Terry Gilliam developing adaptation of MR. VERTIGO

Terry Gilliam revelaed that he is developing a new feature film during a Q&A at Era New Horizons Film Festival. “I got a book. It’s called ‘Mr. Vertigo’ by Paul Auster. And I’m actually working on a script of it at the moment. Doesn’t mean it will be a film; but I’m working on a script,” said Gilliam.

The book is set in the 1920s and tells the story of "an orphan who is trained to levitate by a mysterious person known only as Master Yehudi, and they travel across the United States as part of circus sideshow, showing off the wondrous feat. The orphan encounters the Americana of the era, dipping into everything from the Lindbergh’s flight, the development of the automobile, the Mob and more."

Here’s the synopsis from Amazon:

It will come as no surprise to the gifted Auster’s (“Moon Palace”; “The Music of Chance”) many fans that walking on air, the implausible premise of his marvelously whimsical seventh novel, is treated with convincing gravity. Walt Rawley recounts his life: an orphan born in 1924 with “the gift,” he was seized by his master, Mr. Yehudi, a Hungarian Jew who taught him to levitate. Yehudi takes the boy from St. Louis to his own Kansas menage, which consists of Mother Sioux and Aesop, a young black genius. (Also influencing Walt’s life is classy, henna-headed Marion Witherspoon, a seductive mom figure from Wichita.) After harsh training, Walt tours with his mentor as “the Wonder Boy,” aka Mr. Vertigo. Crammed into this road saga is the potent Americana of myth: the 1920s carnival circuit, Lindbergh’s solo, the motorcar, the ethnic mix, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mob, baseball and Kansas, “land of Oz.” Diverse mishaps descend, but eventually Walt glides into old age and writing. The characters speak a lusty lingo peppered with vintage slang, while a postmodern authorial irony tugs their innocence askew. The prose grows particularly electric when demystifying “loft and locomotion.” Implicit is an analogy between levitation and the construct of fiction: both require fierce discipline to maintain a fleeting illusion.

The book has been in development before, in 1997 Agnieska Holland (Copying Beethoven, Europa Europa) and in 2000 Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) was considering adaptating it as welll. This sounds like a great film for Gilliam's directing style. What are your thoughts on this news?