Four Tonys

I’m researching this film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and I keep getting stuck on one specific thing: Johnny Depp plays Tony. Jude Law plays Tony. Colin Farrell plays Tony. Heath Ledger plays Tony. Same character. Four different actors.

I checked IMDb three times thinking I was misreading it. Found the trailer, looked for some kind of explanation, some joke or press release that would make this reasonable. Nothing. It all looks entirely real. The film’s coming out in September. And I’m sitting there thinking—nobody makes a movie where four separate A-list actors play one person unless something is actually going on.

So either I’m the last person on the internet to figure out whatever this is, or I’m actually losing my mind. There’s got to be a story behind it, something that would make it make sense. But I can’t find it anywhere. The whole thing just sits there, documented and impossible.

Lily Cole’s in it too, which is at least straightforward. She’s in films now, she’s beautiful, that checks out.

But the Tony thing won’t leave my head. I don’t understand it and I want to.