Speaking to the Listener ahead of Time Bandits’ New Zealand debut in July, Clement, 50, said while he is generally “not that interested” in remakes, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with the beloved material - which left a strong impression on him as a young boy.
“I just went back to that wish that I was Kevin [played by Kal-El Tuck] when I saw the movie. I just wanted to be that kid going through time and that was the closest that I’ll be able to get, as far as I can see ... When Taika [Waititi] said, ‘What do you think of this?’ I was really glad. I immediately wrote down an idea for it of what the TV show would be,” he told the Listener.
Clement also revealed that while he didn’t have any contact with Gilliam about the series, conversations were had between the filmmaker and Apple TV+. He, Morris and Waititi were determined not to stick to the source material too closely, he added, noting they “didn’t want to ruin people’s feelings for the movie”.
“I know that Apple talked to him, and we talked to Apple, but we never talked to Terry. We wanted to hear from him and were hoping to hear what parts of the world he’d imagine that he never got to put on screen. But no one ever offered that to us ... We didn’t want to make it too Terry Gilliam because it felt like plagiarising in a way.
“We didn’t want to make it a thing where it was an imitation of him. So, we just took things that we could relate to from the film and liked and made our own version. We didn’t study the film too closely. We didn’t want to ruin people’s feelings for the movie. We’ve concentrated on the comedy aspects of it, and we’ve intentionally not tried to do a pale imitation of what I guess would be the Gilliam-esque visuals and things.”
The cancellation comes less than a month after the first - and now only - season of Time Bandits finished releasing on Apple TV+. The first two of the 10 episodes premiered on July 24, with two new episodes released weekly until August 21.
Meanwhile Waititi, 49, is in talks to direct James, an adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel that will be executive produced by Steven Spielberg for his Amblin Partners company, according to reports.
The filmmaker, actor and comedian is also at the helm of the upcoming science-fiction movie Klara and the Sun, based on the bestselling book by British writer Kazuo Ishiguro. The cast features a host of international stars including Jenna Ortega, Mia Tharia, Amy Adams, Natasha Lyonne, Simon Baker and Aran Murphy.
In April, the production caused a stir in central Auckland as Waititi was spotted directing Wednesday star Ortega and a cast of extras on High St. Several local businesses told the Herald at the time that the filming process was smooth and disruption was minimal.
Waititi and his wife, Rita Ora, 33, were photographed at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday (NZ time), with Waititi nominated twice in the Outstanding Comedy Series category for Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows. The award ultimately went to Hacks.
Last month, the Boy director enjoyed a star-studded birthday bash on the Spanish island of Ibiza, with superstars Salma Hayek and Camila Cabello in attendance. He then flew to Slovakia by private jet, where Ora sang her husband ‘happy birthday’ while performing on stage. Days before his 49th birthday, he and Ora were at Disneyland for the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.
