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News 2005 |
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November 20, 2005
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has finally been released - and I haven't seen it yet! I prefer to watch movies without huge crowds, so when a movie this big comes out, I wait for a weekday sometime following opening weekend before I go see it. I will definitely be seeing this one soon.
Nonetheless, I still have some Goblet of Fire-related news. FilmFocus has an interview with Warwick here from the movie's London premiere on November 6. There are several other interviews on the same page, and you have to scroll to the bottom of the page for Warwick.
BBC Cambridgeshire has a Goblet of Fire-related interview here from July 2005.
In addition, the Leaky Cauldron has some goodies here [Obsolete link removed] related to a scene where Flitwick goes crowdsurfing against his will at the Yule Ball. There's a video clip and some screen captures. Be warned that this page is prone to displaying error messages, apparently due to server overload; if you get an error message just try again later and you may have better luck. This is a November 2 story located about halfway down the page. According to the Veritaserum website, this scene originally didn't make the final cut of the movie but then was re-added.
In a strange bit of casting news, it appears that Warwick has landed a role in an upcoming indie horror film called The Lesbian Vampire Killers. I don't have any confirmation of this, but the official site, located here seems authentic enough. It says that Warwick will play the 'small but memorable' role of Mr. Rossi, the boss of a character named Fletch. Warning: the synopsis section on the official page gives away the entire story line. The website's forum seems to indicate that the original title was the much-tamer The Lady Vampire Killers.
It looks as though this movie will probably be Warwick's raunchiest movie to date, but will it be the weirdest? It would have to be EXTREMELY bizarre to beat Skinned Deep in that respect.
In a bit of Star Wars-related news, the Gallery website has a collection of
about fifty pictures starting
here
from Warwick's presentation at the Star Wars Celebration 3 held in Indianapolis last
April.
In Appearance news, next weekend Warwick is scheduled to be at Memorabilia
in Birmingham, England. The UK Garrison
Star Wars costuming club will be there too. Why is this relevant? Well, the
Garrison has made some previous appearances with Warwick, and their photo galleries
reflect that. The gallery
here from a Virgin
Megastore appearance in Athena Sutton in October includes some great shots of
Warwick and his family. There are other Warwick pictures sprinkled throughout the galleries,
so have fun browsing the site!
The Small Town Folk official
website has added several trailers and audio clips. Warwick is prominently
featured in the main trailer, so be sure to check it out!
The Marvin-related portions of The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy press kit have been added to the Articles
section.
Those of you in Cambridge in the UK should try to get hold of the currently
available November 2005 Arts East magazine. This free publication, printed
by the Cambridge News, includes an interview with Warwick and some great
pictures. I'm about 8,000 miles from Cambridge, but the publisher kindly
sent me a copy of the magazine and I'll be posting the article on the webpage
later (probably December).
Mugglenet.com has a picture here [Obsolete link removed]
from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that shows Warwick
in the second row. It's only a couple more weeks now until the release of the movie!
The London Film & ComicCon site has posted a
picture
gallery from their June 2005 event with several nice photos of Warwick, including
this
one with Lou Ferrigno. Lou may be big, but Warwick has all that Leprechaun
experience. So if it came to a fight, who do you think would win?
Today's update features some new multimedia files from the
Gremlins Adult Literacy Campaign. There
are fifteen new pictures in Other
Pictures Part 3 and two soundclips in MP3 format in the
Warwick Davis Soundclips
section. This is all publicity material from the
Official Get-On Campaign
website from the UK's Department for Education and Skills. I've
never seen any of these ads myself since I live on the wrong continent,
but this material makes it obvious that they're very amusing.
There's news about other worthy causes as well. If you click
here
you can read about Warwick's September 4th appearance at the
Cambridge Cleft Lip and Palate Asocation's (CLAPA) fall party at
Addenbrooke's Hospital. There's an entertaining picture to go with the story.
Warwick appeared at two of the UK's Athena stores this past weekend,
and more appearances are coming up. If you're in the UK and want to know if he's
coming to a store near you, check the
Personal Appearances
section of Warwick's webpage for details.
There's a lot to report on the subject of Leprechaun figures! First of
all, the custom Leprechaun figure
commissioned by Warwick Davis himself is nearing completion. The figures
are now being painted, and it is hoped that they will be finished in time
for Warwick to launch the figure at the
Chiller Theatre Expo on
October 28-30 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
That's certainly good news, but there's more. SOTA Toys is producing
a figure based on Leprechaun 1 that is expected to
be available in late 2006, although they displayed a prototype in August 2005
at Monster Mania in Cherry Hill, NJ. Since this is a "smaller figure" (I don't
know exactly
what that means) it comes with an extra melty head and hands, a pot of gold
and a diorama base of the well.For more information and pictures, see this article on
Action
Figure.com. Thanks to Joe Ramoni for tipping me off about this figure.
It's obvious that Warwick's figure will be much higher-quality than the
SOTA one. Still, it's wonderful that a variety of figures will soon be
available when for years there was nothing.
There's even some action figure news that doesn't involve the Leprechaun.
StarWars.com will be issuing a high-quality 8.5 inch
Wicket
figure in November.
There's plenty of casting news, too. Warwick has been offered a major role
in Shortfellas, an independent film about a
small crime gang. I know almost nothing about this movie except that it's going
to be a UK production.
There's new information on Small Talk,
a talk show that is being developed by Warwick Davis himself. It will go
beyond the usual talk show format to include features such as Warwick
and his guests doing things outside the studio and candid-camera type
stunts. After the pilot is completed there will be an effort to market the
program internationally, so that fans everywhere may eventually have
the opportunity to watch the show.
There's also some information on an unnamed children's
science program that Warwick is developing with the BBC. There are
other UK channels that already have similar programming and the BBC
needs something like this to maintain its competetive position, so
the chances are good that the program will go forward.
