LA STORY...

Costume designer James Acheson started his professional life at the BBC in the 70s, working on eight episodes of Doctor Who. His first movie was Terry Gilliam's madcap Time Bandits in 1981, where he had the dubious privilege of dressing John Cleese as Robin Hood. He worked with the rest of the Monty Python crew on The Meaning Of Life in 1983; reteamed with Gilliam again for the classic Brazil (1985); and kitted Christopher Lambert out in a kilt for Highlander (1986). He also got to costume a cast of thousands in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), while the costumes were a little more elegant for Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

There were further collaborations with Bertolucci in the 90s (The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha) and a couple of 19th century yarns (Wuthering Heights, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). His richest seam arrived courtesy of director Sam Raimi, who hired him for the Spider-Man franchise. Acheson is currently at work on the costumes for Spider-Man 3. Who better to answer this question posed in Time Bandits: "Heroes! Heroes! What do they know about a day's work?"

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James Acheson Biography
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