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| Tragedy strikes as the High Aldwyn (Billy Barty) sends young Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) on a quest to save their Nelwyn village. |
With this invocation, the High Aldwyn of the Nelwyns - a race of Hobbit-sized farmers living in the Utopian shelter of the Nelwyn Valley - inspires his apprentice, Willow Ufgood, to go on a quest to fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Welcome to Willow, a George Lucas production directed by Ron Howard that promises to be the fantasy film event of the decade. Many - including George (Star Wars) Lucas - have tried, but few have succeeded in their endeavor to translate the quest fantasy to the big screen. But Willow looks like it might succeed where The Dark Crystal, Legend, and Labyrinth have failed.
What do we mean by "quest fantasy"? Specifically, it's the genre immortalized in the twentieth century by J.R.R. Tolkien, whose novels - The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy - have inspired and mystified readers and artists all over the world. But beyond Tolkien, the traditions of the quest fantasy can be seen in the great myth cycles of cultures everywhere, from the ancient Celts, Greeks, and Norsemen to present-day Australian aborigines and American Indians.
George Lucas is clearly aware of this tradition. In a recent appearance in a documentary film about the late mythographer and literary critic Joseph Campbell, Lucas paid tribute to Campbell and his theories. Lucas even attributed the birth of the Star Wars cycle specifically to what he'd learned from Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's study of the mythic savior/warrior who appears and reappears in the myths and legends that are the touchstones of human consciousness and culture.
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| For Willow, Director Ron Howard and Executive Producer George Lucas assembled the largest group of little people ever to appear in a feature film. |
Which means that Willow may be not only a kind of homage to Tolkien, but also a document to the analytical genius of Joseph Campbell. And in fact, Willow director Ron Howard, together with George Lucas, actually discussed the making of Willow with Campbell shortly before his death last year at the age of eighty-three.
Willow began to take shape in 1985 when George Lucas called Ron Howard and told him that he had an idea he wanted to discuss. "He had the beginning of the story of Willow," says Howard. "It was something that he'd been wrestling around with for almost ten years, a kind of fantasy film based specifically on this kind of main character."
In a New York Times interview, Lucas himself described Willow as a "pure fantasy" film that came out of his psyche. "It's more mythological than other works I've done... a whole world that doesn't exist had to be created."
Willow is set in a magical world inhabited by humans, trolls, sorcerers, dragons, brownies, elves, and the child-like, prelapsarian race of little people called the Nelwyns. The landscape of this world - in keeping with the conventions of this genre - is a geographical reflection of the moral character of its inhabitants; the antagonists dwell among the blasted heaths and volcanic crags of the land called Nockmaar; the Nelwyn live in a peaceful, fertile valley; and the brownies flit about the pastoral, wooded Hills of Cherlindrea.
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| In her throne room, the evil queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) plots the destruction of the child Willow has pledged to save. |
The film's hero is Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), a Nelwyn "chosen" to rescue a human child (the "big people" are called Daikini in the film) named Elora Danana, and to carry her to the Camelot-like kingdom of Tir Asleen. The journey is undertaken to fulfill a prophecy and therby bring about the downfall of the Evil Sorceress, Bavmorda (Jean Marsh). Aiding the sweetly innocent, Hobbit-like Willow in his quest are Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), a wise-cracking, ever-resourceful Daikini warrior; and two brownies (characters created entirely by magic - that is, Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic). Willow's chief adversaries, besides Bavmorda, the Primal Priestess of Cults and Covens, are General Kael (Pat Roach), Bavmorda's villainous, skull-faced enforcer, and his blood-thirsty, indefatigable "Death Dogs."
"It's completely different from anything I've worked on," says Howard, who is, of course, best known as the director of Splash and Cocoon, two of the most successful fantasy films of the last ten years. "But I have four kids, and George knew I was interested in the genre." Lucas knew about Howard's interest because three years before the start of Willow, Howard and Brian Grazer (Howard's partner in the production company, Imagine Films) went to Lucas with an idea for an "extreme" fantasy film that never panned out. "It was technically very difficult, and we were unable to solve that project. But I still had this gnawing desire to work with that style of picture and do it while my own kids were young."
So after their second meeting, Howard told Lucas he'd "think about" making Willow. But he called him back the very next day. "I said, "I didn't have to think too long,'" explains Howard, who adds that Willow was "far and away the most difficult film" he's ever made. "But it also felt familiar to make," he explained, "because it's derived from the roots of story-telling itself."
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| Bavmorda dispatches General Kael (Pat Roach), leader of the Nockmaar legions, to track down Willow and his companions. |
Howard, a former child actor, was first introduced to fantasy films when his father took him to meet special-effects expert Tim Barr. "Fantasy literature didn't play a large part in my own childhood, but several fantasy films did," says Howard. "I like the Sinbad films a lot, for instance. But Tim Barr was working on both George Pal's The Time Machine and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. I knew the Grimm stories, of course. But when I saw them on the screen, it was like opening a door to me, in terms of what movies could do. Yes, I worked on The Andy Griffith Show. But that was really just people talking and the camera shooting it. I didn't ever think at all about movie magic, so I became really interested in those kinds of movies and saw all the Ray Harryhausen stuff. I hadn't been a huge buff, but from that point forward, I was a big fan."
