Terry Gilliam's Final Cut for Heath Ledger and <cite>Imaginarium</cite>

As director Terry Gilliam heads for Comic-Con International to screen clips next Thursday from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, new details about Heath Ledger's final movie are coming to light.

A few weeks after completing *The Dark Knight, *Ledger starred for Gilliam on Imaginarium as a fantastical street vendor (pictured) but died midway through filming. Through a variety of editing and visual effects tricks, Gilliam completed the project with Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Ferrell stepping in to play Ledger's character.

A new Vanity Fair story offers an in-depth replay of the months preceding Ledger's death:

With his chronic insomnia, Ledger would typically spend night after night awake, diverting himself with time killers like rearranging the furniture in whatever space he happened to be living in at the moment. Now, physically run down by the arduous shoot, unable to sleep, and distraught over his differences with [Michelle] Williams, Ledger found some measure of relief in massages and prescription drugs.

Says Gilliam, "He desperately wanted to sleep. And he finally got the big sleep. I don't know if it was the combination of his tiredness with his emotional state. I wish I had the answer. It really bothers me that I can't make sense out of it. There was nothing grand or dramatic about it. It just happened. It's still a big mystery."

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus received a standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival this May but has not yet been picked up for U.S. distribution.

See also:

• 3 Actors Augment Ledger's 'Brilliant' Final Performance
• Beyond Oscar, Heath Ledger’s Legacy Grew Out of Intense Devotion to Craft
• Unnecessarily Dangerous Drug Combo Caused Heath Ledger’s Death
• Heath Ledger Fans Call for Joker's Retirement From Film
• Chem Lab: Heath Ledger Toxicology Results