When Terry Gilliam attended the Cannes Film Festival with "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" in May, he had to deal with an onslaught of chaos. The movie became overshadowed by the death of its star, Heath Ledger. (You probably already knew that.)
Gilliam eventually reached the finish line by rejiggling the fantasy plot to include different permutations of Ledger’s character that were played by Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law. The combination of tragedy and celebrity turned "Parnassus" into an object of media fascination that seemed to detract from its creative merits.
Now, with "Parnassus" set to hit theaters later this year courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics, Gilliam is making a considerable effort — reasonably enough — to talk about the actual movie.