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Cambridge News: Short Story |
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His list of film credits should make him the envy of many an A-grade celebrity. But diminutive actor Warwick Davis is hardly recognisable in most of his roles due to the elaborate costumes and make-up he wears. Busy filming the second Harry Potter film, Jo Kowalski caught up with the Cambridgeshire actor to talk ewoks, goblins and panto dwarfs.
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It is hard not to talk about Warwick Davis without commenting on his height within your first breath.
His small size may have led to big success but there is more to the 32-year-old actor than his mere 3ft 6ins.
When I meet up with him he has just spent the morning chatting to local school children about his film career and, while Harry Potter may be his latest project, it is still his first role in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi that thrills him the most.
It is not every day an 11-year-old boy walks into a part in one of the biggest movies of all time without even having to audition, but Warwick did just that.
In 1981 his grandmother heard a radio commercial looking for short people to be in the new Return of the Jedi film. The studio took one look at him and immediately sent him to be measured for an ewok costume.
Before he knew it he was lining up alongside Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in his cuddly brown Wicket outfit helping to save the universe from Darth Vader.
He says: "I was a big Star Wars fan anyway and went to see it when I was seven, queuing for two hours, missing that showing and having to wait for the next. But then to be involved in it; I still get a thrill thinking about it now."
As a child actor, being in such a smash-hit film could have been the pinnacle of a career that could so easily have slid to bit parts and breakfast cereal commercials.
But since his lucky break he has starred in 20 films including Willow, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
The key to his success, he believes, was taking the profession seriously.
"More often than not I am obscured by a mask or make-up in my films but you still have to project the character and emotion through all that," he explains.
"Being short has been an advantage for me in my career. That's how I got into it, I was the right height for the part. But it is a mistake to rely on the one thing that got you in the door. I found I really enjoyed it so I went to acting schools and studied it as a craft."
That dedication led him to land the lead in George Lucas' fantasy movie Willow alongside Val Kilmer, playing a member of a race of small people who goes on to save the world of men.
"It was an unusual role for a short actor who doesn't often play heroic leads and it was a real privilege to be chosen to play that part," he recalls. "And it was nice not to be behind a mask and make-up; it was just a wig.
"I had to learn all sorts of skills from horse-riding I was terrified of horses but had to overcome it to sword-fighting, illusionist magic and how to hold a baby properly.
"I was only 17 at the time and it was awful having to learn parenting skills for two weeks."
Years later that dedication again put him in an enviable position: Lining up alongside the big names in British acting like Dame Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane to appear in the hugely anticipated first Harry Potter film.
And through it Warwick, who lives near Peterborough, became a big fan of JK Rowling's creation.
He tells me: "I think Harry Potter is a wonderful thing, it gets people reading for a start, it got me reading. I read Harry Potter just before my audition to get an idea of the story and loved it. I've read all the other books since and we're filming the second one now which is really exciting."
But like many of his other roles, you'd be hard pressed to recognise him behind all the make-up that went into turning him into Professor Flitwick and the goblin banker at Gringotts.
"I think the goblin would have been a nightmare of a bank manager," he laughs. "I had to spend four hours in make-up for him. On top of the prosthetic make-up, I had to have these extremely large contact lenses and dentures. It was very uncomfortable and difficult to talk.
"It was total immersion. I would look in the mirror and there would be nothing of me in the reflection. It was very unsettling. So much of people are in their eyes so to take that away is quite strange. At least with Professor Flitwick I could always see my eyes."
Filming is under way on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but Warwick has been sworn to secrecy about what has been happening on set.
"Film-makers, they love to have their secrets, but I think it's lovely to go to a film not knowing all the secrets."
So instead of talking movies I ask him if he has ever done any theatre work.
"I've been in panto, guess which one," he says with a twinkle in his eyes. Of course it is Snow White.
His self-deprecating manner reveals a person completely at ease with his stature and we turn to the subject of life as a short person.
"It's funny being small. You have to have a sense of humour about it and the situations you find yourself in such as automatic doors that don't open when you walk up to them because of where the sensors are placed.
"I could be really grumpy about it but I find it really amusing. I have always been comfortable about my height. My parents were both tall but were very positive about me.
"I went to a regular school and didn't receive any special treatment other than getting a cushion on my chair and a lower peg in the cloakroom. I basically had to get on with it.
"My daughter Annabelle, five, is also small for her age and I am trying to bring her up with a similar philosophy.
"I'm not one of those people that campaigns for equality but it is nice if the more work I do makes people think about casting a short actor."
And are there any other roles he would still like to be cast in?
"Traditionally I have been cast in science fiction and fantasy genre films which I'm happy with, I'm working, but if there is a role out there where I don't have to wear make-up and masks then that would be great too."
So watch this space,
in the future you might be seeing a lot more of the real Warwick Davis on your screens.
