The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Terry Gilliam
Written by	Terry Gilliam Charles McKeown
Produced by	Samuel Hadida Amy Gilliam William Vince Terry Gilliam
Starring	Heath Ledger Christopher Plummer Verne Troyer Lily Cole Andrew Garfield Tom Waits Johnny Depp Colin Farrell Jude Law
Cinematography	Nicola Pecorini
Edited by	Mick Audsley
Music by	Jeff Danna Mychael Danna
Production companies	Davis Films Grosvenor Park Telefilm Canada Centre National de la Cinématographie Canal+ UK Film Council
Distributed by	Metropolitan Filmexport France Lionsgate UK Sony Pictures Classics USA (theatrical) Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group USA (all media)
Release dates	22 May 2009 (2009-05-22) (Cannes) 16 October 2009 (2009-10-16) (United Kingdom) 11 November 2009 (2009-11-11) (France) 25 December 2009 (2009-12-25) (Canada)
Running time	123 minutes
Countries	Template:Film Canada Template:Film France Template:Film UK
Language	English
Budget	£18 million (estimate) ($30 million)
Box office	£37,100,312 ($60,325,930)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown. The film follows a traveling theater troupe whose leader, having made a bet with the Devil, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations and present them with a choice between good and evil.

Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, and Tom Waits star in the film, though Ledger's death one-third of the way through filming caused production to be temporarily suspended. Ledger's role was recast with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portraying transformations of Ledger's character as he travels through a dream world.

The film made its world premiere during the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. The UK release of the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009 due to its successful premiere at Cannes. The film was given a limited release in the US on Christmas Day 2009 and a nationwide expansion on 8 January 2010.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for two Academy Awards in the categories Best Art Direction (art directed by Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, and set decorated by Caroline Smith; lost to Avatar) and Best Costume Design (costumes designed by Monique Prudhomme; lost to The Young Victoria).

Plot

Doctor Parnassus' (Christopher Plummer) theatre troupe, which includes sleight of hand expert Anton (Andrew Garfield), confidant Percy (Verne Troyer), and Parnassus' daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), performs outside a pub in London. A drunkard barges onstage, crashing through a stage mirror, and is thrown into a journey of the imagination that culminates in his being offered a choice between finding enlightenment and going to a pub. After he enters the pub, it explodes. Parnassus says he has lost another one to Mr. Nick (Tom Waits).

Mr. Nick reminds Parnassus that in three days Valentina will turn 16, at which point her soul will be his. As the troupe crosses a bridge, Anton spies someone hanging beneath it. They rescue the hanging man (Heath Ledger), who spits out a golden pipe when revived. Claiming to have amnesia, the man joins the troupe as a barker. Parnassus becomes despondent over the impending loss of his daughter. Mr. Nick visits Parnassus, revealing that the hanging man is a disgraced philanthropist named Tony. He offers Parnassus a wager: Valentina can stay with whomever wins five souls first.

Tony convinces the troupe to make the show more attractive to contemporary Londoners. In an upscale mall, Tony lures a woman into the mirror, where he takes on a different appearance (Johnny Depp). The landscape, powered by the woman's imagination, features gigantic shoes and jewels. Tony dances with her, and they spy a motel run by Mr. Nick. Tony convinces the woman to take a gondola toward a pyramid alone, winning a soul for Parnassus. The woman emerges from the Imaginarium, writes a blank check to Parnassus and gives her purse to the troupe. Other women watching the show clamor for a turn; Parnassus wins three more souls.

Four Russian gangsters see Tony, who owes them money, and he flees into the Imaginarium. As the gangsters threaten Tony, who has once again taken on a different appearance (Jude Law), Parnassus tempts them with a police recruitment song, promising they will enjoy being cops because they can legally brutalize people. Mr. Nick successfully tempts them with a giant babushka; the score is four souls apiece.

