SiM Stills: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

First look at the final film of the late Heath Ledger

Lionsgate Films has released several new stills for their highly-anticipated The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which stars the late Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) in his final feature. Directed by Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), this fantasy flick follows the immortal 1,000-year-old Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), who has made a pact with the Devil and leads an extravagant travelling theatre troupe that delves into the imaginations of its audiences. The $30 million film, due September 24th (June 6th in the UK), also stars Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and "Mini-Me" Verne Troyer.

Posthumous Ledger Projects Arise

Indie pop-rock group Modest Mouse are exciting Heath Ledger fans with their recent news about the animated video for their single "King Rat," which was directed by the late actor, and animated by Terry Gilliam of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Ledger worked on the clip shortly before his untimely drug overdose in January 2008, and the band only recently added "King Rat" as a bonus track for their 2007 album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

"Heath and I have a mutual friend and when we were in Australia, my fiance and some of us in the band went out on a boat with him and his family and friends and talked about the idea," remembered Mouse frontman Isaac Brock in a 2007 interview with VH1. "The idea sort of dropped, but then he just sent me an email saying that he wanted to do it."

Spin magazine also reported that Ledger--who was 28-years-old when he died--also had helmed a music video for a cover of David Bowie's "Quicksand," by Aussie blues singer Grace Woodroofe, who was to be the first act signed to Ledger and friend Ben Harper's indie label Masses Music Co.

Best known for his roles in Brokeback Mountain (2005) and last year's The Dark Knight, Ledger had previously directed videos for Harper ("Morning Yearning") and the late Nick Drake ("Black Eyed Dog"), the latter of whom Ledger had been "obsessed" with, and who had died under similar circumstances in 1974. Both "King Rat" and "Quicksand" will be released this year, though no specific dates were available. Ledger's final film, Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Pamassus, is also slated for this year.