circa 1782: 'The Castle in the Moon - a new adventure, not mentioned by Cervantes'. Fictional Spanish knight Don Quixote and his companion Sancho Panza besiege the 'castle in the moon' of Gibraltar, occupied by the British. 'Sancho! We'll sit down before the castle, & starve them out, Sancho.' proposes the hero, to which Panza replies 'Starve them out, o Lord! O Lord! We're like to be starv'd ourselves first! There's not a mouthful left in the wallet, & I'm grown as thin as a Shotten herring.' Meanwhile a French monkey stands on the neck of the horse, making bold gestures with his sword. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (This content is subject to copyright.)
What do you get when you take the classic Spanish novel “Don Quixote” and give it a little “Pirates of the Caribbean” feel? A Disney movie, of course.
Several entertainment industry news outlets report that Disney is working on an adaptation of the novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, enlisting the producing and script-writing heft of Gordon Gray and Billy Ray. Gray and Ray are producing the movie, and Ray is writing the script, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Ray’s credits include “The Hunger Games” and “Captain Phillips.” Gray’s credits include “The Rookie,” “Invincible” and “Million Dollar Arm.”
Don Quixote, which was originally published in 1605, is a tale about a rather non-descript, low-level aristocrat whose imagination runs wild, thanks to his love of novels about chivalry, reaching the point where he begins to believe that fictional knights and dragons really exist.
The delusional aristocrat anoints a neighbor to be his squire and repurposes himself as a knight named Don Quixote. Don Quixote and his squire set out on a wild trip where they assign roles to people they meet along the way. They make windmills dragons, peasant women ladies-in-waiting and innkeepers lords.
The Hollywood Reporter, which first published a story about the planned Disney flick, said that the creators are infusing the classic story with the kind of zany and whimsical elements that shaped studio’s successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” series
Disney wasn't the only one spinning visions of a modern-day production of "Don Quixote." Director Terry Gilliam has been trying to get his own film adaptation off the ground. But his project, reportedly titled "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote," has been trying to see the light of day for about 20 years, according to Vanity Fair. Gilliam's project has been dogged by financial and casting problems, Vanity Fair reports.
"Don Quixote" was a hit musical on Broadway as "Man of La Mancha." And it also was in movie theaters once before, starring Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren in 1972.
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