Parnassus reveals to Valentina that in an hour she will belong to Mr. Nick. He explains that, hundreds of years earlier, he ran a monastery where monks perpetually recited a story to sustain the world. Mr. Nick challenged their beliefs by sealing their mouths. The world continued existing, but Parnassus claimed it was because stories were being told elsewhere. Mr. Nick made a bet with Parnassus over which of them could win over the souls of people to either crave stories and imagination (Parnassus) or addictions and feeble desires (Mr. Nick). Parnassus won over 12 souls before Mr. Nick, and was given immortality. Because his body still aged, Parnassus made a new pact with Mr. Nick so that he might be youthful again in order to win the heart of a woman he loved. In exchange, any child he fathered would become Mr. Nick's property when the child turned 16.

Valentina wants to run away, but Tony enters the Imaginarium to give his soul to Parnassus. Anton has discovered that Tony is a fraudulent charity scammer and jealously struggles with Tony. In the scuffle, all three of them end up in the mirror.

In the Imaginarium, Tony (Colin Farrell) and Valentina float down a river in a boat. Shortly after an impoverished child disrupts their harmony in the boat, Tony is suddenly back in his role as a philanthropist, speaking at a fundraiser with the President (Peter Stormare) attending. Anton appears as a child and exposes Tony as a fraud. A mob pursues Tony as the landscape disintegrates around them. Anton falls into a void, and Tony flees into a desert. Valentina enters a shifting landscape of broken glass and mirrors. Distraught over her father's bargain, Valentina decides to give her soul to Mr. Nick. Chased by the mob, Tony flees up Mount Parnassus as a heartbroken Parnassus looks on. Mr. Nick offers to trade Valentina for Tony.

Tony spots a gallows, but Parnassus confronts him, holding two copies of Tony's pipe, which he had used to brace his windpipe against the noose. Parnassus challenges Tony to choose which pipe is genuine and which will break. Tony chooses the wrong pipe and dies. Valentina is freed.

Parnassus emerges from the Imaginarium a few years later, finding that Valentina married Anton and has a daughter. He watches the family from behind a restaurant window, but does not rejoin them. Teaming up with Percy once more, Parnassus begins selling toy theater replicas of the imaginarium on a street corner. Mr. Nick, still present, invites Parnassus over to him, but Percy successfully puts an end to the temptation.

Cast

Tom Waits (Mr Nick) and Lily Cole (Valentina) promoting the film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

• Heath Ledger as Tony: A mysterious outsider who joins the group. When Ledger died in the midst of production, the role was recast for certain scenes to have Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law portray "physically transformed versions" of the character within the eponymous Imaginarium.
• Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus: A former monk and the 1,000-year-old leader of a travelling theatre troupe.
• Andrew Garfield as Anton: a member of Doctor Parnassus' troupe.
• Verne Troyer as Percy: Doctor Parnassus' confidant.
• Lily Cole as Valentina: Doctor Parnassus' daughter.
• Tom Waits as Mr. Nick: a personification of the Devil.
• Peter Stormare as the President of the Universe: a world statesman
• Maggie Steed as Louis Vuitton Woman
• Mark Benton as Dad
• Simon Day as Uncle Bob
• Paloma Faith as Sally
• Richard Riddell as Martin
• Montserrat Lombard as Sally's friend

Production

Writing

File:ImagOfParn one-sheet.jpg

Promotional one-sheet for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which for several months was the first placeholder on the film's official site

Director Terry Gilliam and screenwriter Charles McKeown wrote the script for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, their first collaboration since The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). When he was approached with the basic concept by Gilliam, McKeown thought of the central character of Parnassus "as a semi-eastern medicine man evolved", and in retrospect he further said about the script's sensibilities, "[i]t is about the theme of imagination, and the importance of imagination, to how you live and how you think and so on. And that's very much a Terry theme. [...] I like the idea of storytelling being the thing that sustains the universe." Gilliam described the premise as a "fun and humorous story about the consequences of our personal choices in life", and explained his goal for the film: "It's autobiographical. I'm trying to bring a bit of fantasticality to London, an antidote to modern lives. I loved this idea of an ancient travelling show offering the kind of storytelling and wonder that we used to get, to people who are just into shoot-em-up action films." Gilliam and McKeown based the character of Tony on former British prime minister Tony Blair, who "would say the most insane things and probably he'd believe them himself".

