| Willow | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Produced by | George Lucas Joe Johnston Nigel Wooll |
| Screenplay by | Bob Dolman |
| Story by | George Lucas |
| Starring | Warwick Davis Val Kilmer Joanne Whalley Jean Marsh Patricia Hayes Billy Barty Pat Roach |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Editing by | Daniel P. Hanley Mike Hill Richard Hiscott |
| Studio | Lucasfilm Imagine Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | May 20, 1988 |
| Running time | 126 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35-50 million[1] |
| Box office | $57,269,863 (USA) |
Willow is a 1988 American fantasy film directed by Ron Howard and produced/co-written by George Lucas. Warwick Davis stars in the film, as well as Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh, and Patricia Hayes. With a sword and sorcery setting, Davis stars as the eponymous lead character and hero Willow, a reluctant farmer who plays a critical role in protecting a special baby from a tyrannical queen.
Lucas conceived the idea for Willow in 1972, approaching Howard to direct during the post-production phase of Cocoon in 1985. Lucas believed he and Howard shared a relationship similar to the one Lucas enjoyed with Steven Spielberg. Bob Dolman was brought in to write the screenplay, coming up with seven drafts before finishing in late 1986. Willow was then set up at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and principal photography began in April 1987, finishing the following October.
The majority of filming took place at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, as well as Wales and New Zealand. Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects sequences, which led to a revolutionary breakthrough with digital morphing technology. Willow was released in May 1988 to mixed reviews from critics, but was a modest financial success and received two Academy Award nominations.
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Fearful of a prophecy stating that a girl child will be born to bring about her downfall, the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) imprisons all pregnant women within her realm, the formidable stronghold of Nockmaar. The child, Elora Danan, is born in the Nockmaar dungeons and identified as the prophesied child by a birthmark on her arm.
However, before the black sorceress arrives to claim the child, Elora's mother convinces her reluctant midwife to escape with the baby. Bavmorda sends her daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) and General Kael (Pat Roach), the leader of her army, after the midwife to retrieve Elora. After a long pursuit, the Nockmaar hounds finally catch up with the midwife. Knowing she can't escape, she puts the baby on a makeshift raft and sends it downstream, trusting fate to run its course, just before she is caught and torn apart by the hounds. The child washes up on shore near a village inhabited by a race of dwarf-like people called Nelwyns, derisively called "Pecks" by humans, and is found by the children of Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), a farmer and amateur conjurer (though he has actual, if latent, magical talent). Willow is at first loath to take in the child, but eventually he comes to care for it.
The next day, Willow and his children attend a celebration in their village and Willow takes part in a 'test of magic' to become the apprentice to the village's wizard. During the celebration, a Nockmaar hound, that was tracking the baby, attacks the village. Once the cause of the attack is found, Willow is chosen by the town council to return the child to the world of the "large people," or Daikini (humans). The first Daikini Willow comes upon is a boastful warrior named Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), being held captive in a crow's cage by the side of the road for an unspecified crime (possibly desertion). Seeing a way to escape his cage, Madmartigan offers to take care of the baby. During their interaction, they meet the retreating army of the kingdom of Galladoorn, which was recently destroyed by Bavmorda, under the leadership of Madmartigan's old friend Airk Thaughbaer, an officer in the army. With no alternative, Willow entrusts the baby to Madmartigan, but on his way home, Willow is attacked by a clan of Brownies, who stole the baby from Madmartigan. Willow is then told by the fairy queen of the forest, Cherlindrea, that the baby, Elora Danan, has chosen Willow to be her guardian. She gives Willow her magic wand and commissions him to find the sorceress Fin Raziel, with two of her brownies, Franjean and Rool, acting as his guides. Along the way, they bump into Madmartigan again, who helps them escape from Sorsha.
Willow and the rest of the group finally meet Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes), only to find that the sorceress has been turned into a possum by Bavmorda. Soon afterwards Sorsha captures Willow and the others, and they start the long trek to Nockmaar castle. In a mountain camp, Willow attempts to use magic to turn Fin Raziel back into her human form, but transforms her into a raven instead. Franjean and Rool cause further mayhem when they accidentally expose Madmartigan to a fairy love dust they are carrying, which makes him become infatuated with Sorsha, but eventually they manage to escape.
The group eventually finds the castle of Tir Asleen, which has been put under Bavmorda's spell; all its inhabitants are frozen in ice. Madmartigan, refusing to give up hope, prepares for Sorsha's attack while Willow once again fails transforming Raziel into human form, this time turning her into a goat. Sorsha, Kael and their army arrive and give battle. Willow also has to handle a few trolls, and after a botched magic spell, even transforms one into a horrific two-headed dragon. Luckily, the remnants of the Army of Galladoorn arrive just in time to relieve the friends. A battle ensues, and Sorsha finally discovers her love for Madmartigan. Kael, however, captures Elora and takes her to Nockmaar.