Howard was introduced to the more serious aspect of myth and fantasy after he met Joseph Campbell, about thirty years later. "It was kind of by accident. He was just passing through after we had 'broken' the story. And Bob Dolman (the screenwriter) and George and I spent about two hours taking turns telling sections of it to him. Campbell was very polite and very supportive, and occasionally he would stop us and say, 'Gee, that's a wonderful variation on this ancient theme...' It made us feel very good."
On the subject of collaborating with George Lucas, Howard is quick to point out that the experience is probably different for each collaborator. "I thought it was great to have somebody around who'd done that kind of movie before, so I may have been more open to his presence than others have been. Basically, George thinks of himself as a conceptualizer, a writer and an idea man. It's his company and his story, so you're going to have to listen to his arguments. And even though he's accomplished about the stuff in between, if he really liked doing it, he'd be directing these movies himself. But he doesn't, and when it comes to actors, he looks to the director to make the scene play."
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| Ron Howard sees his role as making Willow not only a visually spectacular fantasy film, but a moving human drama as well. |
In fact, Lucas was also working with Francis Coppola on the film Tucker - a saga about a legendary automobile manufacturer - at the time Willow was being shot. "So it's not like he was secretly co-directing or anything like that," says Howard. "But I would describe him as a very strong, hands-on producer. He won't be shut out of the process."
Is the film a tribute to Tolkien? "Well," says Howard, "I have not read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. So I don't know. George said that comparisons would be made, especially since Willow's a little guy. From what I can gather, it's part of that same fantasy realm."
Howard isn't sure what the enduring appeal of the genre is, but he thinks it has something to do with the link between historical time and mythological time. "Kids find real history boring," he says. "But my daughter loves stories that take place in 'the olden times.' So I think that when you create a strange, old-looking world, kids are fascinated by it."
Theories aside, a film like Willow seems like such a massive undertaking, one wonders where the filmmakers begin in practical terms to realize the vision. "It's a huge undertaking, but it's not unlike making any other kind of movie. It just requires more support and it demands people who can stand up to constant challenge. We began with the production designer," explains Howard, referring to Allan Cameron, whose work in Aliens, 1984, Highlander, and The French Lieutenant's Woman bode well for Willow. According to Howard, a production designer like Cameron will then suggest a team of players to be brought in. "Yes, it builds from there. John Richardson, who won an Oscar for Aliens for example, then became our floor effects man."
For inspiration, Howard and his designers spent four or five months in late '86 and early '87 poking around museums, looking through costume books and listening to a lot of old Celtic music ("which has an almost Japanese sound"). At the same time, he and Lucas had the ILM design team go to work creating costumes and creatures, and they also brough in "outside" artists to visualize the look of the film as well, in some cases just to modify existing designs. One of the "outsiders" brought in was the acclaimed French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud. "It was a very exciting period to go through," says Howard. We'd say, 'Oh, we need a dragon, something a little different,' and people would bring in drawing of two-headed dragons, four-headed dragons, dragons that looked like crocodiles, all kinds of things. And you sit around and discuss the merits of dragons. It was great fun."
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| The fiery chemistry between the brash Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and Queen Bavmorda's warrior daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) is expected to appeal to older viewers. |
One of Giraud's tasks was to make sketches of characters and armor. "He really led us to the look of Madmartigan," says Howard. "We took one of his drawings and just decided that that's what we wanted." For Howard, who wasn't familiar with contemporary fantasy illustration, working with artists like Moebius was an eye-opener. "It's fascinating to see how they've freed their imaginations and created entire worlds within their own minds."
On a somewhat more sober note, even George Lucas has said that the fantasy quest genre "has seemed to be poison at the box office." What will make Willow succeed where others have failed? "I think that our movie is really emotional and character-driven. If you're one to give yourself over to fantasy at all, you'll find Willow a character you can identify with easily. The characters in Willow are not simply moving the plot. In fact, that was always supposed to be my contribution to the movie. It's easier said than done, of course. But I think the characters are interesting, funny to watch, and touching. The other difference is that we don't rely on the visual aspects of this movie for the entertainment value, at all. It's about people and adventure. Everything else is secondary," explains Howard, who has an option to "participate" in any sequels to the film. "I'd be open to it," he adds.
In light of some of the similarities in the plot and characterizations, Willow will almost certainly be compared to the Star Wars films. "It will be compared," says Howard. "And when you look at the storyline, some of the comparisons are kind of appropriate, really. I'm sure Madmartigan will be compared to Han Solo, for example, even though I think he's more of a type of 'Yojimbo.'"
How important will the fans be to whether or not Willow succeeds? After all, it's opening on May 25, opposite Rambo III, a sure-fire blockbuster. "The fans are going to be crucial. It's honestly hard to say what the critical reaction will be," says Howard. "But I do think that the movie is going to speak to a certain group, and I hope that it lives up to their hopes and expectations."
In the end, hopes and expectations are what films like Willow are all about.
Even the cynics, who wonder if the film will be the third trip-up in Lucas's
Labyrinth, Howard the Duck two-step, would be well-advised to take the
High Aldwin's advice: "Forget all you know or think you know..."