In addition, Warwick will be doing a commercial for the German company
Yellostrom involving an
animatronic character. It's possible that this commercial will appear
on the internet someday, so maybe I'll eventually get to see it!
For a long time, Warwick performed on the stage almost every year in Christmas
pantomimes (a UK tradition). Then he took a few years off from this kind of
work but now he's back again and will be performing in Snow White at the
Milton Keynes Theatre in December and January.
His wife Samantha and daughter Annabelle are in the cast as well, so
it's quite a family affair. There's information about dates and times here [Obsolete link removed] and
a couple of related articles
here and
here.
Those links all have pictures, too. For the full history of Warwick's stage work
(to the best of my knowledge, anyway) check out the Plays
and Pantomimes section.
Two news links have been added to the
Warwick Davis Articles section. One is for
an August 2005
Horror
Asylum interview and the other is for a September 2005
Cambridge
Evening News article. Both are rather brief and don't really break any new ground,
but the Cambridge News article has a nice picture with it.
The Leprechaun Art section has some pictures of
a great tribute mask that was recently sold on Ebay.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had its DVD release a few days
ago. I haven't had time to listen to the audio commentaries yet, but the
other special features include some Warwick-related material. He appears in
the making-of documentary including some previously-unseen footage of putting
on the Marvin costume. There's also a Marvin Hangman spelling game. Instead
of the usual procedure of drawing another body part on a hanged man every time
you pick the wrong letter, they take a piece off of Marvin every time you guess
wrong. You have five chances to guess four letters - when Marvin has lost both
arms, both legs, and his head, the game is over. Marvin makes his usual depressed
remarks while all this is going on.
For a long time, I've been frustrated because I couldn't watch
Al's Lads, a limited-distribution gangster film
that features Warwick in a minor role. At first this UK film wasn't available
in the US at all, then when it was finally released (under the title Capone's
Boys) the price on
Amazon.com
was too high for me to take a chance on it, since I knew almost nothing about the
film. But I recently discovered that the Amazon.com price has dropped to a measly
$9.99, so I bought a copy. It took almost a month for delivery - they must keep the
DVDs in a really obscure place! - but when it finally arrived
I watched it eagerly. Then, in one of life's ironic little twists, three days
later I found it in the bargain DVD bin at a truckstop in Missouri for even less
than I'd paid.
The movie turned out to be much better than I expected, and would have been
well worth watching even if Warwick wasn't in it. Click here
to read more about it. Check out the new screen
captures and sound clips from the movie,
too!
The Warwick Davis Articles section has
a new excerpt from a July 2005 Cinefex
article. The full article contains detailed information on the special effects
work for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I've only posted
the Marvin-related portion.
Reminder: the Hitchhiker DVD will have its US release on September 13.
There's some exciting news about Warwick's upcoming projects! This
BBC
Leicester article about the National Space Centre Star Wars Day on July 30th
included this quote from Warwick himself:
I can't locate any more information on these projects at the moment, but when
I learn something new I'll post an update.
There's a new addition to the Warwick
Davis Articles section. The item in question is a July 2005
Starlog interview dealing mainly with
Warwick's role as Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Here's an important item for UK Lep fans. Lep 3 will be released on Region 2
DVD on September 19. The price on
Amazon.co.uk
is £5.99. At the moment they don't have a picture of the cover art, so we'll
have to wait and see if they've come up with anything new. This is the first time
this movie has ever been released in the UK. Great Britain is still awaiting
the release of Lep 4 and Lep 6, but it does look as though things are moving
in that direction.
There's also some news on Small Town Folk.
The official site has added
two new photos of Warwick Davis and Howard Lew Lewis as The Knackermen to their
picture gallery. Just click on the Beesley's link in their August 13 news story
to view the pictures. You can also see them on my page in
Warwick Davis Other Pictures Part 5 but
I recommend going to the official site so you can check out their other news items.
The new pictures appear to be screen shots, in contrast to their previous Warwick
pictures which were all behind the scenes photos.
In today's final bit of news, I've added the F.A.C.T.S convention
to the Appearances section. The con will be
held on October 15-16 in Ghent, Belgium.
Today's update offers some nice new items. The Warwick
Davis Articles section has an April 2005 Skinned Deep
interview from Fangoria #242, as well as a June 2005
Hitchhiker's Guide interview from Starburst #324.
I have some new pictures too. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy gallery
in Other Pictures Part 4 has been expanded
substantially, including some great behind the scenes photos. There are also some new
photos in the Leprechaun Pictures section, mostly
for Lep 1.
The Appearances section has been updated as well.
It's been a quiet month for news, but even though there's not much to
report this update is here to let everyone that the page is still alive.
The US DVD release of The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy is scheduled for September 13. The sixth book in the
Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released
a few days ago so everyone can read about the continuing adventures of Professor
Flitwick.
Want a leprechaun at your next party or event? Live in Colorado? Well, Warwick is
probably not going to be available, but maybe
Rocky the Leprechaun can
help you out. Remember to keep your hands off his gold!
Finally, Warwick's scheduled appearance at the
Monstermania 4 convention
in New Jersey in August has been cancelled.
Here's some more news on Small Town Folk.
The official site has added some behind-the-scenes photos of Warwick to
their Production Stills
gallery, and with the permission of the filmmakers I've added some of these
photos to my webpage as well, in Other Pictures
Part 5. The filmmakers expect to add stills from the film to the gallery soon, so keep
an eye on the official site.
From these pictures, it's apparent that Warwick's character in the
film is human without exactly being ordinary. Of course, we're not getting the
full force of the character's personality here; these are behind the scenes
photos, and Warwick is probably just being himself in most of them. It'll be
interesting to find out later on just how weird this character really is!
For a very different kind of picture, check out this
photo gallery
on the official Village of Stilton website for a view of Warwick's participation
in the annual cheese rolling festival in May.
There's a May 2005 interview on
Blockbuster
discussing several movies including The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.
