Terry Gilliam unveiled footage from his long awaited film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus just moments ago and fielded questions from a Comic-Con audience.

Based on the footage shown, Parnassus tells the story of an ancient monk played by Christopher Plummer who has made a Faustian deal with the devil (played by the ever amazing Tom Waits) for the soul of his daughter.  Tony (Heath Ledger) is dragged into the competition to save the girls soul.

The footage looked like the sort of fare you’d imagine from Terry Gilliam, stunning visuals that are as odd and disparate as they are amazing.

We were shown three clips (one of Tom Waits’ entrance to the anceint monastery, a bit of Heath Ledger acting under a mask in front of the Imaginarium, and a taste of what it’s like behind The Mirror…) and a trailer. I thought the film looked amazing, but the trailer they cut was one of those strung together by a cheesy narrator.  And I didn’t see hardly enough Tom Waits at all.

The film looks exactly like you’d expect a Terry Gilliam picture to look like and Gilliam spoke of the performance of Heath Ledger as more mature and better…  And I think he was right in that sense.  Heath Ledger seemed to grow exponentially with every role he’s moved on from.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus hits theatres…sometime in the future.

I anxiously await it.