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Fangoria: Some Small Changes for Leprechaun 3

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Table of Contents description: 'CHAUN JOB Las Vegas gets a little nasty when the green ghoul shows up to play in "Leprechaun 3."

Yes, another one - but they're gambling on a Las Vegas setting and a comic approach to make it work.

The fates have been cruel to Ireland's diminuitive demon, the vicious prankster who's been raising hell in the Leprechaun series. The first entry ended with the little monster dissolving after a young boy fired a four-leaf clover down his throat with a slingshot. He recovered for Leprechaun 2, only to blow apart after being skewered with an iron rod. And that's nothing compared with the critical assaults the wee one has weathered.

But now the lucky charmer has returned to protect his pot of gold by any bloody means necessary. A visit to the Leprechaun 3 location at LA's Ambassador Hotel reveals the evil elf once again operating at full throttle. The mean green one is chainsawing a magician in half, with geysers of blood spurting all over the Copacabana Room stage.

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith's cry of "Cut!" almost takes on a new meaning, but Leprechaun performer Warwick Davis releases his chainsaw, the FX crew moves to adjust the hoses designed to squirt "blood" and John DeMita, the actor portraying the hapless magician, tries to relax in his besieged cabinet. Trenchard-Smith, who brought a welcome sense of black humor to last year's Night of the Demons 2, takes the opportunity to discuss his similar take on the Leprechaun series, an approach that will hopefully pump fresh blood into the much-maligned franchise.

"I made Night of the Demons 2 for the same company [Blue Rider Pictures]," he explains, "and I thought it would be fun to do a Leprechaun and include plenty of jokes. I do like to put a vein of comedy in all my films, and this one seems to have a rather strong vein."

Trenchard-Smith also saw fit to include more embellishments in the new sequel, which Trimark will probably send direct to video any minute. This time, the Leprechaun has the unintended ability to infect his human quarry with a bite and, in a variation on vampire tradition, turn them into his own children of the night. "His green blood accidentally imbues the hero with leprechaunism," the director reveals. "Our hero undergoes a painful and embarassing transformation into a leprechaun in the film's second half. This results in his spontaneously spouting limericks, having a great taste for potatoes and growing hair in unusual places. He also undergoes certain facial changes that are beyond cosmetic surgery. He develops an Irish demeanor at the same time, becoming a little greedy about this pot of gold coins."

As Trenchard-Smith explains, Leprechaun 3 (scripted by David Dubos) finds the tiny fiend rising from his apparent demise in part 2 and coming to Las Vegas to wreak his frolicsome brand of havoc. True to form, the Leprechaun continues to hoard his gold, but several characters - including that truncated magician - appropriate the magic coins and each gets one wish.

Their heart's desires, however, always seem to backfire. The magician's assistant (Caroline Williams from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) is one conspicuous example as she requests the drop-dead beauty that has eluded her all her life. The Leprechaun slyly goes overboard with the poor girl's enhanced bustline, buttocks and lips, and these cosmetic alterations reach an explosive extreme as the luckless lass goes out in a spray of splatter.

Williams' swelled flesh and explosive demise were rendered by makeup wizard Gabe Bartalos, returning from the previous Leprechauns. "I had to wear all the gear leading up to that," the actress recalls. "They used a dummy for the actual explosion, but I had two or three stages of appliances to exaggerate my looks. The first augmented my own natural gifts to a minimal degree. then they were inflated for the second stage, with my boobs, butt and lips undergoing a few changes. The final stage was a latex bustline, a rear end the size of a tractor tire and a pair of lips that made me look like Daisy Duck. I wheel around in revulsion at my hideous appearance, and then I get wedged in a doorway where I explode."

Williams is obviously used to going to extremes for the genre, but she tends to favor parts that have more to offer than just an elaborate death scene. Her role in Chainsaw 2 as Stretch, the resilient disc jockey fated for a showdown with Leatherface, is one example of the tough cookies she prefers. Her part in Stepfather II also involved a face-off with a maniac getting a bit more than he bargained for.

"I was the best friend of the female lead," Williams recalls of that film. "And, although I was murdered, I got to have a wonderful confrontation scene with the stepfather, [played by] Terry O'Quinn. He ends up strangling me and stringing me up from the ceiling fan in my kitchen as my bunny slippers tremble and jerk."

