There's an interesting piece in the Hollywood Reporter detailing the reluctance of distributors to buy The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, an independently-financed fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam and starring the late Heath Ledger.

After Ledger's death only halfway through filming, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all picked up the slack to play Ledger's character (the script was altered to include a shape-shifting element for the role).

But despite the massive amounts of star power, distributors are wary of buying another Gilliam fantasy film, after his recent movies, Tideland and The Brothers Grimm, failed to connect. Parnassus is said to be just as inaccessible for audiences as Tideland, (which you probably haven't heard of for a reason).

Never mind that he's also the director of such hits/classics as Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King, Brazil, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, for Heaven's sake.

Okay distributors, I thought this was kind of obvious, but here's how you market the movie:

You don't shy away from the weird title, first of all -- if you do, you're going to end up confusing people. You cut a trailer of the film showing only a little bit of the plot -- and make it sound simpler than it really is -- and focus your efforts entirely on the star power. Don't come right out and say it's Ledger's last film -- you don't want to sound like you're using that as a marketing tool -- but instead, you give him the all-important "and" credit. If the reviews are bad, let them be bad -- people will mostly be talking about the Ledger angle, and how the three other stars jumped on board halfway through, so the curiosity factor will be trump any negativity.

You're welcome. ❏