The Worlds of Doctor Parnassus:
Bringing the director's fantastic vision to the screen became a labour of love for his prodigiously talented production team.  Gilliam's close collaborator, cinematographer Nicola Pecorini, was involved from the beginning of the project. "It's the level of poetry that is present in the script that appealed to me the most. Having shared Terry's last ten years of passions and frustrations, I totally understand where 'Parnassus' comes from. A tired man, who has been trying to enlighten his fellow humans, to teach them to let their imagination fly and flourish, to consider the power of dreams as a richness and not as a burden.
Parnassus is Terry. The script is the fortunate child of years of battle against the system, of frustrations accumulated trying to give shape to sublime ideas.
"I read the story as a fantastic sum of Terry's entire artistic career: you can find in it all the elements that were present, in one way or another, in a veiled or blatant manner, in all his previous works. It's definitely a very mature script and I firmly believe that all those out there (and luckily there are a lot of them) that love and appreciate Terry's previous works will find that 'Parnassus' is the apotheosis of Gilliam's art.
"We tried to plan every single detail in advance. The Imaginarium sequences, especially, are broken down shot by shot, frame by frame. But even the most careful planning cannot avoid the unexpected, nor human failures, in delivering what's needed in a timely and precise manner.
Terry and I share a common vision of the 'cinematic stage', namely a 360-degree approach to framing. We reached a total symbiosis. Without talking, we always reach the same conclusions and adopt the same solutions. I find it very easy to work with Terry, even if technically it's very difficult. Lighting for a 360-degree field of view is certainly more complicated than sticking to long lenses. The major difficulty is to have other people understanding our approach.
"It is true that he uses wide-angle lenses, but the reality is that the world is made of wide angles. The human vision is wide-angle, so the reality is that you want to offer choices to the spectator and that's Terry's approach. With wide-angle you have the choice of what to look at and you must use your brain to look at things. When you start going tight and have little depth of field you are deciding for the audience what they get to look at. Terry doesn't have that approach in filmmaking and I'm totally with him.
"Every day you learn something new. The moment I finish learning I will change my job. Hopefully that will never come. If you don't learn something new, you must change jobs, because it means you know how to do it."
Mick Audsley, Terry's film editor on "Twelve Monkeys", a decade previously, has been waiting for the opportunity to work with the director again. Like Nicola, he also gets involved at a very early stage. "First of all, I start by taking on board the screenplay. I do quite a lot of work early on, because I can perhaps see issues which I'm concerned about, before the film is shot. In conjunction with the director, I have a big say, but I  don't have a final say in what ends up on the screen, so my goal is to piece together what I see as the route of the story and orchestrate that story for the audience - a bit like a conductor for an orchestra. So what we do in putting the film together, and the way in which we pace it, is crucial to the audience's journey as they sit and watch it. Notions of speed and comprehension, and performance and selection of performance are all wrapped up in that.
"I think the particular challenges in this film are in the blue screen world, or the artificial world that we're creating behind the mirror. The material, when I receive it, is only partially realised, in fact it's only one fragment of the information that's required. So we have to start the process and make editorial decisions with the pieces that come in, even though a lot of the visual information isn't there. So that's quite challenging.
"Of course, the main thing is always whether the performances are working and then, secondly, that the construction of those particular scenes allows the digital work and the digital information to be told in the right order. But I've only got a vague understanding of it - Terry's probably got it all in his head and so it's a liaison with him and with the visual effects team to present it as coherently as possible."
Costume designer Monique Prudhomme is also delighted by her close collaboration with the director. "Terry is open to everything that is interesting, everything that catches his fancy, and he is very generous in his approach. If you have an idea he will always listen. He is really interested in the process - there's nothing that is set. If you get into that flowy mode and you stay fluid then you go with it. It's an adventure.
