Ron Seifried | On 29, Jul 2014

There have been several varieties on how a franchise can move survive and become relevant for newer generations. One particular method is the reimagining of a feature film into a short episodic run on television. Most recently, series such as Fargo, Hannibal and The Bates Motel have generated positive buzz for audiences not familiar with its predecessor but delivering fresh story lines and introducing classic originals to younger generations,

The latest endeavor will be taken up by the SyFy network with their 13-episode order of an adaptation of 12 Monkeys, the 1995 starring Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe and Christopher Plummer. The series is set to premiere in January 2015 with Emily Hampshire (Cosmopolis) taking up the Pitt role, Aaron Stanford in the Willis part of the time traveler, and Tom Noonan (Hell on Wheels) as the head of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys.

The original 1995 film was directed by Terry Gilliam and was middle part of his dystopian satire trilogy that began with Brazil (1985) and concluded with The Zero Theorem (2013). Inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetée, the Gilliam picture landed Pitt with a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Jeffery Goines, the founder of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. The critically acclaimed film made over four times its original $29.5 budget.

The plot centers around a time traveler (Willis in the ’95 film) from a post-apocalyptic future who is sent back to the present to destroy the source ofa plague that is about to wipe out a significant number of the Earth’s citizens. The time traveler (Willis/Stanford) meets a fast-talking, fanatical, conspiracy-filled animal rights activist (Pitt/Hampshire) who is suspected as the source of the virus from the Army of the Twelve Monkeys.

One interesting take is the switching of genders of Hamphire replacing the crazed Pitt, in an early role that the sex symbol successfully transitioned into respected actor.

The 1995 film was produced by Robert Kosberg who convinced Chris Marker to pitch the project to Universal Pictures as a science fiction film. After much convincing, the studio purchased the remake rights and hired David and Janet Peoples to write the script. Gilliam was selected by producer Charles Roven because the director’s style fit the nonlinear storytelling aspect and complicated time travel subplot, themes the former Monty Python animator explored in Time Bandits and Brazil. Since his planned adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities was cancelled, Gilliam signed on.

This was only the second film Gilliam did not have a hand in writing; he loved the Peoples script, saying at the time ‘the story is disconcerting. It deals with time, madness and a perception of what the world is or isn’t. It is a study of madness and dreams, of death and re-birth, set in a world coming apart.”

Universal’s Waterworld was running into major budget headaches, giving them cold feet to commence on another sci-fi movie with dystopian themes, despite having both Willis and Pitt attached. Gilliam persuaded Willis to drop his fee and surprisingly the director was given final cut despite his previous multi-cut experience of Brazil for Universal.

Gilliam’s film was also filled with references to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), another psychological thriller but minus the time traveling sci-fi hook. From Stowe’s character donning a blond wig just like Kim Novak in Vertigo during a Hitchcock film marathon to elements of the Bernard Herrmann’s score sprinkled throughout, Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys homage to Hitch is brief glimpse into one of his inspiration.

A beautiful and dangerous mental patient in a time traveling adventure is without Gilliam’s involvement. The director has called this adaptation as “ridiculous” and “dumb.” “It doesn’t have anything to do with me and no-one has contacted me,” says Gilliam.

Then again, this is the same network that is responsible for the Sharknado franchise, so the bar is a bit low.