Editorials > Three Actors to Fill in for Ledger in Parnassus

Some time ago, there were ramblings that Johnny Depp might fill in for the late Heath Ledger on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. But within a few days, these rumors were quashed by Depp's representatives who said there had been no official talks on that matter. But this weekend, Ain't It Cool got the scoop that indeed Ledger would be replaced, though not by one, but by three actors. Namely: Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell.

Wondering how? Variety back up AICN's story with some details of their own. Apparently, at some point during the film, Ledger's character steps into three magic mirrors, each one transporting him to a different dimension. Depp, Law, and Farrell will each play Ledger's character in a different universe.

It goes without saying that the best case scenario would have been that Heath Ledger not died at all, but if you're going to make the best out of a bad situation, I think they're handling this extremely well. Of course, Gilliam and his crew are incredibly lucky they set up a story in which someone steps through magic mirrors, and luckier still that they filmed those scenes earlier than some of the others. It'll be curious to see the character played by actors of all different nationalities. Will they all keep their native accents (not implausible considering the magic mirror gimmick) or will they try to match whatever dialect Ledger was using? I suppose all three could easily default to British English if they needed to. Likewise, Farrell and Law have done reasonably well with American accents in the past (see: Minority Report, I Heart Huckabees).

You have to wonder if the unbearable pressure of being "Heath Ledger's last movie" will help or hurt this picture. Commercially, it will almost undoubtedly inflate the film's gross revenue. Critically, however, expectations will be raised. Then again, when you think of the comparably tragic and young James Dean and his posthumous films, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant probably only benefited (certainly commercially, possibly critically) from the late star's death and instantly-iconic status. Hopefully Gilliam will be able to craft this into a cohesive product. Or at least make it weird enough to not make sense in an entertaining way.

-David Morgan