The George Lucas/Ron Howard fantasy epic Willow recently released on Blu-ray, celebrating the film's 25th anniversary. We had spoken to the star of the film, Warwick Davis, a year prior and mentioned the possible release as a fond wish for the future. Now it's a happy reality and we caught up with Davis again to discuss working making the fantasy epic, and his special contribution to the Blu-ray release.
IGN: When did you first hear about Willow and get involved with the project?
Warwick Davis: The very first time I heard about it—I didn't know it was Willow at that point—was when George Lucas said to my mum in 1984, "I've got a project I'm going to want Warwick to do when he's a bit older. It's something that would be really great for him." So that was three years before he actually mentioned it to me and started the pre-production process for the actual film. That was the first time I heard.
The second time I heard was basically being called up to London to meet with Ron and George to have a chat about the film and see what I thought of it, and to let me know that I was then going to have to undergo a rigorous audition process to prove that I was, indeed, the best man for the job. I had George in my corner, but Ron being the director had the prerogative to cast and to check that I was the best actor for the role. So that process then started from there.
IGN: What was that process like?
Davis: I had to go to auditions against other short actors and that actually culminated with me going to Los Angeles and auditioning, and throughout the day other actors would come in to read the role of Madmartigan. Amongst them were people like John Cusack, Matt Frewer… do you remember that actor?
IGN: Yeah, Max Headroom!
Davis: Yeah, that's what I thought. When he walked in I was like, "Wow, that's Max Headroom," because I was a fan of that at the time. Anyway, Val was the last person to come in that day, and he was all suntanned. He was actually sunburned because he had driven to the audition in an open-topped car and so he looked all red and a bit disheveled, really. And he sort of wandered in and did his thing, and there was a chemistry between us that I certainly hadn't felt between me and the other actors who had come in. George and Ron recognized this, and once Val had auditioned, they said, "Warwick, you will be playing Willow," and I don't even think they told Val that day. I think they just told me. As well as trying to find the chemistry, they were also testing my endurance to see if I could spend the whole day doing the scene over and over.
IGN: What's the thing that sticks out most to you about being on that set? What is the thing you fondly look back on?
Davis: My overriding memories are the people, and that's something you find on any film you do. It's about the people that you work with, and certainly for me, it was Ron Howard and the way that he directed me and the way he taught me, it was an inspiration. That's the reason I was able to give the performance that I did, because he taught me. Having been an actor himself, he knows what a director needs to give an actor because he's experienced it firsthand, and so yeah, he was fantastic.
Val, he was just a brilliant guy to be around. He was funny, quirky, eccentric, but just kept me from not feeling the pressure of the whole thing too much. He never let me take it too seriously. So he was fantastic. George was always really supportive, and the crew… just everybody was great. We had a great time making the film. It was a huge effort physically and mentally. Doing the film really takes it out of you but it was the support of everyone that got me through it. And I still run into all of those people now and the crew that I worked with back then will pop up on a film that I'm doing and we'll reminisce a little bit about that.
IGN: It feels like Willow was the last really big fantasy epic before Lord of the Rings happened. Why do you think it’s the time for fantasy again now?
Davis: I think it's generational. You have a lot of movies together… The Eighties were a good time, and then in the Nineties, I don't think we saw so many. It comes in waves, if you look back, the types of films that are popular. I'd like to think that with Harry Potter and what have you that that sort of wave is kicking in again.
I think it all depends as well on the state of the world at that point. You know, people don't always want to go into the movie theaters and be reminded of what's going on in the world. They can watch the news to see all of the terrible things that happen and the violence; they don't necessarily want to sit in a movie theater and watch that, so sometimes going and seeing a fantasy film is a way of escaping. You go through those doors and you could be transported to anywhere. And for a time you just forget your troubles. You're not reminded of them at all because you're somewhere else, be it sci-fi or fantasy. Both of those genres can deliver that form of escapism, which I think more and more in today's pressured world, people look for.
I certainly think that when I go see a film, I look at the selection and I'll always pick either something in the fantasy realm or something in the comedy realm because that's kind of what you want to do: go in to be entertained or escape.
IGN: How much participation did you have in the Blu-ray itself?
Davis: Quite a bit. I'd known about it for such a long time now. It's awful. I felt like I worked for the Secret Service because I know so many things that I'm not allowed to talk about. So yeah, I'd heard about this about a year ago, initially. I went to Skywalker Ranch last year and was chatting with Ben Burtt who was going through the sound stems and doing some work on that. He was saying that the sound systems people have at home now are actually better than the ones in the movie theaters when the film came out. So he has to do work to make sure that it lives up to the standards of the people's home equipment nowadays, which I thought was incredible. But it's lovely that people are getting their hands on the film to make sure it can be shown at its very, very best and obviously now having an HD version is terrific as well.
I'm very pleased to say that as part of the extra features, my own personal video diaries are going to be on it. I had a video camera with me the whole time we were filming Willow. It was a bit of a hobby of mine, actually at the time. After Jedi, I bought a video camera and started making short films and so when we came to shoot Willow, I would literally have the camera with me all the time. I'd film anybody and anything that would let me. And I never knew what to do with this stuff. It was in a box for years, just in my attic, and I hadn't even watched them. When I heard about this I thought it might be quite nice to be able to share this, so I spoke to Lucasfilm and said, "I've got these tapes. Do you want to have a look?" and of course, to them, it was like a treasure trove, and they put a nice little piece together. So I'm really excited to be able to share that because it is unique—first time it's ever been seen—so that's exciting!
Source : ign[dot]com
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