‘Time Bandits’: Terry Gilliam Reflects On The Evolution Of Family & Fantasy Films Ahead Of Criterion 4K Release [Interview]

As much as anything, too, it’s practical because you’re able to film them at the same eyeline. There’s not an element of Kevin looking up to someone bigger than him.
We’ll see what it is. I don’t have any idea what it will be like, but that’s my concern at the moment. Jack Purvis, who plays Wally in our version, his granddaughter was on TikTok, and she had done a video. She, too, is a dwarf and said this is so wrong. After “Time Bandits” came out, I was kind of the patron saint of dwarves because I let them be real actors and real people! And she was very upset about what she heard that there weren’t going to be any small people in the show. It was a very touching video because, suddenly, they were being pushed back into the world of being these strange little creatures wearing funny costumes. And I hated that.

I’ve seen some reports that you’ve visited the set and stormed off. Is that true?
No, that’s a complete lie! I don’t know where that came from. I’m very disconnected from the whole thing.

What was your involvement in what was originally going to be a Hallmark Channel series of “Time Bandits” in the late ’90s?
Charles McKeown, who co-wrote “Baron Munchausen” with me, we [wrote] a couple. It was interesting because I wanted to use as many of the original guys in it, but they had all gotten older. We kept them there as a bunch of old guys who sat around the place telling stories about their golden years, and it was their daughters who took over! Because Jack Purvis’ daughter was also small, we could get enough other small ladies to play. Suddenly, it was going to be the girl “Time Bandits,” with the old ones hanging around to be useful, but we needed them.

And the network pulled the plug, somehow related to 9/11?
It was Hallmark who we were doing it for, and after 9/11, they decided entertainment was not what the world needed. Which is exactly the opposite of what should have been. Come on! Entertainment was what you need after a disaster like that to lift people’s spirits.

Is there some element of unfinished business with “Time Bandits?” Could an expansion of the feature give audiences a chance to see some of the things that you couldn’t film yourself?
They all linger somewhere, but I don’t want to do anything to the film because I think it’s wonderful. I don’t think I can improve it. There may be the odd idea that didn’t get dealt with that I will steal for later. I’m not sure. If it happens, it’ll happen.

Do you think there’s hope that any of your other projects stifled by the pandemic or other forces, like “Defective Detective” or “Lunatic at Large,” might come back?
I don’t know what to do, “Defective Detective” is the film I really would like to make. But the script lies in the bowels of Paramount Pictures, and I don’t know how to get it out. We’ve been trying to, but we’ve not succeeded. It’s that weird situation where a script’s there, and they’re not going to make it, but they don’t want to let it go just in case somebody makes it and is successful. I don’t know how that’ll go. I’ve written a new thing with a new co-writer called “The Carnival at the End of Days.” It’s about the end of the world, folks!

At one point, you had a script about the failures of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Is that idea being swept up into this?
The Four Horsemen are in “The Carnival at the End of Days!” But no, it’s a simple little tale about the world we live in and God deciding to wipe out humanity because we destroyed his beautiful garden. It’s a comedy! And there’s one person trying to stop this from happening, and it turns out to be Satan. Because without human beings, he’s out of a job. And he’s eternal, and to be stuck in eternity knowing you’re out of a job is pretty bad.

There seem to be some echoes of “Time Bandits,” to some extent, with the role of the Supreme Being.
Oh, yes, the Supreme Being is always lurking in the background of everything I’ve tried to do in one form or another. He takes many different forms. He’s not always recognizable, but he’s there.

I know “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” finally got made and briefly released, but the saga continued after. Are all the lawsuits around that film done? Is that journey over now?
Well, the case was finally thrown out by the French courts; they’d had enough of it. [laughs] So yes, it’s done. The damage has been done, and that won’t be able to be fixed. Perhaps, somehow when the film is done in 4k and re-released on DVD, it’ll find the audience that wasn’t there because it was the worst distribution experience I’ve ever been involved in. The film was not seen. It wasn’t out there. That was a result of the previous producer, who had nothing to do with the film we made, frightening away all good distributors. That’s just the way it works. The irony was that, when it came to the Oscars, the two leading actors, Adam Driver, and Jonathan Price, were both nominated for Best Actor. But it wasn’t for our film!

Do you feel some sort of void without that movie lingering in your life?
No, I’m glad it’s out of the way! Far too much of my life was spent thinking about it. It’s done. I do feel we made a really good film. A terrific film. I’ve talked to enough people who’ve seen it that don’t disagree with me. It was only the quantity of people that saw it, not the quality.

I made it out for the one-night-only screening in the U.S. because I thought it might be the only chance I’d ever get to see it.
And you were right! I mean, what a joke. You do a one night only, and I think it was a Wednesday night. There was no publicity out there! I think most of the publicity was on my Facebook page. Oh, god, that’s the painful thing. But that is the price of getting involved with Quixote. The real Quixote in the book is all about failure. He’s got this great dream of chivalry and nobility. He tries to live and see the world through that prism, and, of course, he’s always wrong and ends up falling on his face again, crashing and burning. Once you mess with Quixote, get ready to BE Quixote.