Willow, Madmartigan, Sorsha, the Brownies, Fin Raziel, and Airk's army set up camp at Nockmaar, preparing to storm the castle in a final attempt to rescue Elora. Bavmorda turns all the soldiers into pigs, but Raziel quickly teaches Willow how to protect himself from the spell. Willow finally returns Raziel to human form, and the sorceress is able to transform the soldiers back to their true forms as well. Since Nockmaar's walls seems impenetrable, all despair until Willow proposes a trick which gets them inside the walls: The army appears to have deserted, while Raziel and Willow provoke the Nockmaar army into attacking, abandoning the security of the castle. At the last minute, everyone else comes out of hiding from under tents and pits, ambushing the enemy. While Madmartigan, Airk and his soldiers battle Kael and the Nockmaar army in the courtyard, Willow, Fin Raziel and Sorsha ascend the castle's main tower trying to locate Elora. They find Bavmorda in the process of initiating an evil ritual that will banish Elora's body and soul to a nether-realm. Below, Kael kills Airk, then engages an enraged Madmartigan in a lengthy battle, which ends with Madmartigan killing the General. Using one of his sleight-of-hand tricks, Willow saves Elora and causes Bavmorda to get caught in her own ritual, banishing her body and soul forever. Willow leaves the baby in caring arms of Madmartigan and Sorsha and returns to his Nelwyn village and his beloved family with a special reward: a spellbook from Raziel, which helps him develop his own magical abilities.
George Lucas conceived the idea for Willow (originally titled Munchkins) in 1972. Lucas' desire for Willow was similar to Star Wars, and created "a number of well-known mythological situations for a young audience".[4][5] During the production of Return of the Jedi in 1982, Lucas approached Warwick Davis, who was portraying Wicket the Ewok, about playing Willow Ufgood. Five years passed before he was actually cast in the role. Lucas "thought it would be great to use a little person in a lead role. A lot of my movies are about a little guy against the system, and this was just a more literal interpretation of that idea."[4]
Lucas explained that he had to wait until the mid-1980s to make Willow because visual effects technology was finally advanced enough to execute his vision.[5] Meanwhile, actor-turned-director Ron Howard was looking to do a fantasy film. Howard was at Industrial Light & Magic during the post-production phase of Cocoon, when he was first approached by Lucas to direct Willow. Howard had previously starred in Lucas' American Graffiti,[6] and Lucas felt that he and Howard shared a simpatico relationship similar to the one Lucas enjoyed with Steven Spielberg. Howard nominated Bob Dolman to write the screenplay based on Lucas' story. Dolman worked with Howard on an unsold television pilot called Little Shots, and Lucas admired Dolman's work on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.[7]
Dolman joined Howard and Lucas at Skywalker Ranch for a series of lengthy story conferences, and wrote seven drafts of his script between the spring and fall of 1986.[7] Pre-production began in late-1986. Various major film studios turned down the chance to distribute and co-finance Willow with Lucasfilm because they believed the fantasy genre was unsuccessful. This was largely due to films such as Krull, Legend, Dragonslayer and Labyrinth.[8] Lucas took Willow to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which was headed by Alan Ladd, Jr. Ladd and Lucas shared a relationship as far back as the mid-1970s, when Ladd, running 20th Century Fox, greenlighted Lucas' idea for Star Wars.[9] However, in 1986, MGM was facing financial troubles and its major investment of a fantasy film was perceived as a risk. Ladd advanced half the $36,000,000 budget for Willow in return for theatrical and television rights, leaving Lucasfilm with home video and pay television rights to offer in exchange for the other half.[9]
Lucas based the character of General Kael (Pat Roach) on the famous film critic Pauline Kael.[10] On a similar route, the two-headed dragon was named "Eborsisk" after film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.[1]
Principal photography began on April 2, 1987 and ended that following October. Interior footage took place at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, while location shooting took place in Wales and New Zealand.[9] Lucas initially visualized shooting Willow similar to Return of the Jedi, with studio scenes at Elstree and locations in Northern California, but the idea eventually faded. However, some exteriors were done around Skywalker Ranch and on location at Burney Falls, near Mount Shasta.[11] The Chinese government refused Lucas the chance for a brief location shoot. He then sent a group of photographers to South China to photograph specific scenery, which was then used for background blue screen footage. Tongariro National Park in New Zealand was chosen to house Bavmorda's castle.[11]
Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) created the visual effects sequences. The script called for Willow to restore Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes) from a goat to her original human form. Willow recites what he thinks is the appropriate spell, but turns the goat into an ostrich, and then a tortoise, and finally a tiger, before returning Raziel to her human body. ILM supervisor Dennis Muren considered using stop motion animation for the scene.[12] He also explained that another traditional and practical way in the late-1980s to execute this sequence would have been through the use of an optical dissolve with cutaways at various stages.[9]
Muren found both stop motion and optical effects to be too technically challenging and decided that the transformation scene would be a perfect opportunity for ILM to create advances with digital morphing technology. Muren proposed filming each animal, and the actress doubling for Patricia Hayes, and then feeding the images into a computer program developed by Doug Smythe (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Iron Man).[9] The program would then create a smooth transition from one stage to another before outputting the result back onto film. Smythe began development of the necessary software in September 1987. By March 1988, the impressive result Muren and fellow designer David Allen (Young Sherlock Holmes, Ghostbusters II) achieved what would represent a breakthrough for computer-generated imagery (CGI).[9]
| Willow | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by James Horner | |
| Released | 1988 |
| Genre | Film music |
| Length | 69:23 |
| Label | Virgin |
| Producer | James Horner, Shawn Murphy |
The film score was written by James Horner and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.[13]
'Willow's Theme' is conspicuously similar to the opening of the first movement ("Lebhaft") of Robert Schumanns Symphony No 3.