Finally, check out the Leprechaun Art section
to see a customized Lep truck created by Kyle Harvey of Massilon, Ohio. It's
something that every Lep fan would be happy to drive!
There's a new addition to the Filmography
section! Today I received word that Warwick has a cameo in an independent
horror film called Small Town Folk that
will probably be released in 2006. It looks like fun, so follow that link
for more information!
Autograph forgery is rampant on Ebay, especially for posters, scripts and other items
that have supposedly been signed by multiple cast members of a movie. To help combat this
fraud, Warwick has announced an autograph verification service
here on his webpage.
Basically, if you're interested in an autographed item on Ebay but aren't sure
about its authenticity, you can write to Warwick at
sigverify@warwickdavis.co.uk
and he will attempt to verify it. Warwick also offers some
helpful hints to help you identify the more blatant forgeries on your own.
The July 2005 issue (#336) of Starlog magazine is now on store shelves,
and its arrival is so recent that as of this moment the
Starlog website is still calling
it the upcoming issue rather than the current issue. It has an interview
with Warwick about playing Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
plus an interview with Zooey Deschanel (Trillian in the film).
Warwick's interview includes lots of information about his role that
I haven't seen before plus some unique pictures, so it's well worth
checking out!
Another thing that's worth checking out is the book The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy: The Filming of the Douglas Adams Classic by
producer Robbie Stamp. It too includes unique Marvin information and pictures, along
with tons of information on all other aspects of the movie. You may very
well be able to find it on the shelves of your local Borders bookstore. I did!
However, they charge the full retail price there and I wasn't too keen on
that, so I ordered one from
Amazon.com and got one third off.
Warwick will be one of the guests at Monster Mania 4 on
August 26-28 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Thanks to Dominic for the information.
My copy of Skinned Deep finally arrived in the mail! I've
been waiting years for this movie to come out, with my anticipation
boosted tenfold by a few minutes of footage that I got to see in October
2002 on the Lep 6 set. So naturally I promptly proceeded to watch the
movie a few times. And was I satisfied? Indeed I was. The film is so
low-budget and strange that it makes the Leprechaun series look mainstream,
but it's great fun for people who can appreciate the unusual. I've posted
a spoiler-free review in the Skinned Deep section.
You can also see some pictures in Other
Pictures Part 5. It wasn't easy getting screen caps of Warwick's character,
Plates. When I freeze the action on my computer for an image capture, anything
that was moving on screen tends to look blurry. Plates is a really wild
character who's always in motion, and he was blurred at least 80% of the time.
The sculpting work is finally done on Warwick's custom Lep figure. It
has to go to a mold maker next, so it's not ready for the market yet. Click
here to
see the announcement on Warwick's page and view some wonderful pictures of
the completed figure. For some reason I especially like the long hair
hanging down the figure's back.
Do you like to listen to Warwick talk? The Xan Phillips website recently
posted a 23-minute audio interview in MP3 format
here. It's apparent from
the conversation that it was recorded sometime between November 2001 and
May 2002, but even though it's not a recent interview it's still fun to listen
to.
I've updated the Personal Appearances
section to include
The Festival of Fantastic Films
to be held in Manchester, England on September 2-4. Thanks to M.J. Simpson
for the information.
Skinned Deep is now out on DVD! Theoretically
it's available from Best Buy and Target, but actual availability depends on
the individual store. The stores in my area are not stocking the film, so I
had to resort to Amazon.com. I hope to have my copy soon. I've been waiting
to see this movie since 1999!
The rest of today's update consists of some interview links, and I'm going
to start with the video interview on the
Party Midgets website. [Obsolete link removed]
Professional wrestling champion Toad visited Star Wars Celebration III in
Indianapolis, and if you click on that link then scroll to the bottom of the
page you'll be able to watch an
amusing six-minute video that includes several brief interview clips with
Warwick. The site also offers two other Celebration III videos including an
interview with Kenny Baker. While you're at it, you can learn about Party Midgets'
booking service for performers.
The other new items are this
Brownsville
Herald article in which Warwick and Hitchhiker director Garth Jennings talk
about Marvin the Paranoid Android, and this
Empire
Online interview in which Warwick briefly talks about Harry Potter 4.
It was hinted at in public recently and I've been hearing private rumblings
for months, but now it's official. Val Kilmer will rejoin
his Willow co-stars Warwick Davis and David Steinberg onscreen in
Warwick's upcoming movie Agent One-Half.
The first confirmation of the news was in this
Warwick
Davis interview on The Boston Channel.
According to this article, Val plays Agent Lance Stone, who defects and joins forces
with The Heel, the archvillain of the piece who will be played by an
as-yet-unnamed actor who is even shorter than Warwick according to this SciFi
Wire article [Obsolete link removed]. Is anybody besides me thinking of Verne Troyer here? He and
Warwick certainly know each other, as this
picture on Warwick's
page indicates.
Whoever they cast as the villain, this movie is guaranteed to be fun just for
the opportunity to see so much of the Willow cast reunited. And that's not
all the Willow-related news. The article also had this to say about
Warwick's conversation with George Lucas recently at Star Wars Celebration III:
So it sounds as though there actually was more to the TV series proposal than
just loose talk! All in all, that article was packed with SERIOUSLY exciting
news, and it will be wonderful to see what comes of it.
The first update of the day is below:
This month's issue of Starburst magazine (June 2005, issue 324) includes an
interview with Warwick about his role in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The magazine's webpage
says, "The world’s biggest short actor, Warwick Davis, talks about how it feels to
be inside a very (very) depressed robot, as well as his his contributions to the
design." Following that link will also let you see what the magazine cover looks
like (a Revenge of the Sith photo).
This is a UK publication and is probably more widely available there than elsewhere.
However, you may be able to find it in the US at bookstore chains like Barnes &
Noble and Borders. Since I just found out about this today I haven't had time yet to
get my hands on this magazine, but I'll be looking for it at those stores!
If you want to buy Hitchhiker merchandise (action figures, etc) at a real-world
store rather than shopping online, it appears that the best place to look in the
US is at the Suncoast Motion Picture Company video store chain. Apparently some
locations of Hot Topic and the Disney Store also have goodies, and if you're in the
UK try looking at Woolworths. For further information and ongoing merchandise
news, check this
forum thread on the Douglas Adams Continuum. It does appear that in general
the 10-inch Marvin figures are all sold out but more will be available in June.
There's good news for UK Lep fans! I've just learned that Leprechaun 2
was released on DVD in Region 2 format about two weeks ago, on April 25.
There's information on Amazon.co.uk At the moment Amazon doesn't have a picture of the
cover, but I've got one here. Apparently Lep 3,
4 and 6 still haven't been released in the UK, but 1, 2 and 5 are all available
there on DVD.
Want more Lep news? Then click
here to visit the
Warwick Davis Official Website's great new update about his custom Leprechaun figure.
The Leprechaun now has a fine pair of shoes!
One last Leprechaun note: Lions Gate now has a new email address for public
inquiries. So to participate in the Lep 7 email campaign, write to
general-inquiries@lgf.com
There are some new additions to the
Warwick Davis Articles section. There's a
reprint of a Hitchhiker-related Weekly News Insider
article that appeared on the original host site for just one week and then
disappeared. There are also links to this
Sci Fi
Wire article and these
Cinema Review
Production Notes which also discuss Marvin the Paranoid Android.
There's quite a lot of news today on a wide variety of subjects!
Probably the biggest item is the release of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on April
29th. This was a white-knuckle event for me because of a controversy that
suddenly erupted about three weeks ago when
Planet Magrathea posted a
detailed and very negative review of the movie. This review carried a lot of weight
because the PM webmaster is a Douglas Adams expert, and triggered a good
bit of media attention, an uproar on fan forums, and both agreement and
disagreement from other people who'd seen the movie.
All of this led to a great deal of anxiety about whether the movie would
succeed or fail. The storm was so great that the Planet Magrathea website decided
to cease operations.
But now that the release is finally here, it looks as though the film will be
a solid success. It does tend to trigger strong reactions, with people
either loving it or hating it. But the people who love it outnumber the
people who hate it by a ratio of about 2 to 1, and although the box office
take hasn't really been confirmed yet it looks as though the movie is
right on target to take in the $22 million that was predicted for opening weekend.
Rotten
Tomatoes and
Metacritic
both have a selection of reviews showing the movie's approval rating from professional
critics (currently at 62%) and an approval rating from movie viewers of 71%.
I think this is a rather remarkable success, since the movie has an unconventional
style that will be too quirky for some people who are unfamiliar with the
Douglas Adams universe but not quirky enough for some of the existing fans.
I was quite worried about whether I would like the movie or not, but fortunately
I fell into the "love it" category. There are quite a few memorable characters,
and Sam Rockwell (Zaphod Beeblebrox) pretty much owns the film, but Marvin
very definitely holds his own. It's the Douglas Adams way to change the story
around in each new incarnation of the Hitchhiker, so the movie takes great
liberties with the storylines established in the previous versions. Since I've
already read the books, I thought that the new material was a lot more interesting
than the older stuff. Marvin doesn't get much in the way of new dialogue, but
he does get some very interesting new things to do. IMDb has a message board
thread that demonstrates the positive fan reaction to Marvin. It's loaded with
spoilers, though, so don't go there if you don't want to know!
Several interviews dealing with Marvin have appeared on the internet, from
the Salt Lake Tribune, the
Boston
Channel, and
Echo. These articles contain some pretty incredible details, like the
fact that the Marvin costume weighs 55 pounds, while Warwick himself weighs
only 85 pounds. The Echo article also includes a wonderful bit of
Harry Potter news, saying that Flitwick will have a much stronger presence in
the fourth movie than he did in the third.
The next bit of Harry Potter news is rather startling. According to this
article on Wizard News
J.K. Rowling recently confirmed that Flitwick has a dash of goblin ancestry!
Agent One-Half is also in the news, with this
SciFi
Wire interview that gives the most detailed plot description we've had to date.
It also mentions the possibility of an A-list star being involved in the film
but gives no names. However, Warwick was more forthcoming in this
the
article on the official Star Wars website, and the name he drops is very
interesting indeed. Look for it in the next-to-last paragraph of the article!
Click here to
see another Agent One-Half article on Warwick's page.
That Star Wars article contains a variety of other interesting information,
but here's something that it doesn't tell you! For some years now, Warwick
has been showing his short film Return of the Ewok at
conventions, but until now that was the only access fans had to the film. But
now things have changed, to some degree at least. A condensed version (under four
minutes) is now available on the official Star Wars website. It requires a
paid subscription to the
Hyperspace club, and the
cost of membership depends on where you live. It's a great little film, though.
Many thanks to Chepo Pena for telling me about it! I've been wanting to see
this for YEARS.
The Official Skinned Deep website
is now up and running, with news, articles, multimedia, and other fun stuff.
The DVD, scheduled for release on May 17, will be available at
Amazon.com, Deep Discount DVD.com, Target, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and other
retail outlets.
Got the energy for one last bit of news? How about Warwick's participation
in a cheese rolling festival? It's reported on
Warwick's
page, on the Stilton
Village website, and on
Peterborough Today.
Here's an interesting Willow
development. Yesterday George Lucas made his first convention appearance since 1987 by
giving a talk at Star Wars Celebration 3 in Indianapolis. There is a misdated report
on this event
here
on the official Star Wars website. The section that concerns Willow fans says:
Today the Ain't It Cool News somewhat misreported the news
here, saying that
"They are wanting to do a Willow TV series." Things are clearly not that
serious yet, but it's encouraging that George is at least willing to entertain
the idea. I'll be keeping an eye on this! Thanks to Paul Smith and the other
people who sent me the Ain't It Cool News report.
