Willow.
Sorsha.
Madmartigan.
Queen Bavmorda

Filmmaker George Lucas

Each an important element in the making of a cinematic legend, in the creation of a time where dreams and reality exist side by side, a place of myth and magic.

Willow Ufgood, a member of the Nelwyn, little people who wish only to farm in peace. Sorsha, a woman torn between loyalty and love, daughter of the evil queen. Madmartigan, an outcast Daikini warrior, who will match wits and strength with any adversary, no matter how unhuman or unworldly. Bavmorda, the sinister sorceress whose treachery ensnares them all in an incredible struggle that could save the world - or destroy it.

Their adventure begins when Willow finds a baby - a special child destined to halt the malevolent queen's reign of terror - on the riverbank near his home. To aid fate's plan, he must take the long, hazardous journey to Tir Asleen, a castle where the tiny girl will be safe from Bavmorda's power. Along the way, he encounters a legion of friends and fiends, including the fearsome General Kael; the nine-inch-high brownies, Rool and Franjean; Airk and his rebel warriors; the disagreeable Prefect Burglekutt; the terrifying Death Dogs; as well as hundreds of soldiers, trolls and even a two-headed, fire-breathing monster.

Warwick Davis.
Joanne Whalley.
Val Kilmer.
Jean Marsh.

"I was on holiday with a friend when my mother rang with a message about a new film," recalls young English actor Warwick Davis, who was discovered by George Lucas, and cast as Wicket, one of the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. "So, after returning home, I went to the studio to meet Mr. Lucas and Ron Howard, the director. They saw Willow as older, and had doubts that I could play him - I was only 16. But, after they decided to lower everyone else's age, it worked out very well. I still play the character a little older than my real age - after all, in the story, I have a wife and two small children."

Madmartigan rides into battle.

British-born Joanne Whalley also began her career very young. After making her acting debut at age 12 in a TV play, she appeared in many BBC productions including The Edge of Darkness and The Singing Detective, in addition to numerous theatrical efforts, such as The Edward Bond Season, for which she won a Best Actress nomination in the Olivier Awards.

"The characters in Willow are real people with real emotions," she points out, emphasizing that they are not standard sword-and-sorcery cut-outs. "I don't look upon Sorsha as a mythical character, and one of the things I like best about the script is its earthy reality."

Val Kilmer stars as the handsome, but undisciplined warrior who aids Willow in his quest. "Madmartigan is a soldier on skid row when he first meets his friend; he's seen better days, and doesn't realize how much the little Nelwyn is going to change his life and reform him. In a way, Willow, at 3'4", is Madmartigan's big brother."

Perhaps best known for his role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in Top Gun, the actor also appeared in Top Secret and Real Genius. An LA native, he was accepted at age 17 in New York's Juilliard School, made his Broadway debut in Slab Boys with Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon, and later was featured in Joseph Papp's production of Henry IV. A serious poet, he is currently in the process of making his own docu-drama.

"This is such a precarious industry," he cautions. "We take acting opportunites as they come along. Eventually, though, I'd like to direct subjects like the one I'm currently working on." Portraying a mythical warrior, however, was more challenging than Kilmer expected.

Billy Barty advises Willow.

"Playing a scene while sitting in a rehearsal room is very different from playing it on a horse. Actually, I discovered many things I hadn't anticipated - such as acting in torrential rain!" One of the most demanding aspects of the film was the technique used for weapons handling, developed with dueling expert Bill Hobbs.

"We were looking for an original fighting style, combining elements George Lucas liked in Japanese culture," Kilmer reveals. "So, we created an approach for Madmartigan which combined Samurai sword movement and juggling." The actor required less coaching for the film's romantic scenes, and even wrote his own happy ending to one facet of the production. In March 1988, Kilmer wed his Willow co-star Joanne Whalley.

