear and Loathing"), Colin Farrell ("In Bruges"), Jude Law ("A.I.") stepped in to play Heath Ledger's character, Tony's, alter ego when he is in the mirror world. What this film would have looked like had Ledger not departed can never be known. How much film had to be scrapped, how many scenes were restructured, what funding fell through as a result, I do not know.
For these reasons, the film, in all of its imperfection, seems to get a pass from me, as I find myself wondering how a film production would recover from such a blow. The only even somewhat similar circumstances I can think of off the top of my head is Brandon Lee's death during the filming of "The Crow," and the massive reshoot efforts undertaken to remove Kevin Spacey from the film "All the Money in the World," coincidentally played by Christopher Plummer ("The New World") who co starred with Ledger ("A Knight's Tale") in "Imaginarium."
So those are my caveats for a film plagued by problems. I watch this film with a wave of sad forgiveness and dream of its original intentions.