The reason that George and Warwick could get together and talk is because
Warwick is an emcee at the Star Wars Celebration. You can read Warwick's reports
about the event here
on his webpage. There are some great pictures to go with it!
While Warwick was entertaining the crowds at Celebration 3, he was missing the
April 20 official premiere of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in London.
There's less than a week now until the film's mass-market release. Until then,
here are a couple of Marvin-related items that you can entertain yourselves with.
Ifilm has a brief (two minutes?) documentary-type film about Marvin called 'The Robot'
here. [Obsolete link removed] It includes
behind the scenes footage, interview clips with Warwick and others, and film clips
from the movie. That link goes straight into download mode - I haven't been able
to figure out any other way to reach the video.
Comingsoon.net has an
interview with
director Garth Jennings that includes the following exchange:
Jennings: Warwick just came down to the creature shop to see the suit and
help us find someone to fit it and he looked at the suit, said that he might
able to fit it, and just took over. For the whole four months and all through
editing, I was working with Warwick. The character in the radio and TV series
has this wonderful low depressed pitch; Alan Rickman just popped in to test
and it was done. His test was pretty much what we used in the end. It was just
very easy. In two hours, he'd done the whole movie. Nice going, Warwick! Now if you can just work that kind of persuasion on
George Lucas regarding the Willow TV series...
The Conventions and Personal Appearances
section has been updated to include some new items. Check it out to see if
Warwick is coming to your area!
It's been quite a while since we've had any solid news on
Agent One-Half but a recent update to the
movie's official site revealed
that Arturo Gil is a member of the cast, playing the part of Agent One Fifth.
Art has many film and TV credits, including an ongoing part in Comedy
Central's The Man Show and the job of Leprechaun stunt double in
Leprechaun 2, 3, and 4, plus a brief speaking role in
Lep 2.
Although he wasn't in Leprechaun 6, he did visit the set and I got to meet
him in person there. It's great news that he's joining the cast of this movie!
For more information, check Art's
official website and his
IMDb listing.
With the release date for The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy drawing near, the publicity for the movie
is naturally increasing. The current issue (#334) of
Starlog Magazine features the movie on
the cover, including a large picture of Marvin. Inside, the magazine has
three different articles on the film and many more pictures, including several
with Marvin. Most of these pictures are publicity stills that have already been
seen elsewhere, but this
behind the scenes shot of Arthur
and Marvin in the Heart of Gold's shuttle pod is unique.
The articles
are mainly about the origins of the movie and the production design and don't
focus on any particular actor or character. However, it's quite likely that
future issues may include some cast interviews, so I'll be keeping watch!
The marketing department for the movie has set up a blog for Marvin
here under the
heading "Sigh Robot". Marvin has been posting his daily complaints for about
half a week now. The site includes links to similar blogs for Arthur and Zaphod.
The DVD release of Skinned Deep has been moved
to May 17th. Aargh! I was looking forward to seeing it on April 19th. Oh well,
better late than never.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Official
UK site is now online. It's very different from the
US site, and both sites are a lot
of fun. The UK site doesn't have the talking animated Marvin, but Marvin does stroll
around silently on the main page while sperm whales and the like fall from above. You
can sort of guide him - place your cursor somewhere on the screen and he walks until
he's in line with it.
The behind the scenes photo gallery and the screen shots gallery include some
great Marvin shots. The site also has some hidden features, and here are the
ones I know of that include Marvin-related material:
Both the US and UK sites are incomplete at present. So keep an eye on them -
there may be more Marvin goodies on the way!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
official site has had a major
revamp, with loads of great new content added and more yet to come. Now it looks
more like an official movie site should! If your internet connection is slow it
can take a small eternity to enter the site, but it's worth the wait. Once you're
in, there's an animated Marvin on the page most of the time. He's supposedly there
to help you navigate, but all he actually does is whine and complain every time
you click on him. And you're going to want to click on him a lot, because he
has quite a variety of complaints! They mostly play in random order and some
occur more frequently than others, and I'm not sure I've heard them all yet.
If Marvin vanishes, just wait a little - he'll be back.
The new features include some fresh Marvin-related items, especially in the
downloads. So get in there and explore!
If you haven't seen my Saint Patrick's Day update, keep reading:
Happy Saint Patrick's Day to one and all! Today is the Leprechaun's
birthday in the Lep 2 scheme of things, and according to that movie he is
now 2010 years old.
I've posted an extra-special treat in honor of the occasion. It comes to
us from the Leprechaun himself, who's really a wonderful guy off-camera!
Warwick Davis has very generously given me an exclusive picture of his upcoming
Leprechaun figure to use on the webpage, and it's a very entertaining picture at
that. It's a full-length view of the uncompleted figure, but it's the background
that really makes the picture fun. Behind the figure is a computer screen displaying
a photo that was used as a model for the figure's pose, but the picture isn't of
the Leprechaun - it's of Warwick in ordinary clothing wearing a nice smile instead
of the figure's evil sneer. Some photos of the Leprechaun are visible too, along
with some other pictures that appear to be figure-related but aren't specifically
identifiable to a non-sculptor like myself. I really enjoy the general composition
and flavor of this picture, and I'm VERY grateful to Warwick for providing it.
Oh, you readers would like to see it too?? Just click
here.
Warwick has also done a great Saint Patrick's Day update on his own webpage,
so I recommend that you click
here
to check it out!
Here's a bit of great news that's literally been years in the making.
Skinned Deep, the independent horror film by
Leprechaun makeup artist and SFX guy Gabe Bartalos, will have its US and
Canada DVD release on April 19. That's barely a month away! I don't know
how many stores will stock the film, but the widespread chain store
Best
Buy will have it at the low low price of $19.99 and it's also available
on
Amazon.com for
those who'd rather do their shopping online.
Although this is a low-budget film, the DVD will still have some
nifty special features. Check the
distributor's
website for details. I've only seen a small portion of this film, but I
can tell you this - at least 10 minutes of it are absolutely great!