Willow was shown and promoted at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.[14][15] The film was released on May 20, 1988 in 1,209 theaters, earning $8,300,169 in its opening weekend opening at #1. Despite making over $57 million at the North American box office,[16] Willow was not the blockbuster hit insiders had anticipated.[17] Lucas had hoped Willow would earn as much money as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,[15] but the film faced early competition with Crocodile Dundee II, Big and Rambo III.[18] However, the film was not a financial flop; with strong foreign, home video, and television sales, Willow did make a profit.[19]
Willow was released to mixed reviews from critics.[15] Based on 23 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of the critics enjoyed Willow with an average score of 5.4/10.[20]
Janet Maslin from The New York Times praised Lucas' storytelling, but was critical of Ron Howard's direction. "Howard appears to have had his hands full in simply harnessing the special effects," Maslin said.[21]
Desson Thomson, writing in The Washington Post, explained "Rob Reiner's similar fairytale adventure The Princess Bride (which Willow cinematographer Adrian Biddle also shot) managed to evoke volumes more without razzle-dazzle. It's a sad thing to be faulting Lucas, maker of the Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark, for forgetting the tricks of entertainment."[22] Mike Clark in USA Today wrote that "the rainstorm wrap-up, in which Good edges Evil is like Led Zeppelin Meets The Wild Bunch. Willow is probably too much for young children and possibly too much of the same for cynics. But any 6–13-year-old who sees this may be bitten by the "movie bug" for life."[9]
Sound designers Ben Burtt and Richard Hymns of Skywalker Sound were nominated the Academy Award for Sound Editing, but lost to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The visual effects supervisors also lost the Academy Award for Visual Effects to Roger Rabbit, which was similarly done by Industrial Light & Magic.[23] Costume designer Barbara Lane won the Saturn Award for Best Costume Design. Warwick Davis (Performance by a Younger Actor) and Jean Marsh (Supporting Actress) also received nominations. Willow also lost the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film[24] and Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation to Roger Rabbit.[25] George Lucas and Bob Dolman (Worst Screenplay) and Billy Barty (Worst Supporting Actor) were given Golden Raspberry Award nominations.[26]
The film was released on DVD as a "special edition" in November 2001 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The release included an audio commentary by Warwick Davis and two "making of" featurettes. In the commentary, Davis confirms that there were a number of "lost scenes" previously rumored to have been deleted from the film including a battle in the valley, Willow battling a boy who transforms into a shark in a lake while retrieving Fin Raziel, and an extended sorceress duel at the climax.[27] (Though removed from the theatrical version, the battle with the lake monster was retained for both Marvel Comics' adaptation and Wayland Drew's novelization of the film.)
Lucas outlined the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy to follow the film and hired comic book writer/novelist Chris Claremont to adapt them into a series of books. They take place about fifteen years after the original film and feature the now teenage Elora Danan as the central character.
Since the film's release in 1988, Lucas and Davis commented in April 2005 that a television series acting as a sequel was under consideration.[28] In June 2008, Davis reiterated his hopes to return for a theatrically released second installment of Willow.[29] Davis also mentioned on his Twitter account on November 2, 2009, that he would be interested in doing a sequel.
The film (and its reputed commercial failure) is widely referenced in the 2011 BBC Two TV comedy, Life's Too Short, which also stars Warwick Davis.
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