The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, 1989
Director
Cast
- John Neville
- Eric Idle
- Sarah Polley
- Robin Williams
- Jonathan Pryce
- Oliver Reed
- Uma Thurman
- Peter Jeffrey
visit the film locations
Cinecittà Studios, Via Tuscolana 1055 00173 Roma
Trivia
Previously filmed, in 1943, in Germany as Münchhausen.
Heaven’s Gate, Ishtar and The Cotton Club were elbowed out of the way as Terry Gilliam’s lavish fantasy hit the record books as the biggest lossmaker in movie history, reputedly clocking in at minus $48 million on what was originally budgeted as a $23.5 million movie.
Cost the earth it might, but at least the money is right up there on the screen. Filmed largely at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, the movie, which utilised the services of longtime Fellini collaborators cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno and art director Dante Ferretti, needed a staggering 67 sets.
The ‘Turkish Camp’ was filmed at the standard Euro-desert location of Almeria on the coast of southern Spain.
More interesting is the Mediterranean town besieged by the Turks. The ghost town of Belchite, once home to 4,500 people and boasting an eclectic mix of Baroque and Gothic architecture, was mercilessly bombed during the Civil War in 1938. Left deserted and unrestored for fifty years, it was remembered by Ferretti as a location he had once scouted for Sidney Lumet’s aborted project No Pasaran. The town has been seen more recently in Guillermo del Toro’s El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth).