And now for a news item that has no Leprechaun connections whatsoever.
NECA Online has posted a picture here [Obsolete link removed] of the Marvin toy
complete with its packaging. Click on the small picture for a larger image.
Marvin comes with a couple of accessories - the POV
gun, which is a new story element that was created for the movie, and a small
black object that has me mystified. It almost looks like a spare hand for Marvin!
There's more exciting news about the custom Lep figure that Warwick
is producing. He's added a new webpage subsection
here that is
dedicated to the Lep figure, complete with a couple of new pictures and the
news that the figure's clothing is based on his Lep in the Hood costume.
If you haven't seen his original news story about the figure, you might want
to look here as
well since it has a couple of additional pictures.
I've got my own webpage section dedicated to the figure
here but at the moment it doesn't have
any unique material - it basically just tells people where to look on
Warwick's page for information.
Wonderful news for Lep fans! Leprechaun-related merchandise has never been
plentiful, and the
lack of a high-quality Lep figure has been especially painful to fans.
But now this problem is about to be solved! Warwick Davis himself has
commissioned an amazing custom Leprechaun sculpture that will be available
for fans to purchase. Click
here to see
the March 2005 announcement on his webpage, complete with pictures.
The Leprechaun's body is incomplete at present, but the picture of the
completed face makes it clear that this sculpture will be absolutely
outstanding when it's finished. The figure is 5½ inches high,
which means that the face is only about an inch long. But the sculptor has
still achieved an incredible amount of realistic detail in this tiny
working space.
Warwick hasn't decided yet how many of these figures to produce, and
wants to get some idea of how many people want to buy one. So if you're interested,
please write to him at
figure@warwickdavis.co.uk and let
him know!
In other news, this
forum thread
on the Douglas Adams Continuum has some screen captures from the Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy internet trailer that was released on February 27.
Naturally, it includes some nice shots of Marvin.
There's still two months to go until the release of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but
we're finally starting to get some really good looks at Marvin. During the
last few days two new pictures have emerged. For the first time we can
see a clear, head to toe look at Marvin standing next to the other characters
in these pictures on
Dark Horizons
and The
Sun. The Dark Horizons pic is a view of Marvin that we've seen before in
this picture from Entertainment Weekly, but
Dark Horizons shows us Marvin's surroundings as well.
These pictures make one thing clear: Marvin is MUCH bigger than I expected!
His height isn't so surprising, but his overall bulk is. The rest of the galaxy
must have pretty wide doorways, but they'd need them; the Vogons are even
bigger than Marvin.
These pictures are nice, but they're not the biggest Marvin event of the
week. The trailer news is even more exciting. The theatrical trailer that was released
a couple weeks ago gave us some tantalizing glimpses of Marvin, but the
internet trailer that was released on February 27 gives us far more than that. For
the first time, we get to hear Marvin speak - TWICE. Marvin appears alone onscreen
both times and comments on the action in the trailer.
There are probably many places where you can view this trailer, but I would
suggest looking on the
Totta.nu webpage. They have a collection of various Hitchhiker trailers and
film clips in one place for easy viewing. The new internet trailer is the
one they describe as "Trailer #2 (WonderCon)". The title of the page is
in Norwegian (I think) but don't be intimidated - all the trailer info is
in excellent English.
Have you visited the
Warwick Davis Official Website lately?
If not, you should. Warwick is continuing to make frequent small updates, and
many of them are unannounced. He's adding some great new stuff, such as the
Amusing Anecdotes section including a picture of him with Princess Di at the
Willow premiere, and new subsections and material in the Scrapbook. Lep
fans, don't miss the Leprechaun concept art that he recently added to
the Scrapbook! It looks even meaner than the movie Lep - apparently this
drawing was made before the Leprechaun discovered his sense of humor. Warwick
has added so much new stuff that I'm not going to attempt to list it all. Just
go over and explore on a regular basis. That's what I do!
I've added some audio clips from Ray to the
Warwick Davis Sound Clips section. Apparently
this is what the pinnacle of cool sounded like in 1948! It's also what Warwick sounds
like when he plays American.
Although Oberon's jive talk is fun to listen to, it turns out that his most
sincere and heartfelt lines weren't in the theatrical version of the movie at all.
But we can still listen to his words, because the DVD extended movie
included a longer version of the conversation outside the nightclub. It's with
the sound clips. Enjoy.
Attention Hitchhiker fans: If you've been
watching the internet for movie news, you're probably aware that the trailer went online
a few days ago on numerous websites, including the
official site. But you may not
be aware that a forum thread on the Douglas Adams Continuum has posted more than
50
screen captures
from the trailer, including several with Marvin, complete with descriptions of
what they think is happening in each shot. This is a great service to fans, so
check it out!
Today is the fifth anniversary of this webpage, which first hit the internet
on this date in the year 2000. According to the more believable of my two
web counters the cumulative number of visitors now stands at 92,000. This means
that annual visitorship is continuing to rise; the page had 7,000 hits at the end of the
first year, 22,000 at the end of the second, 43,000 at the end of the third, and 67,000
at the end of the fourth.
In my last update I promised some screen captures from Ray
and I have kept my promise. Check 'em out in
Other Pictures Part 3. As far as I know,
this is the first time that any pictures of Warwick in this potentially Oscar-winning
movie have appeared on the internet.
It's been quite a while since I heard any kind of information on the potential
release date for Agent One-Half. But now an
updated version of the official poster art on producer
Brian Bero's website
says that the movie is coming in Spring 2006. The film is apparently still in
preproduction so that date is subject to change, but it's nice to have some idea of
when we can hope for this movie.
Finally, Lep fans should check out this unusual picture on the
Blue Rider Pictures [Obsolete link removed]
website. Blue Rider helped to produce both Lep 3 and Lep 4, so this is apparently
some kind of official artwork. I've never seen it before, however.
