Get your own
Free Home Page
The Making of Willow
Director Ron Howard
by John Sayers & Adam Pirani
There's something about this man that you like. It's probably that warm, open feeling you get the minute you shake his hand. Maybe it's that broad, boyish grin that reminds you of a little town in North Carolina called Mayberry. Or it could be that he's taking you into his confidence, as if you were talking about Saturday night's big date at Arnold's Drive-In.
But why shouldn't we like Ron Howard? We've known him nearly all his life. Many of us first saw him as Winthrop, the little lad in The Music Man. Then, we watched him grow up on television, from his boyhood as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show through his teenage years as Ritchie Cunningham on Happy Days.
Howard has been behind the scenes as a film and TV director for nearly a decade. He may not have been seen, but the presence of an old friend was felt in Night Shift, Splash, Gung Ho and Cocoon.
Willow, his latest project, fulfills a fantasy both on and off-screen for Ron Howard. "After acting for George Lucas in American Graffiti, I always hoped for a chance to direct a picture for him," Howard says. "George had always been very supportive of both my careers as an actor and as a director."
As it so happened, Howard was looking for a chance to hone his directorial skills on a fantasy or adventure epic at the same time Lucas was looking for a director to helm Willow. "Actually," the red-haired Howard admits, "George had been thinking about this film for about 10 years. He called, and we got together to discuss it.
"At first, I was a little apprehensive. Willow was a total departure for me as a filmmaker. But, I loved fantasies when I was a kid. Now, I have children of my own, and I wanted to make a movie that I could take them to see--and one I would enjoy, as well."
Working with Lucas has been a rewarding experience for Howard. "If I was going to embark on this kind of venture, who better to do it with that Lucasfilm? It was like having a safety net. George understands fantasy and has a wonderful eye for this kind of storytelling.
"Also, he has a great rapport with the folks at Industrial Light & Magic, the fact that there aren't very many literal humans in Willow."
Howard, Lucas and screenwriter Bob Dolman spent days together hammering out the story and script of Willow. "We had a wonderful time. We worked from George's original idea. Bob and I had worked before on a couple of TV movies, and we'll be working together again on another feature.
"Anyway, we started on Willow about two years ago. We worked on and off, in concentrated bursts of activity, on the script for about a year.
"It was a very collaborative effort: The three of us would throw hundreds of ideas into the hopper. When we would agree on any one thing, Bob would go off and write it, and we would hash it out all over again. Occasionally, we would go off on a wrong track, then recover. It was a very exciting creative experience."
Howard discloses a paradox of the fantasy film. "They seem extremely simple. But structurally, fantasies are very complicated, very dense with detail. I probably spent more time in story conferences on Willow than any project I've done."
As the story took shape, selection of actors and the production crew began. The team was basically all British, with the exception of editors Dan Hanley and Mike Hill, who had worked with Howard on other films. "I really enjoyed working in Britain," he admits. "I would be happy to come back."
Many members of the team were Lucasfilm veterans, which gave the young director a comfortable confidence. "That was very helpful to me when we started, since it was such an immense project," he says. "But as we progressed, I found that Willow was just like any other movie; it had to be taken one idea, one step, one shot at a time."
Casting was an important first step. "We wanted to avoid hiring established stars," Howard explains. "We just wanted actors who would be very good in their roles. So, the cast search was the usual endless process. However, we used the same process to find Michael Keaton for Nigh Shift, and Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks for Splash. And for Willow, it worked quite well."
For instance, there's 3' 4" Warwick Davis, who plays the title role. "In the back of his mind, I think George always hoped that Warwick would play Willow, but I didn't really know that. George had originally worked with Warwick on the last Star Wars film, and he was very low-key about it. George mentioned that he knew a guy who might be a good candidate for Willow, and hoped that I would meet him.
"He bent over backwards to not force Warwick on me. After a two-continent search for actors, I finally came to the independent conclusion that Warwick was clearly the best for the role.
"When I told George, he heaved a big sigh of relief. I told him that I didn't realize it meant that much to him. He said to me that Warwick was one reason he originally became excited about Willow." The 18-year-old actor lived up to all the hopes of both executive producer and director. "I can't imagine the movie without him now. His work on the film is absolutely inspired--an extraordinary effort. And most importantly, he really had a feel for the entire filmmaking process; he's a student filmmaker himself."
Howard had similar good luck with the other Nelwyns, the little people of the world of Willow. "Mark Northover, who plays Burglekutt--the minor heavy--was wonderful. David Steinberg did a fine job as Meegosh, Willow's best friend. Julie Peters [Willow's wife Kiaya] had never acted before. Even though it's a small part, she gives a moving, memorable performance. And Willow's children were great.
"You know, working with these people was probably the most rewarding part of Willow for me. Most of these people had very little experience, and I'm so proud of the work that they've done. It's something that the audience should take completely for granted. Still, people in the know will appreciate how well these actors did. I certainly do."
The director has similar words of praise for his taller actors. "Val Kilmer, who plays Madmartigan, showed a real passion for the project. He clearly lives up to the expectations of a leading man in the kind of film. Yet, he has a delightfully light, humorous touch. And he took to the sword fighting beautifully. Bill Hobbs, our fight arranger, said Val was one of the best actors he has ever coached in sword fighting technique."
