An Interview with Kal-El Tuck & Rune Temte from ‘Time Bandits’

Kal-El Tuck and Rune Temte as Kevin Haddock and Bittelig in Season 1 of ‘Time Bandits’. (Photo Courtesy of Apple.)

There are a great many reasons that fans tuned into season one of Time Bandits on Apple TV+. For some, it’s the story and the chance to see history through a big budget reimaging of a classic. For others, it’s about seeing what Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement did with Terry Gilliam’s amazing story. But regardless of which reason you tuned in, we can all agree that the cast ended up being a big reason we enjoyed this show, since every actor turned in amazing work to sell this wild adventure. And to properly celebrate the work they’ve done, we sat down with Kal-El Tuck, and Rune Temte, who play Kevin Haddock and Bittelig on the show, to discuss their journey through time.
 
John Betancourt: I would love to start today off by getting to know, what it was that attracted you to these just dynamic characters that you play.
 
Rune Temte: Oh wow. Kal, what can we say? We were given a lot of confidence and a lot of freedom, weren't we?
 
Kal-El Tuck: Yeah, there was a lot of improvisation in many of our characters and different places. It was a very fun, very fun to play with our characters and just see how they would act without having to stick to the script sometimes.
 
Rune Temte: But I have to say Kal, we always so impressed when you came on set, and the amount of text you are handling, and you were handling, it was amazing. And then started to improvise, as well, as we went bananas. Of course, you got to know us after 20 seconds, and you know that this was going to be a bit crazy. But I'm really amazed, because it's not easy when you come in with so much concrete, great text, and then we start to do all the banter so well done, you.
 
John Betancourt: Wow. Well, that’s incredible because you cannot tell there was improvisation on the set, because everything feels so natural and your characters have such depth. So, I'm curious too, then to kind of know as actors, how did you find kind of that purity and that essence of your characters?
 
Rune Temte: Yeah, man, I have to say that, of course, it's a lot of improvisation. But on the other hand, as you see the series now, it's very well written, of course, and scripted with all the jokes from Iain (Morris) and Taika (Waititi) and Jemaine (Clement). And it is also following very much what we had on paper. But of course, sometimes we had the improvisation and maybe all the banter, what was going on, that is not actually in the series for different reasons. If not, I think Kal-el will agree. It will be one hour and 15 minutes each episode, right? But so, it's maybe that awesome atmosphere between us, and that's something that I'm very happy, that comes across as you say, there's something there, but of course, there's some skills you have to have, to do that kind of work, and to be dynamic and relaxed in the situation you have, of course, Lisa leads the whole gang, even though she's not the leader. (Laughter from everyone.)
 
John Betancourt: No, not the leader.
 
Rune Temte But it's, it's such a pleasure working with her, and I think Kal-El will agree that it was such an inspiration. And we watched her and she, she invited us all into her way of working, and she is very much organic and very much down to earth with how she deals with the text and the character. So that was a great thing for us.
 
Kal-El Tuck: Yeah, I would say just by going through the series and just seeing how he would act through different crazy situations and really show how the character acts. It's built up like at first you see that no one really likes him, but it's because he knows too much and people get annoyed with him, but he goes through the series and makes friends and meets new people and has a good time.
 
Rune Temte: John, could I just add? Because Kal just reminded me of, Bittelig, how I approached this character. Because for me, he's like he's a child in a good sense of the word. So, whenever he's confronted with something, it's with an open mind and open heart and “what is going on.” And from this, I think a lot of the character was created. That was my aim, to be as open as possible, as relaxed as possible. Um, actually, because I was born with two ears and one mouth, as most of us are, I want to listen more than I was talking. Maybe Kal-El will disagree, because I was talking a lot as well, but, but, you know, that was the approach. And I think as Kal says, as we were doing more, meeting more people, meeting more situations and time traveling. That's sort of how it developed.
 
John Betancourt: Now the original film is iconic in nature, and I’m curious was there any pressure for either of you, when it came to becoming a part of this franchise?
 
Rune Temte: Yeah, first of all, I'm happy that you say franchise, because that's means we're probably going again. So, thank you. That's a good thing to put out there. No, it's a franchise, obviously, very excited, very humbled to be sort of entering this world that was inspired by and so much influenced by an iconic movie, by an iconic director and an iconic group of people called Monty Pythos. So, no pressure. (Laughter)
 
Kal-El Tuck: Well, of course, there's got to be some. Like everyone there has been in so many things, so many good things. The actors are some of the best actors, best directors, but the franchise itself, it was exciting because who, who wouldn't want to go through time with a bunch of bandits and just have some fun?
 
John Betancourt: Now I love how this show has so much to it. It’s part history lesson, part adventure. It also has a lot of heart and depth, and I’m curious if there’s a deeper message you hope the audience takes away, what would that be?
 
Kal-El Tuck: One is, you're worth more than your level. You're probably better than you think you just keep yourself down too much, you can be better.
 
Rune Temte: Yeah, I totally agree, and because it's such a big heart in every scene in the whole series. I think this is what I want to take away, is that it's so much love in it, and it's coming across and the timing is perfect in our day and age. So that's great. And of course, it's a lot of humor, and the message also is to use your imagination, follow all of your innermost, if not dreams, at least your interests. I think that's a good thing. And, yeah, I think that's the main thing for me. It's so much love in this show… that's my thing.
 
John Betancourt: The last question that I have for you gentlemen today, what are you most proud of when it comes to your work in season one?
 
Rune Temte: Oh, my God, that's an interesting question. Oh, my God, I've been an actor for 32 years now, and it's very hard to say what I'm proud of, but I'm proud of… given from what I've seen from the episodes that I managed to, give Bittelig, different layers and different reactions to nearly everything that happens. He's not one thing. He can be so many things. And I think this is, in a way, the approaching a character like this. He doesn't die, he travels to time… “What is this?” So, in a way, he’s timeless and that's also why I try to do all the variations to go in and take in what was happening. So, I'm very proud of myself, and I'm very proud that I worked with these lovely people on this level, so many great actors coming in, Kal-El and crew. And I'm so proud that I could work on this level and I'm really proud of the result we got. It's a great result.
 
Kal-El Tuck: I'm proud that I could work with these actors. I could be on the same scene as them and work with them and improv with them and just be there, basically just doing the TV show.
 
Rune Temte: Big star, Kal-El. Fantastic job.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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