Terry Gilliam will finally get to make ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’, with Adam Driver and Michael Palin

Is this a case of fourth time lucky for the director's infamously troubled production?

Look, Terry Gilliam's never been the one to seek pity - but you have to feel bad for the director after such a string of cinematic misfortunes.

Whether fighting studios to preserve Brazil's true, and rightly miserable, ending; the tragic death of Heath Ledger halfway through filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus; or in his unsuccessful attempts to launch adaptions of Watchmen, A Tale of Two Cities, and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens.

Gilliam is a visionary cursed, and nothing sums up his history of bad luck better than his failed attempt to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2000. Captured in the documentary Lost in La Mancha, production saw its lead actor suffer a herniated disc and flooding utterly destroy its set, leading to the entire $32.1M production being cancelled.

But once a dream has blossomed, it's hard to kill it; with both Gilliam and the film's co-lead, Johnny Depp, repeatedly attempting to relaunch production. The insurance company involved in the first failed attempt held onto the rights to the screenplay for years; with a complex legal battle finally concluding around 2006. and Gilliam reviving his hopes for the project.

Depp stepped away, but Ewan McGregor and Robert DuVall climbed aboard in 2010; yet, only a few months later, funding collapsed. Production began once more; with Jack O'Connell and Jack Hurt starring, and Amazon Studios footing the bill. But, can you believe it? Only to be cancelled again right before production launched, after Hurt developed pancreatic cancer (though he's since thankfully overcome the disease).

Fourth time lucky then? Production seems to be rattling into new life, with both Michael Palin and Adam Driver pitched to co-lead the picture (via Flickreel, who also got hold of several pieces of concept art for the film).

The updated plot is as follows: "There was a time when Toby was a young film student full of ideals. So he decided to shoot a film adapted from the story of Don Quixote in a pretty Spanish village. But those days are gone and now Toby is an arrogant publicist, libidinous and jaded. Money and glitter have corrupted him, and while he is in Spain where he finishes filming an ad, he has to juggle with his boss’s wife – Jacqui – a calamitous weather, and his own ego."

"This is when a mysterious gypsy comes to find him with an old copy of his student film: Toby is upset and decides to go in search of a little village where he had made his first work a long time ago. He discovers with horror that his little film has had terrible effects on this quiet place. Angelica, the girl full of innocence, became a high-class call girl; and the old man who played Don Quixote lost his mind, convinced in his delusion of being the real 'Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.'"

"A series of incidents lead to a fire that threatens to destroy the village. Wanted by the police, Toby is “saved” by the old fool who takes him for his faithful squire Sancho, and drives on the roads in search of his perfect wife, Dulcinea. During this journey, Toby will face demons, real and imaginary, modern and medieval. Damsels will be saved, jousts will be completed, and giants will be killed! Reality and fantasy merge in this strange journey, until a spooky ending."

A release date is yet to be announced, though shooting is set to take place in autumn.