Don Quixote - Man of La Mancha

I'd only heard passing references to this iconic character growing up and after acquiring the soundtrack, I've enjoyed reading more about Don Quixote. Lucy Pollard-Gott, author of The Fictional 100 has Quixote listed #3, only surpassed by Hamlet and Odysseus in "Most Influential Characters in World Literature and Legend".

In a survey of 100 noted authors, conducted by the Nobel Institute, Don Quixote received the highest number of votes in the Top 100 Works in World Literature

I just heard that there is yet another film possibly in the works besides Terry Gilliam's ongoing efforts to get his project off the ground.

1) Warner Brothers might be teaming up with Joel Silver to produce a 'swashbuckling' version similar to Pirates of the Caribbean? "Prepare yourself for a fantasy world in which the windmills really are giant, Quixote is really a chivalrous hero and, most importantly, there's a happy ending."
source: Cinematical

2) I'm still hoping that Terry Gilliam's project moves forward with Ewan Macgregor as a filmmaker who travels back in time and gets roped into the adventures of Don Quixote, who will be played by Robert Duvall.
There was a documentary Lost in La Mancha covering Gilliam's first attempt to launch his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote back in 2002. Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort were cast at the time. It's currently on Youtube.

Gilliam's efforts to get this film produced could be described as his own 'impossible dream resulting in a documentary Lost in La Mancha: "In August 2000, Gilliam finally got his opportunity to create his dream film he labored for a decade, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. However for all his creativity and enthusiasm, the film is immediately plagued with an improbable series of disasters ranging from scheduling conflicts, budget cuts, studio and location problems and worse that threaten to doom the film."

-> Movieweb
-> Robert Duvall chats about film

The Impossible Dream
(Great scene from Man of La Mancha (1972) with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren)

I love these images of Quixote...

Marianno Villalba

Antonio Saura


Pablo Picasso


Octavio Ocampo, painting described here

Stanislav Prokopenko

He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined,
to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures;
to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need.
No longer will he be plain Alonso Quijana,
but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha.