Willow (film)
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| Willow | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Produced by | Joe Johnston George Lucas Nigel Wooll |
| Written by | George Lucas (story) Bob Dolman (screenplay) |
| Starring | Val Kilmer Joanne Whalley Warwick Davis Jean Marsh Patricia Hayes Billy Barty |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Adrian Biddle |
| Distributed by | MGM (U.S.) |
| Release date(s) | May 20, 1988 (USA) |
| Running time | 126 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Willow is a 1988 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard, based on a story by George Lucas.
Contents |
[edit] Production
The film was notable for employing more dwarfs than any production in many years, and was widely praised by the "little person" community for employing Davis as the lead. The film also used morphing special effects to transform an old sorceress into various animals, a revolutionary effect for the time.
As an interesting sidenote, the two-headed monster in the film, the Ebersisk, was named as a reference to popular movie critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel; the villainous General Kael was also named for a critic, noted female journalist, Pauline Kael.
Filming action scenes in the snow of a New Zealand winter prompted Val Kilmer to remark that he wished his wardrobe shirt had buttons, as the open shirt bared his chest to the cold.
Much of the concept art, such as creature designs and storyboard art, was drawn by Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Christos Achilleos. Ultimately, the designs which appeared in the final film were considerably different from those initial designs; several sequences were also completely cut from the film due to time constraints. One such scene was a battle at sea in which the heroes narrowly escape a giant sea monster, which was depicted as a huge anthropomorphic shark in storyboard artwork.
[edit] Synopsis
Lucas' story is Tolkienesque; a young farmer named Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), one of a halfling-like people called Nelwyns, is drawn away from his sheltered home to save Elora Danan (a baby girl with a destiny) from the evil queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) who would see her destroyed.
Willow is aided by the disillusioned master swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), who has turned to a life of roguery, and the sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes), who has been turned into a muskrat by Bavmorda. They are initially thwarted, but later joined, by the queen's daughter Sorsha (played by Joanne Whalley, later Kilmer's wife).
[edit] Release
[edit] Reception
The film recieved mostly negative reviews and had a mediocre box office performance. The performances (particularly Davis') and special effects were generally praised, but the film's story was widely dismissed as too derivative of Tolkien and other fantasy authors. The film's poor response may have been due to the previews, which were vague, i.e. "Forget all that you know... or that you think you know."
Another factor in the films lackluster box office performance was that many scenes, plot elements, and creature designs which would have improved the effect of the movie were completely cut due to time and budget constraints. Over the years, however, Willow has developed a strong cult following.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Val Kilmer | Madmartigan |
| Joanne Whalley | Sorsha |
| Warwick Davis | Willow Ufgood |
| Jean Marsh | Queen Bavmorda |
| Patricia Hayes | Fin Raziel |
| Billy Barty | High Aldwin |
| Pat Roach | General Kael |
| Gavan O'Herlihy | Airk Thaughbaer |
| David Steinberg | Meegosh |
| Phil Fondacaro | Vohnkar |
| Tony Cox | Vohnkar warrior |
| Robert Gillibrand | Vohnkar warrior |
| Mark Northover | Burglekutt |
| Kevin Pollak | Rool |
| Rick Overton | Franjean |
[edit] DVD release
Willow was released on DVD on November 27, 2001. The film was presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with its sound remixed in 5.1 surround sound.
Features:
- Available Subtitles: English
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Commentary by: Warwick Davis (Unknown Format)
- "Willow: The Making of an Adventure" (original 1988 featurette)
- "From Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Filmmaking"
- TV spots and trailers
- Photo gallery
[edit] Soundtrack
The music in the film was composed by James Horner, in what is considered to be a very strong musical score. Distinct echoes of Robert Schumann's Rhenish Symphony may be heard in the triumphant theme. The main theme also bears a resemblance to the "Redemption" motif from Richard Wagner's operatic tetralogy Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
[edit] Spinoffs
[edit] Video game
The film was the basis of the video game Willow, which was released in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Capcom and also the PC which was done by Mindscape. Capcom also created a Willow arcade game which played much differently than its console cousin, being a side-scrolling platformer rather than a Zelda clone.
[edit] Novels
The film was eventually followed by a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Chris Claremont (again from a story by George Lucas), with Elora Danan as the central character. The entries to the trilogy are:
A novelization of the original film, authored by Wayland Drew, was also available around the time of the movie's release.
[edit] TV series
In April 2005, during the Star Wars "Celebration III" fan convention, George Lucas hinted in an interview<ref> "Thank the Maker: George Lucas", starwars.com, April 19, 2005</ref> that given his company (Lucasfilm) was moving into television production again, there could be a Willow television series.
[edit] Trivia
- This film featured the very first detailed computer graphics morphing scene.
- Warwick Davis was only 17 when he was cast as Willow.
- John Cusack and Matt Frewer were both considered for the role of Madmartigan.
- Val Kilmer improvised and ad-libbed much of his dialogue.
- As an April Fool's joke on Starwars.com, both Willow and the Shadow War novel series were claimed to be part of the Star Wars canon,complete with detailed character profiles. Though the character entries were removed from the Databank proper after the joke was over, the entries remain viewable by direct link. [1]
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Willow at the Internet Movie Database
- Crossroads - In-depth site about the film and the novels
- Another fansite
- Another fansite
- The Shadow War Chronicles Willow entries on the Star Wars Databank
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