Gilliam repeatedly said in interviews that the character of Parnassus was meant autobiographically, a tale of an aging man with a vivid imagination in a world that doesn't listen anymore. Still being caught in depression over the disruption of his last self-written project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, his constant struggle with the established studio system, as well as becoming aware of his progressing age, worried that he was going nowhere with his latest projects and that he might not have much time left, Gilliam put a number of references to sudden, tragic, and premature death into his script before the loss of Ledger became a reality. In fact, Gilliam felt compelled to emphasize time and again that upon the film's release many things might be mistaken as references to Ledger's fate but that the script wasn't changed apart from re-casting Tony with Depp, Farrell, and Law.

Filming

The film received a budget of $25 million at first, but its final budget was about $30 million. For The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Gilliam and his cinematographer Nicola Pecorini went wider than ever before on focal length with a new 8mm Zeiss lens, unusual even for a Gilliam movie which are usually trademarked by wide-angle imagery. The widest lens that had been employed before on a Gilliam film had been a 9.8mm Kinoptic. Production of the remaining computer generated imagery effects shots were carried out in Vancouver.

Effect of Ledger's death

Production was disrupted by the death of Heath Ledger in New York City on January 22, 2008. Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing. Gilliam was presiding over concept art when he was informed by a phone call that Ledger had died. His initial thought about the production was: "The film's over, it's as simple as that." Although production was suspended indefinitely by January 24, according to Christopher Plummer, Gilliam, determined to "salvage" the film, initially considered using computer-generated imagery to make Ledger's character magically change his appearance, perhaps into another character, in order to keep his final work in the film, and, if the film was made, would dedicate it to Ledger. The imagery would be similar to transformation techniques seen on Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and those employed by Roy Scheider in his posthumous release Iron Cross.

Eventually, actors Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law were cast to replace Heath Ledger in certain scenes, portraying the new idea of transformed versions of Ledger's character travelling through magical realms, while the footage shot with Ledger would remain in the film as his character's "real-world" appearance. Gilliam told Entertainment Weekly, "Then we made the quantum leap: What if we get three actors to replace him? [...] Johnny was the first person I called. He said, 'Done. I'm there.' Same with Jude and Colin." Initially, Tom Cruise expressed interest in being involved as another actor to replace Ledger, but Gilliam turned him down because Cruise had never been a close friend of Ledger. Gilliam stated, "I just wanted to keep this family — it's as simple as that [...] There were people even offering to come and help, they didn't know Heath. It had to be in the family somehow, I don't know why; it was my attitude."

With the role recast, filming resumed in Vancouver in March 2008. Depp, a friend of Gilliam's who starred in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the aborted The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, had been compared to Ledger by cinematographer Nicola Pecorini. Law was also a friend of Ledger's and had been considered for the role of Tony, and Farrell had also been friends with Ledger. Depp's participation in Gilliam's film was the hardest to incorporate into any of the new actors' schedules due to his contractual obligation on Michael Mann's Public Enemies at the time. In the end, Gilliam had access to Depp for one day and three hours. All the shots involving him had to be completed in one take in order to fit into Depp's compressed time schedule. Depp, Farrell, and Law opted to redirect their wages for the role to Ledger's young daughter, Matilda, who had been left out of an old version of Ledger's will, and Gilliam altered the part of the credits saying "A Terry Gilliam film" to "A film from Heath Ledger and friends."

Gilliam said in retrospect about the first transition from Ledger to Depp in the film:

He's extraordinary. That's why I put Johnny in first position [of the three new Tonys], because number one, he was going to be the most difficult to get any time with, and number two, I just thought if it works with the transition to Johnny and if the audience goes for it, they'll follow the next two. And that's exactly how it works. [...] That's what's funny, when Johnny appears so many people think it's Heath! And it's a trick: Johnny's not doing anything. He looks like Johnny. [...] [During the initial shoot] Heath was on stage and the Russians are appearing, and he was behaving in a very funny way, he was moving around, and I said, 'Heath, I know what you're doing.' He said, 'What are you talking about?' 'You're doing Johnny Depp, aren't you?' And can you believe, that helps this transition [when Ledger enters the mirror and becomes Depp]. This was not intended!"

Depp said of the experience:

Maestro Gilliam has made a sublime film. Wonderfully enchanting and beautiful, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a uniquely ingenious, captivating creation; by turns wild, thrilling and hilarious in all its crazed, dilapidated majesty. Pure Gilliam magic! It was an honor to represent Heath. He was the only player out there breathing heavy down the back of every established actor's neck with a thundering and ungovernable talent that came up on you quick, hissing rather mischievously with that cheeky grin, "hey... get on out of my way, boys, I'm coming through..." and does he ever!!! Heath is a marvel, Christopher Plummer beyond anything he's ever done, Waits as the Devil is a God, Lily Cole and Andrew Garfield, the very foundation, are spectacular, Verne Troyer simply kicks ass and as for my other cohorts, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, they most certainly did Master Ledger very proud, I salute them. Though the circumstances of my involvement are extremely heart-rending and unbelievably sad, I feel privileged to have been asked aboard to stand in on behalf of dear Heath."

Jude Law also commented on the film, saying:

I have always loved Terry Gilliam's films. Their heart, their soul, their mind, always inventive, touching, funny and relevant. When I got the call, it was a double tug. I liked Heath very much as a man and admired him as an actor. To help finish his final piece of work was a tribute I felt compelled to make. To help Terry finish his film was an honour paid to a man I adore. I had a great time on the job. Though we were all there in remembrance, Heath's heart pushed us with great lightness to the finish.

Colin Farrell commented on the experience in his blog, saying,

It’s not hard for me to imagine that if I ever look back on the films I’ve been a part of, and the stories I’ve had a hand in telling, one will stand out as so unique an experience, as to be incomparable. This experience was the shooting of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The reasons for its uniqueness, sadly, are probably obvious to anyone who reads this.

Three of us had been asked to complete a task that had been set in motion by a man we greatly liked and respected as both a person and an artist. Being part of this film was never about filling Heath’s shoes as much as seeing them across the finish line. How I wish he had brought the film to its completion himself. Of course, the whole crew felt this way. And the cast that we joined felt it, too. It was this spirit of grieving the loss of Heath, that Johnny and Jude and I joined. But there was also a sense of dogged insistence. Insistence that Heath’s last piece of work should not be kept in the shadow of the light of day.

More than anything, though – more than the sadness and shock, the vulnerability and un-suredness as to whether it was right to complete the film or not – was an incredible sense of love. A community of people, caterers and actors, electricians and makeup artists had been brought together in a recognized sense of love and obligation, for and to, one of cinema's finest actors and most generous of men. It will be this sense of love amidst the sadness I will remember most. Such a gift and an honor, from Heath, to be a part of the trail that he left behind.

RIP Heath Ledger x

Post-production

The production was beset by further tragedy when producer William Vince died of cancer one week after shooting was done. Fellow producer Amy Gilliam, Terry's daughter, remembered, "[Bill Vince] always said, 'If you get your film in the can, you'll be all right.' And I kind of believe that he stayed with us to know that happened." Eventually, while on post-production, Gilliam himself was hit by a car, resulting in a cracked vertebra. Gilliam recalled: "So I thought, it was third time lucky - they just didn't get me. They got the star, the producer, and they were going for the director, and the fuckers failed on the last one. Whoever they are..." "They were going for the trinity [...] That would have been a tidy end to the whole thing. But they didn't kill me. I'm stuck here to tell the tale."

