The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus review I Full Cannes coverage

The film that Heath Ledger was working on when he died of an accidental drug overdose has been screened for the first time in Cannes yesterday.

He had shot about half of his role at the time of his death so the director Terry Gilliam improvised a solution whereby Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell between them completed the performance. They donated their fees to the actor’s daughter Matilda.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a characteristically wild fantasy ripped from Gilliam’s imagination about a travelling showman who makes a pact with the devil. Some critics pronounced it a baffling mess while others were enchanted.

But the film will be overshadowed by the tragic demise of its lead actor, who was found dead in New York in January 2008, during a break in filming.

Ledger’s character is first glimpsed hanging from a bridge, apparently dead, in what Gilliam described as a “homage to Roberto Calvi”, the banker to the Vatican found hanged from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982.

“There was irony throughout this film and there was even more irony post Heath’s death,” he said this morning. “I hope he would be pleased with it. I think he would be.”

Ledger plays Tony, a “snake oil salesman” type who Gilliam said was “in some ways based on Tony Blair, a person I love dearly”. He added: “Tony believes whatever comes out of his mouth. Even though he’s never thought about it until it comes out.”

At first Gilliam assumed that Ledger’s death had destroyed any chance of completing the film.

“The obvious choice I made was to close the film down.

“I did not see how we could finish it without Heath. Fortunately I was surrounded by really good people who insisted I should not be such a lazy bastard and I had better get out and finish the film for Heath.”

He felt that asking one actor to replace Ledger would not be “respectful”. “We ended up with Colin, Jude and Johnny taking over the parts.”

“When Heath died I went down to LA and spent the day with the family. We started crying and then we started laughing. I didn’t spend a lot of time telling them my plans but they knew that Jude, Johnny and Colin were going to come on board and they were delighted.”

At the time of his death and again when audiences saw his Oscar-winning final completed performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight, there was speculation that the actor had been disturbed and unhappy in his final months.

However Gilliam and his cast said that Ledger had been the life and soul of the set.

Andrew Garfield, the young British star of Boy A and the Red Riding trilogy, said: “He was a wonderful, beautiful, soulful, energetic, incredible presence.”

The director said that he had been privileged to continue to work with Ledger’s performance long after his death.

“Heath died over a year ago but I’ve been working with him every day in the cutting room. It’s slightly different for me — he doesn’t seem to be that long departed really.”

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