It's Just Movies

— by MARIUSZ ZUBROWSKI —

Heath Ledger earned acclaim for his performance in “The Dark Knight,” but before his death, he was working on yet another film called “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.”

“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” follows the story of Dr. Parnassus, a traveling showman who runs the “Imaginarium,” a show that lets the audience members travel beyond reality through a magical mirror that he owns.

He acquired the mirror long ago by making a deal with the Devil, played by Tom Waits, where Dr. Parnassus must surrender his daughter on her 16th birthday. Dr. Paranassus (played by Christopher Plummer) and his troupe, along with the mysterious outsider Tony, must travel through different worlds to rescue the girl.

Ledger’s death came as an unexpected shock to all of us and this includes the staff of the film. Filming was put on delay for a period of time before resuming. To account for the loss of the actor, the director Terry Gillam cast Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrell to play different manifestations of Ledger’s original character, Tony.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see how each actor adds a bit of their spice to the character. Other cast members include Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Peter Stormare, Maggie Steed, Mark Benton, Simon Day, Paloma Faith, Richard Riddell and Montserrat Lombard.

The visuals look excellent, like something that I’d expect from a Tim Burton production. The costumes, the backgrounds — everything looks top-notch.

“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” is rated PG-13. It has a limited release as of now for Dec. 25, but the high demand for Heath Ledger’s last motion picture is definitely going to allow it to expand to theaters everywhere.

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