‘Time Bandits’ Boss Talks Introducing a ‘Lost Classic’ to a New Audience and Addresses Charlyne Yi’s Allegations
variety.comAlex Ritman To a generation of Brits, Iain Morris may forever be known as half of the duo that created “The Inbetweeners,” the wildly rude sitcom about a group of mostly unpopular teenage boys that ran from 2008-2010 and was followed by two hugely successful films.
But the multi-talented creative has been prolifically busy since then, reuniting some of the “The Inbetweeners” lead cast for BBC comedy series “White Gold,” creating another BBC comedy “First Team,” working on FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows,” helping write Taika Waititi’s soccer comedy “Next Goal Wins” and recently being tapped to direct Netflix rom-com feature “My Oxford Year.” For the last few years, he’s also been hard at work on “Time Bandits,” Apple TV+‘s small-screen reimagining of Terry Gilliam’s cult 1981 fantasy comedy about a young boy taken on an adventure through time with a band of thieves (mostly played by actors with dwarfism).
The original featured an all-star cast including Sean Connery (who famously agreed to appear after meeting producer Denis O’Brien on a golf course), plus Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Peter Vaughan and Gilliam’s “Monty Python” collaborators John Cleese and Michael Palin.
It ended up becoming one of the biggest hits for ex-Beatle George Harrison’s HandMade Films, opening at No. 1 in the U.S. and making more than $40 million off a budget of $5 million.
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