Movies

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Where to Watch & Is It Good?

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Where to Watch & Is It Good?
Image credit: Legion-Media

This is a modern fairy tale that will take you under its spell right away.

In 1989, Terry Gilliam read the novel Don Quixote for the first time and was immediately inspired to make a movie about it: Miguel de Cervantes' book contained the same ideas of man's confrontation with society that permeate all of the director's work, and he felt (not without reason) that he was the best person to bring it to the screen.

Phoenix Studios launched the project, but Gilliam soon abandoned filming because the budget was too low. The company tried to make the movie without Gilliam, with Robin Williams as Sancho Panza, but was also unsuccessful.

Gilliam then rewrote the script and the movie was renamed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The director realized his project, but only 18 years later – in 2018.

What Is The Man Who Killed Don Quixote About?

It centers on a mad old man who imagines himself to be Don Quixote and mistakes an ad agency employee, Toby, for his faithful squire, Sancho Panza.

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Where to Watch & Is It Good? - image 1

Together, they embark on a strange journey that takes them back and forth in time between the 21st and the 17th century. Gradually, the illusory world absorbs Toby himself, who loses the ability to distinguish his fantasies from reality.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is Gilliam's Most Important Work with Perfect Cast

Jonathan Pryce, known to viewers as the High Sparrow from Game of Thrones, played Don Quixote, and this is the best choice of the actor for this role in the history of Don Quixote adaptations.

On the one hand, the old man is out of his mind, but on the other, he's a brave knight looking for a way out of any situation. And Adam Driver 's portrayal of Sancho Panza only proves the actor's brilliant talent.

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The very existence of this movie is a victory for Terry Gilliam. For fans of Gilliam's work, the film has already become a modern classic, and for those who have not seen it, it is important to know that this is the director's magnum opus and the concentration of almost all the images and ideas that he put into his previous works.

Where to Stream The Man Who Killed Don Quixote?

The movie is available to watch on Apple TV and Prime Video.