I love Terry Gilliam’s work, but while most agree he can go a little over the top I don’t mind that as long as he doesn’t get too twee. After the mess of The Brothers Grim I’m hoping that Gilliam has got all the nonsense out of his system and poisoned the saccharin a little with some of the mumified corpse head kicking that we saw in Tideland.

We’ll find out soon enough as he’s due to begin shooting The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus next month here in London. The cast looks able enough with Christopher Plummer in the lead, backed up by Heath Ledger, Verne Troyer and Tom Waits. Interestingly they’ve all played with Gilliam before so I’m hoping that familiarity will help things run smoothly in what sounds like a perfect project for the ex-Python. I’ll drop the synopsis in after the jump for those curious among you, but be warned there’s the odd small spoiler there in.

Oh and the madcap pic above is an Imaginarium… in case you were wondering.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day.
It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary ‘Imaginarium’, a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this ‘coming of age’ milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all…