Empire Online is reporting that Ewan McGregor has replaced Johnny Depp in the relaunch of his film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.”  He’s set to appear opposite Robert Duvall, who’s playing everyone’s favorite denizen of La Mancha.  McGregor is set to play Sancho Panza, but he’s actually a 21st century ad executive thrust into the past.  Or that’s what the script was about.  Who knows how it might have changed?

I’m inclined to like this casting a lot more.  Not just because Ewan McGregor was Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, but because I think he’s actually a great actor and Johnny Depp has gotten just a bit boring in the last 5 years.  He dropped out of this to work on a fourth Pirates film, which is kind of disappointing.

Some of you may remember this doomed project from the excellent documentary Lost in La Mancha, when Gilliam tried to get a Don Quioxte story off the ground a decade ago.  Some say that Don Quixote is forever cursed from gracing the big screen.  Orson Welles’ own attempt was met with a spectacular failure as well.

I have much higher hopes for this incarnation and I hope we see it with a much wider release than Gilliam’s last few films.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is set to start filming in September.