Williams may perish in a similarly absurb manner in Leprechaun 3, but she appreciated the freedom she was granted to embellish her role, noting that she and co-star DeMita had sufficient slack to plan scenes out on their own and offer ideas that Trenchard-Smith often accepted. And DeMita, taking a break from being chainsawed, concurs. The actor - now in one piece - is reflecting on the collaborative nature of the shoot while recovering in a dressing room down a long, chilly hallway from the Copacabana Room, still clearly jazzed by his character's bloody exit.

"If an actor tells you that he hates doing death scenes, he's lying," DeMita laughs. "These are great fun. But I broke my finger while I was making this movie. The first thing I thought of was to put it back the way it's supposed to go. That's kind of the same with my being killed in the film. It's a rehearsal for your own death. You get to kick the bucket, but at the end you're still alive. I find that really exhilarating."

DeMita also gets a rush out of playing a juicy villain. The darkly handsome actor describes his magician character as "the Ed Wood of the magic world," a personality utterly lacking in conscience but possessed of drive, ego and a degree of charm. "I'm basically very ambitious and egotistical," DeMita says, "yet when I get what I deserve, it's actually very sad. My dying words are 'Caesar's Palace!' I tried to do it as tragically as possible, and let the comedy speak for itself. And there's that parable here: 'Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.' "

DeMita gets it all right, but he ponders his gory finish with good humor. He notes that he was thoroughly protected from the chainsaw by a steel plate; it was all the blood and shrieking that he could have done without. "It feels awfully sticky," DeMita laments. "I've never been around so much stage blood in my life. And screaming for four or five hours sort of wears your voice out."

But DeMita's a good sport - and he has to be in the presence of a waist-high monster given not only to wielding chainsaws but cooking up tacky limericks. Davis, the small wonder who's playing the Leprechaun for the third time, perches in Bartalos' makeup chair while obliging a visitor with one of the practical joker's many risque rhymes:

"There once was a spinster lass
Whose panties were made out of brass
When asked if they chafe
She said, "Yes, but I'm safe
From pinches and pins in the ass."

Enough said, although Davis claims to have quite a collection that ranges from bad to verse. Fortunately, he lays off the corn long enough to elaborate on the changes his little green gagster has undergone in this third installment. "Part 3 is going in a totally different direction," Davis claims in his British accent. "I like the interaction with the general public that occurs in this film. I'm noticed [by the crowd], but I'm looked at as a kind of hero, a spectacle while gambling.

"You'll also literally see the Leprechaun in a different light," he continues. "You view me up close this time, in a casino, in brightly lit scenes. You see me quite clearly, which is different from the other two pictures, in which I often stayed in the shadows. It's a good change. The audience knows the character by now, and it's good to really see him."

But, perhaps most importantly, Davis points out the concept of "leprechaunization," the process already explained by Trenchard-Smith, as one of the sequel's new hooks. Co-star John (Witchboard 2) Gatins, playing a college student passing through Las Vegas, is the unwilling recipient of Leprechaun proclivities, the malice, greed, cunning and greenish complexion all kicking in without any noticeable shrinking feeling. Indeed, Gatins remains full-sized as he sits for an interview, distractedly fingering his ghastly makeup job. The heavy, menacing brow and a chin almost pointed enough for impalement cannot conceal Gatins' sense of humor and enjoyment of his transformation.

"I'm like 'The American Leprechaun in Las Vegas,' " Gatins chuckles. "I turn into a leprechaun and have to fight my way back to normal. The evil Leprechaun bites me, then I stab him and the blood from his stab wound gets into the bite. It's a slow, agonizing process in which I go through these different stages of becoming a leprechaun.

"I wasn't sure I could pull it off, the transformation and the Irish accent, but I did a couple of speeches and the crew applauded," he continues. "And I don't mind the makeup. This is stage four, and it took two hours to apply. It's definitely helpful for getting into character." Getting back out, of course, may be a different story.

Both the cast and crew seem to be thoroughly enjoying the Leprechaun 3 shoot, yukking it up between takes of DeMita's demise. The tight, 16-day shooting schedule and low budget have not precluded a lighthearted but disciplined mood, a sense that this Leprechaun will continue and improve upon the series' traditions.

But will the little monster return for part 4 and another round of mirth, mayhem and lousy limericks? "I would like to continue as long as they come up with fresh and interesting ideas," Davis concludes. "We'll see what comes up next. I wouldn't want to do the same kind of thing over and over again. You see that with a lot of horror film franchises. We just want to break new ground."