Kilmer and young Warwick Davis also nurtured a special on-screen relationship. "They were almost like The Odd Couple," Howard says, smiling. "I wish I had another 20 minutes of screen time, just to explore that relationship."
After casting, the next step is design. Howard and his team wanted to portray a complete, unified world, one with all of its own rules and guidelines. "We had to have a strong central design, but we didn't want to make it a showpiece. We didn't want to say to the audience, 'Hey, look at this swell design!' To draw attention to it would ruin the effect we sought."
The world of Willow is not what you might expect in a fantasy land. For instance, there is magic, but it's not a familiar brand of prestidigitation. "In Willow, magic must be learned, and it's a very difficult, even painful task," says Howard. "It's not just a matter of knowing the right words, pointing, and presto! The magic is very erratic and can go awry easily. You have to fail a little bit until you get good at it."
Elves, fairies and dragons also populate Willow, but "they're not quite what illustrators of the last 150 years have told us that these creatures look like. Ours are much more practical, reasonable type of fantasy character.
"For instance, there are these nine-inch tall creatures called brownies. Instead of working from the classic concept of leprechauns or elves, we looked at brownies as if they were a serious culture. How would they have lived 2,000 or 3,000 years ago? We decided that they would be somewhat aboriginal characters, a bit rough-hewn, with an arrogant sense of humor.
"We had some trouble casting the brownies," Howard begins, his tongue firmly in his cheek. "But if you look hard enough, you can actually find nine-inch people. The archaeologists have always mistaken their bones for odd lizards. There's an entire culture, though. We found our two brownies living in a can of maple syrup."
Design and odd casting aside, the work on Willow commenced. Howard had a little difficulty adjusting to the film's huge scale. "With an epic, everything is the same, it just takes longer to shoot. While it was a massive logistic effort, there really isn't much difference between shooting a fight scene among four or 400 people. It's just a question of scale and patience.
"However, I saw Willow as an epic on a secondary level. First and foremost, this is a story about some very unlikely heroes. They are emotionally involved in an issue to the point where they're willing to risk their lives and do something that they would have never expected that they could do. That's what made it interesting and fun for me."
Another complicating element for the director's job was the special effects--a critical part of Willow. "The effects work in the film is outstanding, but they won't draw attention to themselves. I wanted them all to appear seamless, to keep the picture of this world intact.
"That's not to say that the folks at Industrial Light & Magic haven't outdone themselves. The shots with the brownies, who are actually full-sized actors, are very impressive. They used oversized sets, mattes, everything in their bag of trick, but you'll just accept it all as part of the movie."
Howard was also pleased with the performance of Princess Elora Danan. "It's very extraordinary--we used the baby everywhere in the movie. And we used what seemed like dozens of children in the role. The ones that weren't live actors were puppet babies, motorized babies, audio-animatronic babies--babies everywhere!"
Finally, the director began his principal job--directing the actors. Howard describes his style this way: "I like to go into shooting a scene with a basic idea of what I want, then open it up to the actors.
"With the right encouragement, a little creativity, and an idea here and there, we come up with what I call 'bonus shots.' They're little variations, little insights into character that can make a good moment great. I encourage the actors to try different things, and my editors are brilliant at piecing these bits together to blend it into a perfect take.
"As a director, I don't see myself as a benevolent despot; rather, I'm the lead collaborator. I have complete confidence in my ability to provide a foundation for the actors, where they can build a great performance. In the end, I have to get something that I agree with and can support. But that's very easy to come by if you have good people working with you."
One of those good people was the executive producer, George Lucas. "It was great having George around," Howard observes. "He understands adventure and heroism beter than anyone in movies! I really respected his position on the movie and invited his input more than I have any other producer.
"Yet he made it very clear that I was the director and I needed to get what I wanted. he went out of his way to make sure that I directed Willow. He was a real, important source of support and a fountain of ideas. Often, I would start a sentence and he would finish it, and vice versa. Our sensibilities were very much in sync. On top of that, I had a great deal to learn from him.
"Also, on many days, I would ask George to stay back b the video monitor and keep track of what all the cameras were doing. He served as a great backstop for me. If I was going to do a similarly sized project, I would have someone doing that job again. I probably couldn't get a two-time Academy Award-nominated director helping me out though."
Any project from Lucasfilm Ltd. invites comparison to the Star Wars saga. Howard feels that after the surface of adventure-fantasy is scratched, the similarities fall away. "The basic philosophies of the two films are entirely different. Star Wars is a war story. It's about tyranny, rebellion and fighting for personal freedom.
"Willow is a story of compassion--the compassion that Willow Ufgood has for this child that turns his life upside down, as well as the compassion that Madmartigan feels for both the baby and Willow.
"Now, I don't want to sound corny and try to explain that people will come out of Willow and announce that it's about nourishment and commitment. But, I really feel that Willow is a story about love's overwhelming power and its ability to bring out the noblest side of those it touches."
Sayers, John, & Adam Pirani. "The Making of Willow: Director Ron Howard." The Official Willow Movie Magazine. Ed. David McDonnell. New York: Jacobs, 1988. 47-52.
Get your own
Free Home Page