Gilliam to Finish Parnassus with a CGI Heath Ledger?

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By Gillian Reagan

January 30, 2008 | 3:41 p.m

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Heath Ledger was in the middle of shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died last week. Since then, director Terry Gilliam has been scrambling to find a way to finish the movie. Despite earlier reports that the director, who has helmed 1975's Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Brothers Grimm, might shelve the $30 million production, Mr. Ledger's co-star Christopher Plummer told People Magazine that "because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI…"

More from People after the jump.

"Terry was a very good friend [of Heath's]," adds Plummer. "He very wants to go on with the movie, and I can very much understand why. Because he wants to dedicate it to Heath, of course."

Ledger and Plummer both left the London portion of the movie's shoot last weekend and were due to continue filming next week in Vancouver. Leaving England, says Plummer, "Heath was in very high spirits. He was just enjoying himself tremendously. It's a rather fanciful script, and he was wonderful in this role."

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Ledger would have appreciated the show-must-go-on mentality, says his co-star. "He was terribly likeable and obviously enormously talented…and the combination was terrific. It's such a shame these things have to happen to the good ones."