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Starlog: Wandering With Willow

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It takes a special kind of actor to survive playing the lead role in an action movie like Willow, according to director Ron Howard. "In all honesty," he says of his title player, "what Warwick Davis does in this movie is very similar to what Harrison Ford goes through in an Indiana Jones movie--and Warwick is three foot, four inches tall."

Warwick Davis is also only 18 years old--and Willow is his first movie role where he appears without a mask and costume, and plays dialogue scenes with other actors. Davis, previously interviewed in STARLOG #101, appeared as Wicket the Ewok in Return of the Jedi and two TV movies, and performed two goblins in Jim Henson's Labyrinth (STARLOG #109).

Testifying to the truth of Howard's appraisal, Davis tells a behind-the-scenes story of the endurance and sheer physical effort required in fantasy filmmaking. It was a challenge that began almost two years before with several auditions for the role. Executive producer George Lucas, who knew Davis' work well, had suggested him to director Howard, but Howard was concerned about placing the weight of an entire movie on such a young actor. "I didn't know they were concentrating on me," Davis says. "I did audition for the parts of the children in the film, because Willow was going to be about 35 or 40 originally. He's about 20 now."

But, after testing other actors for the central role, Howard too became convinced of Davis' suitability. Once cast, shooting of Willow at Elstree Studios in England was preceded by three weeks' rehearsals in April 1987. "We were just sitting in a room every day discussing the script. In the afternoons, I had to practice holding babies," Davis recalls, "and have fighting rehearsals."

Although the movie was shot out of continuity, Davis' first day on the set coincided with Willow's first scene in the movie. "The first day was in Willow's home, the scenes when we first found the baby and brought it back to the house."

Willow's wife Kiaya was played by Julie Peters. "She's 23 and hadn't done any acting before. She was a secretary and still is." Peters was found during a large scale pre-production search for little people. "They had a big advertising campaign; they did a great deal in the papers and all over Europe, they advertised for extras. We had 200 to 300 extras." The Ufgoods' children were played by little people aged four and six. "They went through America and found them."

The baby Elora Danan, however, was discovered nearby. "During the [production] time in Elstree, they had just any baby; one of the runners would go down to the local hospital, where there's a maternity clinic, and say to the mother, 'Would you like to have your baby in a film?' and of course, they would go 'Yeah!'. But that was only for the extra bits, like when I was holding a baby, so you never saw a face.

"They hadn't chosen the actual babies, because if they had chosen them then, they would have been too old [by shooting's end]," Davis explains. "They were going to shoot all the baby stuff--the close-ups of the baby and everything--at the end.

"I had a mechanical, remote-control one [as well]. You couldn't do a close-up of it, but it wriggled. It was about as heavy as the actual baby, about 13 pounds, so in some scenes, you see a cold sweat breaking out as I was holding it!"

The Nelwyn village scenes were actually filmed in three different places. "The village was out at Brocket Hall, owned by Lord Brocket, and they built this little village in his back garden. The interior of Willow's house was at Elstree, and they also had an exterior, with this little farmyard. I had to plow a field with a pig called Rambo, and it would charge off a few times, mad pig! And then the river was near Brocket Hall."

The beginning of Willow's quest was filmed in yet another location. "The seeing-off bit was at Epping Forest [near London], and what they called the 'trekking shots' we did in New Zealand with matte paintings, and here, there and everywhere."

The meeting of the movie's heroes, Willow and Madmartigan (Val Kilmer, see STARLOG YEARBOOK #3 currently on sale), in the cage scene was also shot in New Zealand. "That was one of Ron's favorite scenes right from the start," Davis says. "We rehearsed it in England and then a bit more in New Zealand before we did it; there was a big build-up to it. Ron really wanted to work on that because that was the most important one to him."

Willow's next set of companions, the brownies, were added to the film optically after shooting. For Davis, this meant "just talking at nothing, a little stick on the floor or something. Someone was reading the lines off-camera: David Sibley, the dialogue coach, or Ron, if David wasn't there. It was very funny." Later, in California, "we met the real people, Rick Overton and Kevin Pollak. I watched them doing the blue screen, but I never actually worked directly with them."

