Connie's Warwick Davis Fanpage and Leprechaun Center

New York Post Online: Ewok on the Wild Side for Dwarf Davis

Ewok on the Wild Side for Dwarf Davis

This article by Bill Hoffman appeared on the New York Post Online on April 13, 1999.
 

For such a small guy, "Star Wars" actor Warwick Davis has had more than his share of big controversy. Davis, a 29-year-old dwarf, reprises his role as the Ewok character Wicket in "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace," which opens May 19.

But the British star, who's just over 4 feet tall, will always be best known for playing a murderous Irish fairy in the gory horror series "Leprechaun."

Davis was raked over the coals by Irish groups, who said the movie was an offensive slap at their heritage and culture.

It was instant notoriety for a man who settled into acting by pure accident.

In 1981, Davis' grandmother heard a radio ad looking for people under 4 feet tall to appear in a new Star Wars film, "Return of the Jedi."

Warwick, 11 years old at the time and just 2'11", applied and was immediately cast as the Ewok creature Wicket, who became one of the series' most popular minor characters.

"I based Wicket's inquisitive nature and movements on my pet dog," Davis told an interviewer.

In 1984 and 1985, Lucas made two Ewok movies for TV, "Caravan of Courage" and "Battle for Endor," in which Davis again appeared as Wicket.

That led to parts in the fantasy film "Labyrinth," starring David Bowie, and the title role in Ron Howard's "Willow."

But Davis' career got its biggest boost in 1991, when he was cast in his first-ever bad-guy role in "Leprechaun," which co-starred Jennifer Aniston.

"It is every actor's dream to play an evil character, a part to really get your thespian teeth into," Davis said.

The part required Davis to go through three hours of makeup every day for a month.

The ethnic controversy only drew attention to the film, and the low-budget shocker wound up raking in an impressive $9 million. Over the next six years, Davis did three sequels.

He has now started his own casting agency, Willow Management, for actors under 5 feet tall.

"People start off in fairly small parts, if you'll pardon the pun," Davis told Empire magazine.

Connie's Comments

Although it's weird enough to be true, as a whole the article is so unreliable there's good reason to doubt this claim. The author did not talk to Warwick (all the quotes are from existing sources), and the article appears to be the result of a sloppy web search. It contains numerous factual errors, such as:

  • Warwick will play Wicket in "The Phantom Menace". Really now, this rumor was discounted about a year before the article was written. It's also untrue that he was immediately cast as Wicket in Return of the Jedi. He started out as an extra and was promoted to the Wicket role.

  • Warwick is just over 4 feet tall. If he stands on an orange crate, maybe. All the reliable sources say he's 3'6", and a visual check says that's about right.

  • The article does a poor job of describing the timing of the Leprechaun series.

  • Although Willow Personal Management was started around 1993, this 1999 article makes it sound like a recent development. Interestingly, it appears that this information was obtained from an article posted on Ficky's Leprechaun Page

And speaking of political correctness...is the New York Post acquainted with the term "little person"?

In May 2002, I got an email from Lep fan Luke Bannon, who said: "From what I have seen and read, there is no issue over the Leprechaun being non PC. In fact, I'm Irish and I find the films hilarious, and most people I know find the premise too ridiculous to be taken seriously. In fact one channel to promote Leprechaun in the Hood played the first 3 films back to back."

Still, it's possible this might be a local issue somewhere among a small group of hypersensitive people. If you've heard about the Leprechaun being involved in a political correctness controversy, please let me know.