Gilliam finished editing the film by November 2008, and then work began on creating 647 computer generated imagery effects shots. As usual with his films, Gilliam found inspiration in particular painters for each CGI-generated scene inside the titular Imaginarium. According to Designing the "Imaginarium" published by CBSnews.com, the scene with Doctor Parnassus's attempted suicide related to the style of Odd Nerdrum, the Ladder World with Jude Law featuring "rolling hills with simple trees" was inspired by the art of Grant Wood, the kitsch landscape from the beginning of the sequence with Colin Farrell took inspiration from Maxfield Parrish, and Jose Maria Sert's mural of the Crucifixion in Rockefeller Center inspired the scene including the final minutes of Farrell's appearance in the film.

According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter channel launched on March 30, 2009, post-production was finished on March 31. After the production had finally come to a successful closure, Gilliam felt that "[I] didn't make this film. Forces from above and below made it. It made itself. I don't worry anymore. It's got its own relentless momentum. It just needed some human sacrifice." "It's made itself - I was just one pair of hands and there were many hands." "Don't get me into my mystical mode ... but the film made itself and it was co-directed by Heath Ledger!" "The irony is that the choices that were forced upon us improved the movie, so it was as if Heath co-directed the movie, even co-wrote it." According to Gilliam, actor Colin Farrell also went on record for saying that he hadn't been simply playing the character of Tony, but that he was rather feeling like "channeling Heath".

Gilliam also positively recalled people's commitment to Ledger's memory: "Everyone in the cast and everyone in the crew was determined that this film would be finished and everybody worked longer, harder and somehow we got through. It was really ... people's love for Heath that propelled this thing forward." "All the actors already in the film had to change their schedules, and there wasn't a moment's hesitation. [...] They all said, 'We'll do what's necessary.' It's really a love letter to Heath by everybody involved. He was beloved by so many."

Music

The original motion picture soundtrack of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was composed by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna who had previously worked on Gilliam's Tideland. Gilliam wrote lyrics for the two songs "We Love Violence" and "We Are The Children Of The World", the latter of which spoofed Michael Jackson's famous "We Are the World" and was nominated for a 2009 Satellite Award in the category "Best Original Song".

The song "We Love Violence", performed in the film by policemen in drag, was sung by Gilliam, Mick Audsley (who edited the film), the musician Ray Cooper, Ed Hall (who was also the Visual Effects Editor), and Andre Jacquemin (who was Supervising Sound & Design on the film).

Tracklist

1. Once upon a Time
2. The Imaginarium
3. The Tack
4. Tony's Tale of Woe
5. The Monastery
6. Book & Story
7. Sympathy for the Hanged Man
8. The First to Five Souls
9. Escape from the Pub
10. The River
11. Suicide Attempt
12. Tango amongst the Lilies
13. Victory in the Lilies
14. Four through The Mirror
15. The Ladder World
16. We Love Violence
17. Top of the Wagon
18. We Are the Children of the World
19. Tony's World Collapses
20. The Devil's Dance
21. Tony's Salvation
22. Parnassus Alone

Locations

Tony is found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge.

Filming took place at various locations in London and Vancouver.

The restyled show debuts in Leadenhall Market.

The "mall" is the foyer of the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

The film opens with St Paul's Cathedral in the background (by the north bank of the Thames), and the first show is performed under the rail tracks at Green Dragon Court, directly next to Borough Market, with Southwark Cathedral in the background (in Borough, London, on the south bank of the Thames), where the drunken lout molests the performers and then enters the mirror. The next scene, with Tower Bridge in the background, is just east along the riverbank, by City Hall. Tony is found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge, and the very large disused building in which the following scene (and several later ones) occurs is the interior of Battersea power station, farther west along the south bank of the river.

