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- Jeff Lynne, speaking about the production of Eldorado. [1]


With the successes of the Traveling Wilburys, Jeff Lynne’s music was experiencing something of a renaissance. While his new music wasn’t topping any charts, sales of ELO albums had picked up. Lynne had, in fact, begun to focus more on production than actually releasing albums of his own, working with many of his bandmates on their solo albums.

He was, however, interested in revisiting some of his older work. Lynne had experimented with musicals and concept albums before, and was intrigued by the idea of adapting the 1974 album Eldorado into a musical film. Convincing a major studio to greenlight a film based on the album, however, would be difficult.

Thankfully for him, he was good friends with George Harrison, who owned HandMade films, a relatively successful smaller production company. Harrison contacted Terry Gilliam to ask him to direct the film, and Gilliam agreed.

The film would be released in 1993 to positive reviews, but made little over its budget at the box office. In later years, it would become a cult classic. [2]


Plot Synopsis of Eldorado: [3]

A man known only as “the Dreamer” spends his day in an office job, but is unsatisfied with his life. To cope, he spends much of his time asleep, dreaming of fantastic stories. In his first, we see him in love with a mystical character known as the “Ocean’s Daughter”, who bears a great resemblance to one of his female coworkers, Marian (Can’t Get It Out of My Head). The Dreamer is summoned to his boss’ office, and is confronted about his lack of productivity. His boss suggests that he take some time off to get his mental state in order.

The Dreamer experiences another dream, this time of him as a victorious crusader returning from a far-away land. While he denounces violence and war, the townspeople ignore this, simply praising his courage and chivalry. In the real world, he decides to seek therapy for his disconnect with the real world. Following his first therapy session, he has another dream, where he is a Native American in the Wild West. He is chased down by a cowboy, resembling his boss, eventually escaping thanks to a sudden tornado (Laredo Tornado).

The Dreamer returns to his therapist, Dr. Kingdom, who prescribes him with a new drug that should improve his concentration, at the cost of him no longer experiencing dreams. The Dreamer accepts the drugs, having one last dream before he takes them. Here, he dreams that he is one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, and saves Maid Marian from the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Poor Boy (The Greenwood)).

When he wakes, he finds that the drugs have not had the desired effect, and that his dreams are beginning to bleed into the real world. When he returns to work, he sees Marian and his boss as they had appeared in his previous dream. Scared, he returns to Dr. Kingdom, asking for help, who suggests that there may be some meaning to his dreams (Mister Kingdom). The Dreamer begins to obsess over his dreams even more, and his dreams continue to persist into the waking world even when he stops taking the medication.

During work one day, he finds that Marian is beginning to flirt with him, making sexual advances (Nobody’s Child). However, he soon finds that this was an illusion of his mind, and the dreams are becoming stronger in the waking world. The Dreamer sets about finding his “paradise” in the dream world, becoming obsessed with an “eternal dream”. His boss begins to worry about him as his work deteriorates once more, becoming incoherent. Marian follows the Dreamer home one day, finding him singing in the street, as he loses his sanity (Illusions in G Major).

Marian manages to snap him out of his illusion, but the Dreamer realises that he cannot have what he wants in this life, and runs back to his apartment. Marian continues following him, eventually finding him singing once more, standing on the edge of his apartment building’s roof (Eldorado). The Dreamer believes that by ending his life, he can access the eternal dream, and be in paradise forever. He jumps, suddenly finding himself flashing through his dreams, eventually finding himself on stage, before an audience giving a standing ovation. He bows, and the curtains close (Eldorado Finale).


Cast of Eldorado: [4]

• The Dreamer – Jeff Bridges​
• Marian/Maid Marian/various – Uma Thurman​
• The Boss/various – Kenneth Branagh​
• Dr. Kingdom/various – Jonathan Pryce​

While Eldorado had a somewhat disappointing box office run, the new re-recorded version of the album, released along with the film, was a hit. In addition, the positive critical response provided proof that concept albums could be adapted into a successful musical.

With Eldorado’s relative success, Jeff Lynne considered adapting ELO’s other concept album into a musical, one that would follow a much more traditional story than the more surreal one offered by Eldorado. [5]


[1] The title of this update was nearly a reference to the album, but I wanted to go for the obvious size pun.
[2] Regrettably, this is how a lot of Gilliam's films end up. Really good, but don't make a huge amount at the box office.
[3] Alright, I'm not going to put footnotes everywhere in the synopsis, so they're here. This isn't even my interpretation of the album, just a version that I think would work well on screen. It's quite surreal, but it's the sort of film I'd enjoy watching. The end takes inspiration from a few different places, one of them the TNG story State of Mind.
[4] Minimalist cast. Only four "main" roles. Marian, the Boss and Dr. Kingdom all appear in the dreams as various characters. Also, with the exception of Branagh, all people that Gilliam has worked with before.
[5] I'll asmit it. I only made Eldorado into a film ITTL so I could make Time into a film as well. That being said, I had a lot of fun writing this update, and listening to Eldorado while I did so. I highly recommend it if you haven't listened to it before. It doesn't have a story anywhere near as concrete as here.