Now that he’s finally finished “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” Terry Gilliam is on to his next project — and it won’t be a movie. Deadline reports that Apple has acquired the rights to adapt Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” for the small screen, with the filmmaker attached to the series as a non-writing executive producer. The show will be a co-production of Anonymous Content, Paramount Television, and Media Rights Capital.
Released in 1981, “Time Bandits” is the first film in what Gilliam refers to as his “Trilogy of Imagination”; it was followed by 1985’s “Brazil” and 1988’s “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.” Craig Warnock stars as an 11-year-old boy who joins a group of time-traveling dwarves on a quest for treasure, with Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, and John Cleese co-starring. The film was well received by critics and earned more than $42 million at the box office against a budget of just $5 million.
“Time Bandits” isn’t Apple’s only series in production: “Little Voice,” a musical dramedy from J.J. Abrams, is also in the works, as are “Amazing Stories,” “See,” and “Central Park.” No word yet on casting or a premiere date for “Time Bandits.”
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