A French court ruled in favour of the rights holder of Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote on Friday and asked the director to pay 10.000 euros in legal fees, Screen Daily reported. Paulo Branco’s Alfama Films has been locked in a legal battle with Gilliam for the past 18 months. Branco had appealed against a court order that allowed Gilliam’s long-delayed project to be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“The appeals court judge ruled a contract drawn up and signed by Branco and Gilliam in 2016 – confirming the Portuguese producer’s rights to Gilliam’s long-gestated film – remained intact,” Screen Daily said. Branco had attempted to block the movie’s production and unsuccessfully tried to prevent its premiere at Cannes and its worldwide release. Gilliam, claiming that Branco had failed to provide the finances for completing the project, had won a temporary reprieve to screen the film at Cannes, where it elicited mixed reviews.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a fantasy comedy revolving around a modern-day advertising executive named Toby who meets an elderly man who believes himself to be Don Quixote from Miguel de Cervantes’s novel of the same name. The film stars Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce.
”The ruling means that the rights to the film belong to Alfama,” Branco told Screen Daily. “Any exploitation of the film up until now has been completely illegal and without the authorisation of Alfama. We will be seeking damages with interest from all the people involved in this illegal production and above all, all those who were complicit in its illegal exploitation. We’re holding everyone responsible.” Branco said he would be targetting Gilliam, sales company and producer Kinology, French distributor Ocean Films, and the Cannes Film Festival.
“The film belongs in its entirety to Alfama,” Branco told Screen Daily. “The film was made illegally. It’s the first time, I’ve ever seen so many people embark on a mission to produce and exploit a film, without holding the rights. It’s a unique case.”
Gilliam has been attempting an adaptation of the novel since 1990. A documentary, Lost in La Mancha, chronicled the movie’s troubled production.