"You start with what I call hunting and gathering. You have ideas of what would be good. You start in books and looking at images. Terry also has his favourite images that he wants to bring in and from there you hunt and gather. You gather clothes, and you gather pieces - hats and coats and scarves - and suddenly, when the actor comes, you create the character by moulding it, it's like a sculpture.
"I always see my job as being a facilitator for the actors to find their characters. So, by being open to a process, instead of thinking that the actor is a coat hanger, you create a character with the stature, and the body, and the expressions. Then you mould it and invent things. This film has really enhanced that process.
"I think that costumes are there to support the character, or really to create the image that will be remembered of the character. So the actor has to feel comfortable with that image. For Doctor Parnassus, for example, who is an immortal man, I figured he would always be cold living in London, always wet, always humid because they live in these derelict areas. So I dressed him in layers, undershirts, and shirts and sweaters and linings and then coats on top, and scarves. So that layered look could be used for actions - taking things off, putting things on - but also to create this character who is grumpy and wants to get on with life.
"It is a privilege and an honour to work with Terry. He has so many ideas. His world is so eclectic and it really connects to my sensibility as well. If I have two ideas, he has twenty. To work with him is to exchange ideas and interest. As long as I can keep him interested and we can keep fluid, the fluidity means that, if one day we have an idea and the next day a better one, we always go for the better idea. So it's in constant flux, which is a fabulous way of working."
Hair and makeup designer Sarah Monzani found the two different worlds in which the film is set to be an interesting challenge for her and her team. "I've known Terry for a long time. I absolutely know the way he works. He's very hands on and whatever he's written, it's all inside his head. The biggest task is to drag it out of there. He's very generous because he allows you to get inside, and drag a bit out at a time, because it's not possible with something like this to take it all in at once. You read the script and that's one thing… and then you read it again and something else appears and it goes like that all the time.
"We have two main stories here. One is the people involved in the film, the players if you like, or the people in Doctor Parnassus' life as we see it. They're normal people who are basically grubby and live in a kind of grungy world - they've got hardly any water in their wagon. And then you go into this magical world of these little, mini-performances on stage and each show has a different look, which is mostly marked by Valentina.
Because Doctor P is obviously thousands of years old, he's able to bring to each stage performance something he's learnt from his previous years, so anything from mediaeval times to the modern day.
"All the different looks I created for Valentina are based on that: either things she would want to do as a young girl, or things that she found in the dressing up box that Doctor Parnassus had from years ago. I imagined all the costumes as having come out of an old dressing up box that Monique Prudhomme has presented me with. I've developed the characters' looks from what she's given me. So it's a madness. It's a complete madness!"
Keeping the madness under control is Terry's daughter, producer Amy Gilliam. "I feel as though I am responsible for everything and I'm a control freak and I'm very protective of the project and especially the director because he is my father. This is my second film as producer and the first one that I am properly and deeply involved in. It's a UK/Canada co-production and very complex for me, a steep learning curve.
"It's incredible that it all came together so quickly. There was something very special when I read the script. The parallel between Dr Parnassus and my father, which a number of people have suggested, is very real to me as his eldest daughter. That is what intrigued me - that was the beginning of a long and sometimes painful commitment for me.
"Being able to do it with my dad - there's just no-one better - has been a great experience. Everyone tells me that it was probably one of the hardest films I could have done, with all of the ups and downs and nightmares and dramas that we've been through, so to have achieved it and come through with something that's so magical and spectacular, that we are all so proud of being involved in - all the heartache, blood, sweat and tears - has been extraordinary and enjoyable.
"I love working with my father, I wouldn't do it otherwise. Maybe the worst thing is making a difference and drawing a line between work and family life. There are times when I have to say 'No' as he tries to talk over a family meal about issues with work. 'That's tomorrow, send me an e-mail' and he runs straight away to his study and sends me an e-mail!"
She pays fond tribute to her Oscar®-nominated Canadian fellow producer William Vince who lost his battle with cancer shortly after the film wrapped in Vancouver. "It was amazing to be a co-producer with Bill and to find someone who wanted to make this dream come true. To have someone who supported and believed in me, to have someone to work with and learn from, that was amazing. I miss him very much."