Jean Marsh, acclaimed stage and film actress who scored an Emmy as the lead in PBS's Upstairs, Downstairs, is Queen Bavmorda, while Patricia (The Neverending Story) Hayes counters hers spells as the good sorceress, Fin Raziel. Giant 6'6" Pat (Raiders of the Lost Ark) Roach appears as the dreaded General Kael opposite 3'9" Billy (Legend) Barty as the wise and magical High Aldwin. Rugged Gavan (Death Wish III) O'Herlihy is featured as Airk, leader of the Daikini army, while diminutive David (The Equalizer) Steinberg plays Willow's friend, Meegosh.

Action.
Danger.
Fantasy.
Adventure.

"To make this kind of film effective, an immaculate reality that exists only for the moment of the story must be created," George Lucas says. "Without this, fantasy won't work!"

The infant and her protectors.

The famed writer/producer/director studied myths from around the world before defining Willow to his satisfaction. After extracting elements from a multitude of sources, Bob Dolman was called in to complete the script, and pre-production began almost a year before cameras actually rolled. Using England's Elstree Studios as their base, an army of craftsman started construction on dozens of sets - including castles, dungeons, courtyards, snow camps, towers and moats - under the direction of designer Allan (The Fourth Protocol) Cameron.

"The film is set in a nebulous time," he says, "so almost everything had to be created from scratch. For example, because the Nelwyns live near the forest, all furnishings in their igloo-shaped houses were made of wood and roots - scaled down to suit the occupants.

"The most interesting aspect of Willow for me was designing environments as different as possible from each other. And, because the actors' sizes are so varied - from tiny brownies to the titanic Nockmaar general - a sense of scale always had to be maintained. From the trolls to the 30-foot monsters, we had to knit them all together visually."

Prosthetic make-up designer Nick (Labyrinth) Dudman and crew took on the formidable task of producing dozens of trolls, beasts and other creatures in the film, as well as actors' enhancements, a full seven months before Willow's April 1987 start date. Meanwhile, the search began to locate more than 600 uniforms, complete with armor, to clothe the picture's myriad of troops. Costume houses in England, Spain and Italy ultimately produced the required material, including helmets, breast plates and chain mail - more than six tons of medieval armor.

The Eborsisk

Gathering more than 200 little people to portray the Nelwyn villagers presented an even greater problem. Casting began in the United Kingdom, then extended to Germany, France, Holland, Ireland and other European countries. Most of those selected not only had never been to London, they didn't even speak English.

Almost 500 extras and 200 horses were used to film the army's marching scenes which were staged thousands of miles away in Queenstown, New Zealand. Lensing in the area proved to be both an asset and a liability to the company, considering the spectacular mountain lakes and snow-capped peaks - many of which were accessible only by helicopter.

"The footage we obtained in the sub-zero weather is breathtaking," Lucas says, "far outweighing the difficulty in achieving it. The daily challenge was ferrying the cast and crew to the mountain-top sets, but the results speak for themselves."

"Willow is an epic film with many complicated scenes," admits director Ron Howard, "but, the most involved was the climactic battle between 500 soldiers on the castle grounds, while the fight waged by the two sorceresses rages in the tower above - all in the midst of a violent rainstorm."

The snow camp escape.

In addition to the multitudes of extras and dozens of stuntmen, 150 horses were employed besides 200 pigs, a surprise element in the sequence. An unseen army of makeup, wardrobe, special fx and technical experts fought their own battle of logistics behind the cameras to make the magic happen on screen.
"We're hoping to transport audiences to a time when amazing things happened," says the director of such fantasy films as Splash and Cocoon. "It's an adventure, and often, it's a bit larger than life. It's about very unlikely heroes and their efforts - both successful and unsuccessful - learning to trust themselves, following their hearts and doing what they believe is right."

Cameron.
Howard.
Lucas.
Willow.

Holding the baby, Willow races across the Tir Asleen tower bridge.

Madmartigan duels Kael inside the Nockmaar castle.

Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) in combat with the Nockmaar warriors.

Val Kilmer as Madmartigan.