For Queen Cherlindrea, "I was acting to nothing again," Davis says. "I do a great deal of that in the film. [It was] out in the woods, and there was a spinning load of lights to get the effect on my face.

"Ron's wife is Cheryl, that's the beginning, Linda is Linda Ronstadt, George's girl friend, and Andrea is [screenwriter] Bob Dolman's wife, so they made the name up from the three: Cherlindrea."

When Willow is reunited with Madmartigan, dressed as a woman, their on-screen scenes together may last for only a few minutes. But during production, "Val was like this for weeks," Davis said. "He got a bit sick of it in the end. It was cold as well, and even in New Zealand, in the snow, he had this dress on." However, Kilmer was permitted to wear "all kinds of thermal stuff" underneath.

Much of the wagon chase in Willow was shot by a second unit under the direction of Mickey Moore, who did the truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the car chase at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. "While I was shooting the inside of Willow's house, at the very beginning." Davis notes, "they had a stunt guy for me, out for about four weeks with Val. Val was free then, because we were just doing my stuff in the studio.

"After New Zealand, we came back, and the whole first unit and I went on to the wagon chase. We were on the back of a low loader truck, where they mount the wagon on top. And they have the camera where the horses would be, just filming us.

"Then, I had to do it on real horses, with a blind driver laying down under some sacking. [Horsemaster] Greg Powell would be in the back underneath a load of sacks driving the thing with two great cart-horses. I was flying about in the back, rolling, and Val was [apparently] driving.

"I hate horses," the young actor admits, "and being pulled by these along this bumpy road, with the camera driving along the road next to us, trying to follow the action--it's scary."

Davis did a number of his own stunts, but some were doubled, often by British little person Peter Bonner. "I like doing most of my own action," Davis says, "but they wouldn't let me do all of it. It's fun when you get to do it."

Going to the island to find the sorceress Fin Raziel once again required a combination of locations and techniques. "They did a bit of that in New Zealand. Just opposite the hotel, they found an island on a big lake, and they put out skulls and bones, and it looked great. We shot a bit there of me arriving, looking around, and talking to this possum.

"They had a real possum in New Zealand. In America, they wanted to do some shooting, but there are no possums [of the same type] in America or England, so they had to use squirrels. This real possum didn't cooperate at all; he was cruel and I was afraid he was going to bite me. They also had an animatronic one, with cables and all that to operate it. They were doing lip-sync, and for the mouth to move, they had a wire control with about 12 operators. That was better. Originally, they were going to animate a bottom jaw onto the real possum."

For Fin Raziel's later incarnations, recalls Davis, "We had trained ravens. I thought they were going to peck my eyes out like Omen II!" The goat "wasn't as well-trained; it would do what it wanted."

Back at the island with Fin Raziel as a possum, the trouble begins when Willow gets into his boat and a storm blows up. "When we were shooting it, we had a helicopter hovering overhead to make the wind, and make the water go all rough. That was really scary, because the helicopter was about 20 feet above us, really loud. The possum was scared stiff.

"So then, we start to row off over the lake. The camera was on another boat. This boat I'm rowing, though, they designed just to float! You couldn't row it because the oars were all bent like bits of old wood. I don't think they had designed it for anyone to actually use, and I'm trying to row this thing. It was very difficult, but they said it looked good."

A scene cut from the film, in which an enchanted boy turns into a fish and confronts Willow in the boat, required a visit to the filming tank at England's Pinewood Studios. "I had to work with diving gear and aqualungs. I would go under, take the [breathing] equipment out, do the fighting with the fish, and then I would go up to the surface. We had signals worked out: I would [indicate], and somebody would come in and take me out. I would do it for as long as I could. I was managing longer than they expected I would.

"Sometimes, it was quite frightening, because I was tied up to the fish and I couldn't get out. It was fun, I enjoyed that bit more than I thought I would, but I was dreading it at the beginning."