Carrying on:
On January 22nd, 2008, during a stopover in New York, as the production transferred from London to Vancouver, Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
A devastated Terry Gilliam's immediate decision was to close down. "I just said I don't know how I'm going to make this thing work. I was too distraught to actually work out what to do. But everybody around me said 'no, no, you have to carry on, you have got to do it.' Everyone was throwing in encouragement and ideas. The magical mirror solution was obvious, as we had already covered most of the scenes with Heath that  happen on this side of the mirror, but the big question was 'do we get one person to take over the part or not?' I already felt it couldn't be just one, it was too much of a weight, so we should get several people to do it if we could. I actually rewrote fairly quickly. There were only a few days to come up with a convincing solution and, luckily, there was no shortage of ideas, good and bad.
"We didn't have to rewrite that much, it was more or less a matter of juggling and trying to rearrange scenes that Heath was planned to be in, to see if we could make them with a double or find some cinematic trick. Losing Heath created a situation that demanded clever solutions which pushed me into doing all sorts of things that were not my original
intention. For example, we altered the part of Martin the drunk, at the beginning of the film, so that he was played by two actors. This established the principle that people can change on the other side of the mirror. Then I just started calling my friends and a lot of people who were very close to Heath.
"And so the three heroes, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law came to Vancouver to play these various aspects of Tony, the character which Heath Ledger began. Their willingness to help rescue the film and Heath's last performance was an incredible act of generosity and love. A beautiful and rare moment in our industry and, as a result of their involvement, the film is even more special: it's more surprising; it's become funnier. All in all, it's a bit more magical.
"We had to make a major leap to solve the problems created by Heath's untimely death, but, thanks to Parnassus and his Imaginarium, we have a magical mirror where, when we enter, things can be different, things are enhanced, are more extraordinary, are more wondrous. And so we made the leap. Every time Tony, Heath's character goes through the mirror, he becomes a different aspect of himself, played by different actors. It's been a constant delight to see what Colin, Johnny and Jude have brought to the part. Tony is an even more complex character and I think the audience will be on more of a rollercoaster ride as a result.
"We had to throw our schedule into the air. The shoot became a circus act of juggling, quick changes and contortions. There was a great deal of ad hoc movie-making, reorganizing the schedule as we shot, trying to fit everybody in. To make it even more stressful, Bill Vince was very ill with cancer. But, somehow it worked. Everyone was incredibly brave and positive, managing to jump into the spirit of a very desperate situation. And then, suddenly, we had finished the shoot. I don't know how, but we did it. This is a different film than the one we began. It's strange, but the forced solutions may have focussed us into creating a better film. The constant pressure on all of us was to end up with a film that was worthy of Heath's last performance."
For Amy Gilliam, once they had decided to complete the movie, it was a hectic scramble to keep the momentum going: "While Terry was in London, figuring out the script changes, I spent three weeks running around Los Angeles. Everyone wanted to see the project completed, for many reasons - for Heath, for Terry, for everyone that was a part of it.
The crew didn't want to leave, they didn't want to give up, because they were in love with what they were doing and so proud of what they were a part of. And I am very, very, very proud of the film and of everyone that's been a part of it, because without everyone's enthusiasm and motivation it wouldn't have been made."
Fellow producer Samuel Hadida shares her pride in the dedication of all concerned. "They knew that this movie was important for everybody. From the blessing of the actors who joined us, to the commitment of the crew and of the production - for the ensemble of people working on this movie, it's not just a movie, everyone was committed to making it happen. We were right to take the decision to continue, because Terry has created something that is unique and I think that it's going to be a blessing for all the people that worked on it."
"Heath seemed to be with us the whole way," notes Gilliam. "His energy, his brilliance, his ideas….. the tragedy of his death and the creative decisions which that forced us into making…..are the reasons that this is truly a film from Heath Ledger and friends."