Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement Say Monty Python “Helped Create” Their New Time Bandits

The post Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement Say Monty Python “Helped Create” Their New Time Bandits appeared first on Consequence .

The 1981 film Time Bandits is a curious one: While not officially a Monty Python project, the legendary British comedy troupe’s voice can be felt in the writing and direction, given that Python members Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam co-wrote the script, with Gilliam directing. Fortunately, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement , two of the creators behind Apple TV+’s new series adaptation of the original film, weren’t intimidated by taking that on — given the impact that Python had already had on them as comedians.

Thanks to their past collaborations on projects like the original film version of What We Do in the Shadows , Waititi and Clement have a pretty clear comedic sensibility between them. But as Waititi tells Consequence , “I think in a lot of ways, our sense of comedy and sense of humor has been influenced by Monty Python and Terry Gilliam in the first place. There are a lot of influences we’ve had just growing up and developing our sense of comedy, but it’s almost like, yeah, they helped create this.”

Adds Clement, “We’re never going to think of the exact same things. We’re going to think of the things that we think of. But we try and make it Gilliam-esque or Python-esque — though it’s going to be our version of it.”

This new Time Bandits features Lisa Kudrow as the leader of a gang of time travelers who bop around the continuum in search of things to steal — though their mission changes slightly with the addition of 10-year-old Kevin (Kal-El Tuck), a history buff, as well as the threat of apocalypse courtesy of two supernatural threats: The Supreme Being (played by Waititi) and The Wrongness (played by Clement).

Originally, the plan had not been for the co-creators to appear in the series. “We had no intention of playing any role. And that’s a new thing for me, because I’ll crowbar myself into just about anything I do,” Waititi laughs. (He did indeed make his position on that clear to Consequence last fall, while discussing casting himself in 2023’s Next Goal Wins .)

But, “very late” into the development process, according to Clement, the idea came to pass. “We had, like, Grace Jones and Ian McKellan or just these different groups of people [in mind],” Clement says. “But it was not logistically possible to get people to stay in New Zealand to do five hours shooting over six months. So it made sense for it to be us.”

Time Bandits (Apple TV+)

As The Supreme Being and Pure Evil, the two higher beings who torment the titular bandits of time, Waititi and Clement are in fact only in a limited amount of the series. Fun fact, courtesy of Clement: “Originally we were playing the opposite parts, so the concept art has me in Taika’s costumes and Taika in my costumes.”

Continues Clement, “But it was fun. It was fun and I loved the Evil Genius character — I think he’s called Evil Genius in the movie — and when I watched the movie, I found him so hilarious and deadpan and dark.”

“That’s how I find you in the show,” his longtime collaborator tells him. “Hilarious. And deadpan.”

“Thank you,” Clement says.

Waititi has a follow-up: “What about me?”

“Oh, yeah.” Clement summons up a compliment. “Very energetic and fun.”

“Correct,” Waititi says, satisfied.

The team’s one priority in approaching the remake was, according to Waititi, was the lead character of Kevin. Or, to be more accurate, “making sure that we found a really good actor to play Kevin, who would anchor the whole show, because he represents the audience and everything that he he enters into is pretty crazy. And so he’s the one voice of reason in the whole show. He’s the one reliable character.”

Thus, they were so glad to find Kal-El Tuck: “He’s 10 and he knows more than everyone else,” Waititi says. “It’s really cool that we were able to find [Tuck] to play that role. He really just nailed it.”

Both the movie and the show, Clement says, are about how “the kid might have the best idea, but no one’s gonna listen to the kid. I think it’s a frustration that you feel often as a child — and we wanted to make it relatable to kids in that way.”

Whether the series lands with today’s kids remains to be seen, but audiences watching this new take will notice one big difference from 1981 to today. As Clement notes, “The view of history has changed quite a lot since they first made the movie. People know more about [history] from, you know, studying digs to doing DNA tests on the bones. They know more than they did. And we’ve got more time to tell it, so we can go to more places…”

Concludes Clement: “We have to make something newer.”

Time Bandits premieres Wednesday, July 24th on Apple TV+ . Check out the trailer below.

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement Say Monty Python “Helped Create” Their New Time Bandits
Liz Shannon Miller