The fish was a "mechanical, hydraulic fish. On the side, they had about three people, with leads," he reveals.

"They did the finish of that scene in New Zealand, where the boat's on the shore, with the mountains behind. I had to get out, be exhausted and fall down--and it was freezing. I had a wet suit on. After the scene, I went, 'Haaa! because the water had all gone into my boots, and I couldn't feel my feet, it was so cold. I was carrying this possum as well: I fell over, and it was supposed to jump off and run away. But, it trod in the water, leapt back on my shoulder and wouldn't get off, it was so cold."

On returning from the island, the baby carriers are captured by Nockmaar troops. Escaping again by traveling down a mountain on a shield was "fun but terrifying," Davis remarks. "We had a sled with a camera fixed onto the front facing me, and then they just switched it on.

"Then, they had a skier, who has done James Bond films, steer it and be the brakes for me, because otherwise I would have crashed into everyone. He was in front, the camera's pointing back at me: He pulled [the sled], got it going very fast, and then he would ski, and steer it." This was one of the scenes in which a real baby was not used, Davis notes.

"One of the times, on top of this mountain, there was fog, it was snowing, and we start going down this shallow hill, with the camera rolling. I was really nervous, but then I thought, 'Oh, this isn't bad.' I was acting away, and Val's behind me...and suddenly, the ground drops away, [there are] rocks on either side, we were shooting down. We were going so fast, the baby rose up! Then at the botton, we went on to this frozen lake.

"We did that 12 times! I was a nervous wreck at the end. I did trust this guy, but it's a bit scary when you're speeding down. I mean, you're going to see real fear on my face in those shots."

On the final part of the sled-ride, "I had to go down this hill, in through the doorway of a house, all on an actual sled, without a camera or anything attached. When we were doing it, I had to steer for the last bit. They had made a groove [in the ground], so I would go in the doorway.

"But as I was pushed off, I fell backwards, pulled one of the steering levers, which made me turn--and I went straight for this hay thing made of wood, crashed into it, and everyone went 'Aaah!' " The crew's fear for their leading man was short-lived, as Davis was unharmed. "I laid right back as I hit it. It was fun."

Castle Tir Asleen was constructed at Elstree Studios. For his scene with the Eborsisk, the dragon named after film critics Roger Ebert & Gene Siskel, Davis had no actual opponent to fight with--once again. "I did have to duck the flames, and they had really massive flamethrowers on the set. They had to plan that out carefully, so that nobody got in the way of the fire."

However, the trolls were present during lensing. "They were all athletes and gymnasts. They would crouch down low, hang upside down and do acrobatics."

The majority of the battle between rebels and Nockmaar troops was shot by the second unit while Davis was filming in the mountains. Willow was not greatly involved in the fight scenes. "I would be sneaking around trying to avoid all the fighting," Davis notes. "I did the troll fighting, but they didn't want Willow to be a really violent character, or kill anybody. You never see him kill anyone. He bashes a few guards around, but you don't know whether they die or not. Madmartigan goes around killing people, but they wanted Willow to be a good person, which I don't mind. Still, he got to do a bit of fighting. Ron knew I wanted to do something, so he let me."

Chasing General Kael and his troops from Tir Asleen to the Nockmaar castle was harrowing for Davis. "I get a horse then--worst luck," he says. "In New Zealand, they had this ex-racehorse to ride, Glengarry Boy. It was a bit tired and very slow because it was quite old."

But Davis' least comfortable experience wasn't due to his own horse, but another. "There's this scene where we're riding along on the horse, and then Val and Joanne [Whalley, who plays Sorsha] are on the same horse together, and they're having an argument. Their horse was getting all agitated because they were arguing. It was quite frisky, I'm next to it, and so my horse is getting frisky. I don't like that much."

The scenes of the rebel soldiers arriving at the Nockmaar castle and being transformed into pigs by Queen Bavmorda were shot at a slate quarry in Wales, with the castle built in the background. "They had, I'd say, about a hundred real pigs from the local Welsh farms, and those pigs were all trying to mate! In some of the rushes, you would see them over in the corner, so the whole audience cracks up. I don't know what they're going to do with it. It was so funny. The pigs all kept running off, so there were men all round the outside with boards to stop escaping pigs."

