Heath Ledger's death throws into chaos the shoot of his current film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. And you can be forgiven for thinking that director Terry Gilliam, though surely incredibly upset at the death of his friend and collaborator, must also be shaking his fist at Heaven and shouting, "What next?" It was Gilliam, of course, who saw his dream project, Don Quixote, fall apart when production delays and the illness of star Jean Rochefort scuttled the movie after just a week of shooting in 2000. (The collapse was memorably documented in Lost in La Mancha.)

Now Dr. Parnassus — whose $30 million budget, according to Variety, was dependent on Ledger's participation — is in limbo. The film had reportedly finished shooting its London segments and was heading to Vancouver for blue-screen work, which means there was presumably plenty more for Ledger to shoot. Will this be the second Gilliam project to disappear into the dustbin? Even though in some ways Imaginarium sounds just as bad as the last Gilliam-Ledger collaboration, The Brothers Grimm, we sure hope not, but we're not optimistic.

'Parnassus' team faces dilemma [Variety]

Earlier: New Terry Gilliam Movie Apparently Product of Random Terry Gilliam Movie Generator