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Essex Evening Echo: Don't Panic, Warwick's Here |
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The Echo meets Star Wars and Harry Potter veteran Warwick Davis as he joins the cast of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
IN BETWEEN battling Lord Voldemort, hitchhiking across the galaxy and starring in one of this year's biggest Oscar winners, Warwick Davis is a busy man.
However, neither the Dark Arts nor the Vogon Constructor Fleet could keep him from a visit to Basildon last weekend. The 3ft 6ins actor, who often visits the sci-fi collectors' fairs held in the town, has starred in some of the most successful movies ever.
He played the intrepid Ewok Wicket in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi, the lead role in fantasy classic Willow, and has brought Professor Flitwick to life in the Harry Potter movies.
His latest creation is Marvin the Paranoid Android, in a new big-screen version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The film, which opens across the UK in May, follows a screenplay developed by the late Douglas Adams, who originally created the Hitchhiker radio and TV series and their later novelisations.
Playing Marvin was a bizarre experience for Warwick, 35, who was once described as "the Tom Cruise of midget actors".
"It was a lot more than a performance," he explains.
"I'm providing the movements for a suit, so the character really has to come out through my body language.
"I had to sit down and think, `How do I express the fact that this character is chronically depressed?'
"It was a bit like being a puppeteer. If the emotion came from me, it would translate through the suit."
Warwick was unaware the new movie was to be made until he got a phone call from director Garth Jennings asking for a meeting. After being cast he had to read the books and listen to the radio series.
"Prior to that my only knowledge of Hitchhiker had come from the old BBC TV version," he says.
"I remember Zaphod's wobbly head very fondly."
Warwick was soon to tussle with a wobbly head of his own - that of Marvin.
"The suit weighed about four stone and the head was enormous, and I was in it for ten weeks, so it really was quite a load to bear," he laughs.
"When I first saw the design I didn't immediately compare it with the one from the TV series.
"I knew it had to be different and I thought it looked stunning.
"The great joke is that Marvin looks so cool - it would depress him how good he looks.
"He'd rather be a boring slab of mainframe computer stuck in a basement somewhere."
The film also stars Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office) as Arthur Dent, US rap artist Mos Def as Ford Prefect, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind star Sam Rockwell as Zaphod Beeblebrox.
John Malkovich stars as Humma Kavula, a new character created for the film by Douglas Adams. Marvin will be voiced by Alan Rickman.
Warwick says the experience of playing Marvin was a team effort.
"Three members of Jim Henson's Creature Shop created him and there were two people just putting me into the suit," he recalls.
"Then you've got Alan Rickman on top of it all, doing the voice."
Warwick says fans of the original versions won't be disappointed by the film.
"There have been changes, but Douglas made most of them," he explains.
"He knew he was doing a screenplay so he pretty much created the story again from scratch.
"He messes around with the characters and with the events.
"He did it between the radio series and the books and here he did it with the screenplay.
"You get the same dialogue but in completely different locations and with different contexts."
"Fans will have a great time recognising what has been moved."
"There are a few gags that will appeal to American audiences but it hasn't been Hollywoodised - the director is British and it's full of British humour. Ford Prefect still claims to come from Guildford.
"So if something has changed, fans shouldn't immediately think it's a Hollywood thing. It was probably Douglas who did it."
What of the classic scene in which heroes Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent board the Starship Heart of Gold, only to find themselves on Southend seafront?
"I don't know about that scene, but only because Marvin isn't in it," laughs Warwick.
"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be. Guildford's still in it, after all."
Now he has finished his hitchhike, Warwick is busy filming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film in the series based on JK Rowling's books.
"Flitwick is in it quite a bit this time," he says.
"I was there in the last film, the Prisoner of Azkaban, but not very much. This time there's a lot more going on with him. It's going to be fabulous."
Warwick also has a part in Ray, the biopic of singer Ray Charles which clinched an Oscar for lead actor Jamie Foxx.
Warwick plays Oberon, MC at the Rocking Chair Jazz Club in Seattle, who introduces Ray to the president of Swing Time Records.
"Oberon was a fictional character based on two short MCs who were working in jazz clubs at the time," says Warwick.
"I had a terrific time shooting the film in New Orleans, and came away with a real appreciation for Ray Charles's music.
"Jamie Foxx was truly mesmerising to watch and he thoroughly deserved the Oscar. He literally became Ray during filming."
Warwick also runs Willow Management, an agency which represents actors ranging in height from three feet to five feet.
It's a far cry from the day back in 1981 when Warwick's grandmother heard a radio broadcast inviting "short people" to audition for the next Star Wars film.
"Yep, it's all thanks to her," explains the actor, who was 12 at the time.
"I always tip the hat to her whenever I can. I wouldn't be here now doing any of this if it weren't for her."
In amongst his busy schedule, Warwick loves keeping in touch with his fans.
As well as attending public events, he also runs a website with news about his latest projects.
"The kind of films I'm in generate these kinds of fanbases and I like to have direct contact with them," he says.
"I think it's really important to be someone who isn't a stranger to them."
