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" Terry Gilliam, director of The Zero Theorem, has revealed that Billy Bob Thornton was unable to commit to the lead role in the film because he &amp;quot;has a fear of old things&amp;quot;. Thornton was set to play Qohen Leth, an introverted computer genius who has been tasked with creating a scientific formula to determine the meaning of life.    Shooting for the movie was scheduled to begin in 2009 in London. However, Thornton&amp;#039;s phobia - which includes furniture, old planes and even elderly people - was so extreme that he was unable to be around the architecture of London as it was too old. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m astonished, I just don&amp;#039;t get it,&amp;quot; Gilliam told the Empire podcast. &amp;quot;These are the things you learn when you start casting people you admire - that they&amp;#039;re more complicated.&amp;quot; Christoph Waltz replaced Thornton after meeting Gilliam at an awards ceremony.  Gilliam recalled: &amp;quot;Christoph was across a crowded room and we both pointed at each other and said, &amp;#039;We&amp;#039;ve got to work together&amp;#039;, so I thought I&amp;#039;d take advantage of that situation. He&amp;#039;s such a phenomenal actor.  &amp;quot;He was a great actor to take on a character like [Qohen] who is so layered and we don&amp;#039;t really tell his backstory, but you&amp;#039;ve got to feel that it&amp;#039;s there with all the frustrations, anger, confusion, disappointment that Qohen carries around with him.&amp;quot; The film also stars Lucas Hedges, M\u00C3\u00A9lanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Matt Damon and Lily Cole and is airing in cinemas across the UK now. Watch the trailer below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a557633/terry-gilliam-explains-billy-bob-thornton-exit-from-the-zero-theorem/>