Update of the update: Yesterday the official Hitchhikers website added
Marvin e-cards for Valentine's Day, with a wonderful picture of Marvin and a
choice of three messages. It's available
here [Obsolete link removed]. I don't know if
a new variation of the e-cards will be available once Valentine's Day is over,
so I've added the picture to Other Pictures Part 3
to make sure fans will still be able to see it.
Happy birthday to Warwick Davis, who turns 35 today!
Reviews of the rough cut of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy continue
to emerge. They vary widely on how well the reviewer liked the movie in
general and specific characters in particular, but Marvin seems to be
universally popular - I have yet to see a negative comment about him. I won't
continue to list all the reviews as many are
very amateur-looking. The most professional-looking ones I've seen are this
new review at
Ain't It Cool News
(the fourth review they've published!) and this review at
Freeze Dried Movies.
Ray was released on DVD on February 1. I
originally planned to post some screen captures today, but I accidentally bought
the full screen version instead of the widescreen. Fortunately I discovered this
mistake before I unwrapped it, so it's back to the store to make an
exchange. Until I get the right DVD there'll be no screen captures, so better
luck on the next update! As far as I know, there are currently
NO pictures on the internet of Warwick's character from this movie.
But there is a webpage where you can see fresh, original pictures from
some of Warwick's other movies.
The Warwick Davis Official Website
has had a series of updates in the last week, some announced and some not.
Check the Scrapbook
for some new subsections and
Acting News for a
new story on Flitwick, and just generally look around for other brand-new items
and anything else you haven't seen before. Like the new entry in
Marvin's Diary
for instance.
The Warwick Davis Offical Website
has a brand new look! An updated and redesigned version of the page hit the
web today. Most of the familiar material that we're all so fond of is still
there and there are some interesting new items as well, including acting
news, upcoming personal appearances, and fresh entries in the FAQ. I recommend
that you hurry on over there and check it out!
Yesterday there was a test screening in Los Angeles of a rough cut of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The
Ain't It Cool News has posted a spoiler-laden double review
here from
a couple of audience members. The most significant line: "Marvin on the other hand
is splendid with his depressed bobble-head stature and sad, glowing eyes. The droll
voicing by Alan Rickman is spot-on and is one of the highlights of the film."
Want to know more about the upcoming Hitchhiker toys? Planetmagrathea.com
has a new section about them including a small
picture of the not-previously-seen plush Marvin and a rather large picture of
Marvin's gun. Marvin has a gun?!? It'll be fun to find out what that's all about.
Added later: Warwick added a
Marvin's Diary
section to his page several hours after his initial update. At the moment it's
mainly a promise of things to come, with a discussion of what inspired the diary. But
the first entry is already in place, and it looks as though the diary will
describe the filming of the movie through Marvin's eyes, as if Marvin is
an actor playing himself in the film. It's going to be fun!
Marvin the Paranoid Android is in the news again! The January 21, 2005
issue of Entertainment Weekly published a photo of Marvin to accompany an
oh-so-brief article about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that was
part of their 2005 movie preview. I believe this is the first clear full-body
shot we've seen of the final version of the real Marvin (as opposed to toy Marvin).
Click here to see it!
Marvin may not be all he's cracked up to be as "your
plastic pal who's fun to be with", but he's quite good at playing hide and seek.
Marvin-related pictures frequently appear, then disappear, then reappear somewhere else.
The picture of the Marvin action figure has disappeared from the Forbidden Planet
website, but a different picture (apparently of the same figure) has appeared
on NECA, [Obsolete link removed] which says
"Marvin features a balljointed neck and shoulders, bending elbows, swivel wrists,
hinge waist, and v-crotch articulation. Look for these figures to hit stores in
April."
Another bit of Marvin fan art has surfaced.
KCScreenSavers
has a Hitchhikers screensaver that includes a fully animated Marvin, sperm whale in
space, and the Heart of Gold soaring towards the viewer.
The VH1 cable channel premiered their "I Love The 90's Part Deux: 1993" show on
Tuesday, January 19th. This is significant because the first Leprechaun movie is
one of the cultural phenomena for that year that they focus on. The Leprechaun
segment occurs about 40 minutes into the program and lasts for about two minutes.
They show several clips from the movie while an assortment of minor show biz
personalities comment on it with affectionate humor. The program will be shown
repeatedly through Valentine's Day. Check
here
on the VH1 channel to get an approximate air time for the 1993 episode, then check
your local listings for the exact time because the VH1 schedule might not be
right for your time zone. Thanks to Paul Smith for the tip.
This segment is great entertainment for Lep fans, but the ramifications go
far beyond that. There must be a lot of VH1 fans who would love the Lep
movies but simply aren't familiar with them yet. This program could inspire them
to watch the movies and then tell their friends to watch the movies. End result:
the revenues for the existing movies go up, which increases our chances of getting
a seventh movie. Thank you, VH1!!!
Once again, today's update focuses mainly on The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The photo on the
Dark Horizons website that I mentioned
in my last update disappeared shortly after I posted the news. It turns out that
the picture wasn't intended for the internet and the DH webmaster was asked to take
it down. It was too late, though, because other webmasters had already grabbed the
picture by that time. Apparently they haven't been asked to take it down, and the
picture is available here
on the H2G2 website. They also have a picture gallery that includes some Marvin
fan art here.
That's not the only place to find Marvin fan art. Customize.org has a wallpaper
of Marvin reclining on a tombstone
here. He looks about as
happy as you'd expect...
So much for the unofficial artwork. There's some official artwork on offer too!
IGN has the final movie poster (not the teaser) here [Obsolete link removed] including
a super-sized version for people who want a really close look. Marvin is on the
poster, and is the only movie character to be shown besides Arthur Dent. But if
you look at the credits on the large version of the poster, you'll see that,
oddly enough, the people playing Marvin aren't mentioned - they don't say a word
about Warwick Davis or Alan Rickman.