The following scenes occur north of the Thames: the Homebase, DIY store at 3 Station Road, south of New Southgate railway station, in New Southgate, followed by the Horseshoe pub in Clerkenwell Close in Clerkenwell from which the wagon flees. The restyled show makes its debut in Leadenhall Market, where the stylish women gather to watch. Bray Studios near Windsor was used for model shooting and additional photography.

The remaining scenes were filmed in Vancouver. The fantasy scenes were filmed at Bridge Studios in Burnaby, while the charity gala occurs at the Orpheum Theatre, and the glass-walled "mall" is the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library, the curved arcade being the library's entrance foyer.

Release and box office performance

Before The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was finished, the film had already received healthy interest from worldwide distributors and the film sold out across the world. However, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus received lukewarm response from many distributors in the United States. Gilliam said that Fox Searchlight Pictures and other distributors had declined to release the film in the United States. Eventually, the film's US distribution rights were acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group, which released the film in the United States theatrically through Sony Pictures Classics. In fact, the US was the last territory in which the film was sold.

Box office

According to Reuters, the film debuted at #3 on its first weekend at the UK box office. The film debuted at #2 in both France and Italy, generating the year's third-best box office return on an opening weekend in Italy. Said Roberto Proia, distribution chief of the film's Italian distributor Moviemax, about its surprisingly warm reception, "Almost two years after his death, Ledger has a huge fanbase which, along with the rest of the stellar cast, certainly contributed hugely. [...] We also found out that teenagers massively love Gilliam, and we did not expect this. He really has rock star status." By January 31, 2010, the film had earned about $42,000,000 theatrically in the countries outside North America.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus earned $415,233 on its North American limited opening Christmas weekend (December 25–27, 2009), being presented in 48 theaters with an average of $8,651. The second weekend of Parnassus (January 1–3, 2010) set an average of $7,684 with a gross of $368,836 which made for a total of $1,029,821 domestically. Releasing in 607 North American theaters, Parnassus took eleventh place on its opening wide release box office weekend (January 8–10, 2010) with earnings of $1,762,637, an average of only $2,904 and a total of $2,989,290. By January 31, 2010, the film had earned $6,406,049 theatrically in North America.

According to the working partner of William Vince, the film had already made its budget back even before it opened in North America.

Home media

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom (Region 2) on March 29, 2010, by UK home video distributor Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Supplementary material includes audio commentary and an introduction by Gilliam, deleted scene with optional commentary, wardrobe test for Heath Ledger with optional commentary, visual FX feature with optional commentary and three more featurettes called Behind the Mirror, Building the Temple and UK Premiere.

Critical reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 66% of 166 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Terry Gilliam remains as indulgent as ever, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus represents a return to the intoxicatingly imaginative, darkly beautiful power of his earlier work, with fine performances to match all the visual spectacle." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 63%, based on a sample of 27 reviews. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 65 based on 30 reviews.

Awards and nominations

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for two Academy Awards, in the categories Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

The Costume Designers Guild of America named The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus for Best Fantasy Film of the year with costume designer Monique Prudhomme receiving the award. In addition, it was also nominated for two BAFTA awards, including Best Production Design (Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro and Caroline Smith) and Best Make Up & Hair (Sarah Monzani), but lost both to Avatar and The Young Victoria respectively. It holds two nominations at the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards (Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Best British Film) voted by the public and was nominated for two Saturn Awards, in the categories Best International Film and Best Make-up (Sarah Monzani).

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was nominated for Best Achievement in Production at the British Independent Film Awards, but lost to Bunny and the Bull. It was further nominated for three International Press Academy Satellite Awards, in the categories Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction & Production Design, and Best Original Song, and Monique Prudhomme won the award for Best Costume Design. The film was also voted Best Fantasy Film of the Year by readers of the Total Sci-Fi Online magazine.

External links

Official

• Official website

Databases

• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at IMDb
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at AllMovie
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at Metacritic
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus at Box Office Mojo

Miscellaneous

• Dreams on Dr Parnassus – Behind-the-scenes articles and exclusive interviews with cast and crew, by Phil Stubbs