Terry Gilliam Thinks a 12 Monkeys TV Series is “Dumb”

Recently SyFy announced that it was putting together a pilot episode for a potential series based around the trippy time travel movie “12 Monkeys.”  Fan reaction to the news was mixed, at best.

However, possibly the person most distressed by the news is the film’s director Terry  Gilliam who proclaimed that the whole thing was a “very dumb idea.” Not a glowing endorsement there.

Part of that sentiment probably comes from the fact that SyFy did not involve Gilliam or his writers in the creation of the project.  In an interview with ScreenDaily he shared what he knew about the upcoming pilot:

I know nothing about that. That’s just ridiculous. It doesn’t have anything to do with me and no-one has contacted me.

When asked what he thought of his film coming to the small screen, Gilliam had this to say:

It’s a very dumb idea. That’s what I think. If it was going to be any good it would have to be written by David and Janet Peoples, who wrote the film, otherwise it would just be another version of Time Bandits.

It’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, SyFy responds to Gilliams statements.  If this opens the doors for Gilliam or the original writers to become involved, then great, but I have a feeling that even if SyFy approached them at this point there wouldn’t be much interest in helping.

Ultimately, if SyFy can produce a good and interesting pilot, then no one will care about any of this drama and backlash that’s happening right now.  However, they certainly face an uphill battle in winning over fan support and I’m not sure what it’ll take to help them turn the tide of animosity.