Depp, Law, Farrell to Don Ledger’s ‘Parnassus’ Hat

Heath Ledger’s sudden and tragic death left hard-luck director Terry Gilliam without his lead in the middle of filming The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (which has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, thankfully), and it forced him to drastically alter the film in order to salvage the project and figure out a way to honor Ledger in the final product. Johnny Depp has been rumored to be stepping into Ledger’s role, but AICN thinks it’s going to be a team effort, with Colin Farrell and Jude Law also stepping into the picture.

Given Variety’s synopsis of the film as a very fluid and changeable sort of picture that relies heavily on Dr. Parnassus’ (Christopher Plummer) control of imagination, it could certainly make sense that Ledger’s original role of Tony, an outsider to Parnassus’ ancient traveling theater show, could be played by more than one person at any one time, in the tradition of Ledger’s slice of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. Gilliam’s movies are usually nutty in some fashion, and I think people will be much more inclined to go along with this kind of nuttiness if it helps ensure that Ledger’s career doesn’t officially end by playing a homicidal clown in The Dark Knight, as great as that performance looks to be..

Also, Tom Waits is the Devil. That would be reason enough to check this out when it finally completes its trek to the screen. But all of these talented people working tirelessly to find a way to pay tribute to a late, on-his-way-to-great young star will likely draw people in droves when the time comes.