For the actual transformation, "they had extras with makeup on, like a pig nose and ears. Val turns into one, so they had a full makeup there, he had a pig head on. But it was a stunt double doing the whole head makeup."

For the attack on the castle, with the horses coming out of the ground, "they actually dug in the slate, big ramps and stuff. And they had horses that laid down with the riders on, and covered them over with tarpaulin, and then the horses would stand up and come out."

Willow's climactic deception of Queen Bavmorda, the "disappearing pig trick" was actually achieved using special effects. "I had the cloth with lumps in it, as the baby. Then, we had balloons, and popped them with explosives. It made it look like I was holding the baby and made it disappear.'

Davis was tutored in his other acts of prestidigitation by David Berglass, a professional magician. "I had to learn a few tricks from him, and he was on the set, it was good fun doing that."

Meanwhile, with Elora Danan rescued and conveyed into the arms of Madmartigan and Sorsha, Willow gets to return home, having forgotten all he knew or thought he knew. "The end--to be continued, probably," observes Davis. "They were thinking of making this one into Willow II as well! Because they had so much material, they were saying, 'Shall we make a sequel?' "

Davis enjoyed working with director Ron Howard. "It was really good fun, because he used to be an actor, and so he knew as a director what actors felt, and how long an actor could go on, and things like that."

The young actor also enjoyed the presence of executive producer George Lucas, who has been involved with every film in which Davis has worked. "He was around on the set quite a bit," Davis notes. "People said that it was more than most of the films that he has done. He was doing Tucker as well, so he was going backwards and forwards between the two films. He would be there for Ron to go up to and just discuss things with. Sometimes, when George wasn't there, I think Ron seemed a little bit unsure."

Having worked with Lucas for more than five years, Davis has come to know the veteran filmmaker a little better. "At first, he seemed shy to me, but now he has gotten to know my mum and me more, and he's very chatty to us.

"On Willow, I had a water fight with him on the set! He must have been pleased with the film! Ron was trying to direct, and we were [firing water pistols] and Ron was right in the middle of it. I was soaking wet, but George was dry. It was fun."

A strong ambition of Davis' is to go from acting to directing. "I'm interested in making films now, that's what I want to do. I still like acting, but I'm deciding which one to do." This is an interesting parallel with Ron Howard's acting-to-directing career. An even closer parallel can be found in American Graffiti, which Lucas directed and Howard acted in. "There's George directing, with Ron acting, and then it's Ron directing, me acting. I hope that someday I'll become a director, and have somebody. It's a sort of weird line."

Davis was interested to hear how Howard landed his directorial break. "He told me that instead of getting paid, he just said, 'Let me make a film,' to this director he was working with, and made a deal with him." The director was Roger Corman, and Howard agreed to act in his movies Eat My Dust and Grand Theft Auto, provided he could direct the latter. Davis ponders the idea of going the same career route. "Direct the next Star Wars or something, shall I? George, can I direct it please? I'll do Willow II and III free!"

Joking aside, Davis is both determined and realistic about working on the other side of the camera, "even if I start at the bottom and work up," he says. "I've got to get in somewhere first."

His filmmaking vocation is also one of the ways Davis invests his acting income. "I have video equipment, that's what I like. I've got a video camera, so I use it to make films. I spend an amazing amount on it." Recently, a short he made featuring Willow's dialogue coach David Sibley won him several prizes at a local amateur filmmaking festival.

Although Warwick Davis has no work lined up immediately, the prospect of a Willow sequel is one the young actor looks forward to. "If this one's a success they definitely will," he says. "I don't know what they would do for a story. They can't make a film about him in the village, so they have to have him go off on an adventure somewhere again. I'm sure I'm going to have to go back and meet the baby, who'll be grown up, maybe that'll happen...and I'll divorce my wife and marry the princess!"