I suddenly have new respect for Terry Gilliam. The director of Heath Ledger’s last film, “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,” wisely snubbed Tom Cruise from taking the role left vacant by Heath’s passing.
Cruise and his agents were hot to score the role left behind by the beloved Aussie. When deciding what to do with the film after Ledger died Gilliam was faced with either recasting or scrapping the entire project. To honor Heath and his last work, he decided to recast. When word spread that the project was going to continue, Tom and his gaggle of minions pushed to get the role.
“I know there was a period when Tom’s agents were keen. The thing is, I was only interested in people who were friends of Heath. Simple as that. I wanted to keep it in the family.”
As we all know Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell finished the work Heath left in hiatus. Each of them knew and were friends with Heath. I believe Johnny Depp was the closest of the three to him. Depp revealed during an interview with Vanity Fair that he named a beach on his island after him he called “Heath’s Place.” (Click HERE to read the “Johnny Depp Names a Beach After Heath Ledger” article.)
Good for Terry. Tom would have ruined it for me and I could just picture him constantly having to stand on box to be tall enough.
[Keep Clicking Thumbnails for a Larger Image]
Images Via: wenn.com
And that was probably one of the smartest decisions he ever made! Sorry Tom, but you are not what YOU think you are!