Connie's Warwick Davis Fanpage and Leprechaun Center

Shivers: Shamrock Shock

Shamrock Shock

Article by Alan Jones, from Shivers issue #3 (October 1992)
 

Table of Contents description: How are things in Glocca Morra? Pretty scary according to Leprechaun.

Warwick Davis as the skateboarding elf.

What's missingfrom this list? Halloween, Friday the 13th, April Fool's Day, Don't Open Until Christmas, Prom Night, Bloody Birthday, Mother's Day, New Year's Evil and My Bloody Valentine. Yes, you've guessed it, 'St. Patrick's Day'. But now this late gap in the calendar date horror cycle has been filled by Trimark Pictures and director Mark Jones who makes his feature debut with Leprechaun starring Warwick Davis from Willow.

Few movies have focused on the leprechaun legend and Jones couldn't understand why that was five years ago when he first had the idea to expand the Irish myth beyond the merrily jigging, convivial prankster concept into a more malevolent and macabre arena. "We'd had every other holiday/celebration used as a horror backdrop. We'd also had elves, gnomes, gremlins and trolls. I got the idea to combine 'St. Patrick's Day' and the leprechaun myth from the American cereal 'Lucky Charms'. I'm amazed no one else did as there's usually a packet of the marshmallow snack on everyone's breakfast table".

A former writer/producer of the American Saturday morning cartoon shows 'Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles' and 'Scooby Doo', Jones also scripted episodes in 'The A-Team', 'Knightrider', and Superboy' TV series. He wrote Leprechaun to forge himself a new career outside television but his refusal to sell the screenplay outright unless attached to the project as director met with years of rejections. Jones recalled, "Everyone was enthusiastic about its potential but not of my ability to deliver what I said I would deliver - an unpretentious, wacky horror movie".
In search of the wicked Leprechaun.

That was until Trimark chairman Mark Amin figured the opportunity was too good to miss for his company, one usually reliant on a bedrock of sequels - Stepfather 3, Warlock II: The Armageddon and Philadelphia Experiment II - for guaranteed success more than original product. Jones remarked, ''Trimark hates first-time directors too but they reluctantly agreed to give me a chance after I argued long and hard that it was my vision, my concept and I was the only one who could pull off the cartoon horror approach I envisaged. We've had a love/hate relationship ever since".

Leprechaun mixes malicious humour, bizarre horror and whimsically gory retribution as it tells of one of the fabled wee people terrorising a North Dakota farm community when his precious pot of gold is stolen by a local inhabitant on holiday in the Emerald Isle. With the chant 'Try as they will, try as they might, who steals my gold will not live through the night', the venomous, greedy leprechaun pokes eyes out, maims with fingernails, severs hands and kills his victims with a pogo stick until his final meltdown. Only four leaf clovers hold power over the nasty creature in a movie designed to carry you from the height of hilarity to the depths of terror. Or as Jones wickedly described it, "Finian's Rainbow it ain't!"

Be Gory, Begorrah!
Wawick Davis heard about the movie from his agent and wanted to do it, much to Trimark and Jones' delighted surprise, because, "The fun side appealed to me and I don't want to be forever typecast in children's movies. The original script didn't contain much horror but the stuff Trimark added wasn't too graphic anyway". The Return of the Jedi star continued, "So many actors have said it, but it remains true, that it's always more challenging to play bad guys. I loved being able to re-define the leprechaun character and incorporate the traditional humour and mischief into a much more dangerous and terrifying creature. I didn't research Irish folklore or anything like that although I did watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People on video! Nor did I attempt a fluctuating Irish accent. Mark felt my own English one would sound foreign enough to Americans who probably wouldn't know the difference anyway".

Davis was kitted out in leprechaun prosthetics designed by Basket Case 2 & 3 special effects make-up man Gabe Bartalos. Davis explained the arduous 3-hour daily process; "Based on early discussions I had with Gabe, who insisted on my creative input, there were seven face pieces in all to allow proper movement: nose, chin, two cheeks, forehead and two ears. They were structured to go over my lips and into my mouth where my teeth were enameled to look rotten". In addition, three make-up stages were developed to correspond to the progressively more sinister demeanour exhibited by the leprechaun towards his victims as their luck runs out and he yells the war cry 'Gimme me gold!'.
Alex (Robert Gorman) defends himself.

Shot for $1 million over a tight 28 day schedule last February in Los Angeles, and at Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California, Leprechaun also stars Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt, Robert Gorman and Mark (Pee Wee's Big Adventure) Holton. Jones said the only problems he had directing Leprechaun came from Trimark's annoying interference. He moaned, "There were five producers on this show who each seemed to want a different movie and tone. It was bad enough having to film an unheard of 6 pages of script a day without being tapped on the shoulder by people I'd never even met insisting I shoot the same scene another way. They were lucky I could just manage the time to do it once! When I did give in, another would say, 'Why did you shoot that differently?'. It was a no win situation. But then, I'm just too nice a guy to bother arguing".

One of the producers brought in to oversee Jones was David F. Price, the Son of Darkness; To Die For II and Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice director. Jones continued, "David came on board two weeks before we started shooting because Trimark was still nervous about me. They thought I might need a 'proper' director to advise me in case I got into any trouble. But he had no creative input at all because there wasn't time for me to ask him anything even if I'd wanted to. If everyone had left me well alone, Leprechaun would have been a far more focused picture".

Davis added, "Price did direct a few reshoots, mainly additions to a policeman's death. But Mark knew what he was doing and couldn't have been more helpful. Perhaps he needs a little more experience to carry the rest of the crew along with his vision, but it was a fun movie to work on. There was no money behind it and we'd often work long hours into the night. Yet the commmitted team effort by the cast and crew was incredible".

However, it seems Jones, who co-wrote the upcoming Superman V, has had the last laugh after all. Early test previews last May gave Leprechaun the highest exit poll 'word of mouth' ratings ever in Trimark's history. Jones smirked. "So much for my first-timer status. How ironical my little horror picture should test far and away better than Ken Russell's Whore!".