But this may be the best news of all: a ten-inch Marvin figure is available
for pre-order on the
Forbidden Planet website. This
is a UK site, but Americans can still enjoy
looking at the figure until somebody makes it a little more accessible to us.
I've added a picture of the figure to the Warwick
Davis Merchandise section.
Now for a bit of non-Hitchhiker news. The next Hullywood event will be held on
Sunday May 8th, 2005 in Hull, England. No word on the guest list yet, but you
can check out their website here. [Obsolete link removed]
Warwick was a guest at the first Hullywood, and you can view the great pictures the
event organizer gave me here.
Happy new year to one and all! I've got some nice new treats for the first update
of 2005.
I've posted some screen captures from the documentary that comes with the
Star Wars trilogy DVD in Ewok Pictures Part 3.
The documentary includes a recent interview with Warwick and some old (circa 1982)
behind the scenes film clips of young Warwick on the Return of the Jedi set. These
film clips were not remastered for the documentary and the original footage
is a bit blurry, so my screen captures don't have the sharpness and clarity
that DVD usually provides. But they're still wonderful pictures, and the screen cap
that I took from the interview portion of the documentary is nice and sharp!
There's a variety of news on The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy. On December 20, the Ain't It Cool News posted a
review of the
movie. The spoiler-free review was favorable overall, and the most important part
came near the end:
Besides being favorable, the review was EXTREMELY early considering that the
movie won't be released until May. At first I wondered if the review might
be a hoax, but
Planet Magrathea also posted a
December 20 story stating:
I went looking for information on voice casting in December and failed
utterly. Some information has surfaced now, but it's contradictory.
IMDb says it's Stephen Moore,
who provided Marvin's voice in some earlier incarnations of the Hitchhiker.
I suspect that's just an inaccurate bit of wishful thinking, because today
Planet Magrathea reported that Alan Rickman will do Marvin's voice. The PM webmaster
usually knows what he's talking about and said this news was revealed in a BBC
interview with the director, so the story is highly believable. The report also
said that at the time the interview was taped (before Christmas) Rickman's contract
hadn't actually been signed yet but the director wouldn't have revealed this casting
news unless it was a sure thing.
It seems to me that it couldn't have
been Rickman's voice in the early edition of the movie because it wouldn't make
sense for him to do the work before his contract was finalized. So whose voice was
it in the version that AICN reviewed? I have NO idea - maybe it was Warwick!
I'm really sorry that Warwick won't get to do
the voice as well as the body, but if it couldn't be him then I'm really glad
that Alan Rickman got the job - he has one of the sexiest voices in the galaxy.
The Hitchhiker's official
site has been revamped to get rid of the trick entry where you couldn't
get into the site until you'd pressed a red button that they'd warned you not
to press. I guess their little joke was keeping too many people out of the
site! Their downloads section features a gorgeous desktop of Marvin that looks as
though it's going to be used for some of the movie's poster art. You can
see a smaller version of it in Other Pictures
Part 3 which is the place where I've moved all my Hitchhiker's pictures.
The Dark Horizons website has a nice clear
photo
of Zaphod, Trillian, Marvin and Ford on the bridge of the Heart of Gold.
This is the first clear shot I've seen of Marvin with the other actors and showing the
front of the final costume.
In other news, IMDb recently added a listing for
Agent One-Half. I've got more
information on the film here.
News Archives:
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000
November 5, 2005
October 10, 2005
September 25, 2005
September 17, 2005
September 10, 2005
August 27, 2005
"I'm currently working with the BBC developing some children's science
programming. You'll see me in Harry Potter Four, coming out in November. I'm also
developing a talk show called 'Small Talk'."
July 31, 2005
July 24, 2005
July 1, 2005
June 16, 2005
June 5, 2005
May 29, 2005
May 22, 2005
May 15, 2005 IMPORTANT NEWS-SECOND UPDATE OF THE DAY!
"When I got to talk with him, I asked, 'What about "Willow,"
George?" People are crying out for another movie. I get asked about it all of
the time," Davis explained. "He said, 'There probably won't be another movie,
but we have thought about doing a TV series. He said, 'That would keep you busy,
wouldn't it?' Actually, the fans asked him the same question and he gave them
the same response."
May 15, 2005
May 8, 2005
May 1, 2005
April 24, 2005
Beyond Indy, Lucas also answered a question about another popular Lucasfilm character,
Willow Ufgood. His response to a fan who asked about the possibilities of Willow II: "I
was actually just talking to Warwick Davis backstage, and we were communing on the
possibility, wouldn't it be wonderful to someday do a Willow TV series. I can't say
that we'll do that, but, [Lucasfilm] is moving into television, and a lot of ideas
are popping up."
CS!: What about the inspiring casting of Marvin as an amalgam of Warwick Davis
(the Ewok from "Return of the Jedi") with the voice of Alan Rickman (from the
Harry Potter movies)?
April 9, 2005
March 27, 2005
March 20, 2005
March 17, 2005
March 9, 2005
March 2, 2005
February 28, 2005
February 19, 2005
February 11, 2005
February 3, 2005
January 28, 2005
January 21, 2005
January 20, 2005
January 15, 2005
January 3, 2005
"Warwick Davis’ Marvin the depressed android steals the show. His
perfect monotone cadence and
pitiful attitude make for a great contrast for the rest of the Heart of Gold’s
upbeat mood."
Thanks to Paul Smith for telling me about the review.
"In recent weeks, a handful of screenings have taken place on both
sides of the Atlantic for various production staff, who have been allowed to bring
along carefully selected friends and family. Although everyone present was required
to sign an agreement not to breathe a word (or lose several major organs without
anaesthetic), it comes as no surprise to find a mini-review sneaking onto the net
at AICN."
Planet Magrathea is the best source I know for reliable Hitchhiker's news, so
that convinced me that it was real. But it raised another question: who provided
Marvin's voice? They were probably screening a rough cut rather than a finished
film, so the voice in this early version might not even be the one that will
be heard in the final edition.
