Willow (1988 film)


Willow is a 1988 American high fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll. The film was executive produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. The film stars Warwick Davis as the title character, Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Billy Barty and Jean Marsh. Davis portrays aspiring magician Willow Ufgood who teams up with disaffected warrior Madmartigan to protect young baby princess Elora Danan from evil queen Bavmorda.
Lucas conceived the idea for the film in 1972, approaching Howard to direct during the post-production phase of Cocoon in 1985. Bob Dolman was brought in to write the screenplay, coming up with seven drafts that Lucas was actively involved in developing. It was finished in late 1986. It 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 in Dinorwic quarry in Wales with some at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, as well as a small section in New Zealand. Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects and animation sequences, which led to a revolutionary breakthrough with digital morphing technology.
The film was released in 1988 to mixed reviews from critics with praise for the visual effects, humour, character designs and Warwick Davis's performances but criticism for its direction, pacing, tone and story. It grossed $137.6 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. While not the blockbuster some expected, it turned a profit based on international box office returns and strong home video and television returns. It received two Academy Award nominations. A television series that served as a sequel to the film was released on Disney+ in 2022, but has since been removed.

Plot

The evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar hears of a prophecy that a child with a special rune birthmark will bring about her downfall. She imprisons all pregnant women in her realm. The child is born, but her mother persuades the midwife Ethna to smuggle the baby out of the castle. Bavmorda sends her Nockmaar Hounds after the midwife. With the hounds closing in on her, Ethna sets the baby adrift on a tangle of dried grass in a river before succumbing to the hounds. Meanwhile, Bavmorda sends her daughter Sorsha and an army led by General Kael to hunt down the baby.
Downriver, a village of Nelwyn prepares for a festival. The baby is found by the children of farmer and aspiring sorcerer Willow Ufgood, and his family takes her in. At the festival, a Nockmaar hound arrives and attacks cradles. After Nelwyn warriors kill it, Willow presents the baby to the village leader High Aldwin as a possible reason for the hound's appearance. High Aldwin orders the baby must return to a Daikini family, so Willow and other volunteers set out with the baby to find one.
At a crossroads, they find Madmartigan, a mercenary trapped in a crow's cage, who offers to take the baby in exchange for his freedom. Most of Willow's party think they should give him the baby, but Willow and his friend Meegosh refuse, causing the others to leave for home. After meeting Madmartigan's old comrade Airk leading an army to attack Nockmaar forces, Willow agrees to Madmartigan's terms.
On the way home, Willow and Meegosh discover that some brownies have stolen the baby, and pursue them. They are captured by the brownies, but Fairy Queen Cherlindrea frees them and explains the baby is Elora Danan, the foretold Princess of Tir Asleen. She gives Willow a magic wand and sends him to find the enchantress Fin Raziel.
Willow sends Meegosh home and continues the journey in the company of two brownies, Franjean and Rool. At a tavern, he re-encounters Madmartigan, who is disguising himself as a woman to hide from his lover's husband Llug. Sorsha and Kael's soldiers arrive, but Madmartigan is revealed as a man to Llug, who starts a brawl which helps Willow and Madmartigan escape with Elora.
Madmartigan allows Willow to follow him to the lake where Raziel lives. They are captured soon thereafter, along with Raziel, who had been turned into a possum by Bavmorda. Willow tries to restore her, but turns her into a rook instead. Franjean accidentally doses Madmartigan with love dust, causing him to declare his undying love to a skeptical Sorsha. Fleeing, Willow's party finds Airk and the remnants of his army. When the Nockmaar army pursues, Madmartigan takes Sorsha hostage, and they flee once more, but Sorsha manages to escape.
Willow's party arrives at Tir Asleen, only to find it cursed and overrun with trolls. Kael's army arrives, and Madmartigan and Willow attempt to fend them off. Willow accidentally turns a troll into an Eborsisk, a giant two-headed monster, with his wand, and in the ensuing chaos, Kael captures Elora. Sorsha, realizing she loves Madmartigan, defects to his side. Airk's army arrives, but Kael escapes with Elora and makes his way to Nockmaar Castle, where Bavmorda prepares a ritual to banish Elora into oblivion.
Willow's party and Airk's army travel to Nockmaar Castle, but upon their arrival, Bavmorda casts a spell turning them all into pigs. Willow, having used the wand to protect himself, finally restores Raziel to her human form. She reverses Bavmorda's spell, and Willow's army manages to trick their way into the castle. Kael slays Airk, and Madmartigan avenges him, while Willow, Sorsha, and Raziel confront Bavmorda in the ritual chamber. Bavmorda incapacitates Raziel and Sorsha. Willow uses sleight-of-hand to trick Bavmorda into thinking he made Elora vanish. Bavmorda, unnerved, moves to attack him, but accidentally completes the ritual while standing next to the altar, banishing herself.
During celebrations at the restored Tir Asleen, Willow is gifted a spellbook by Raziel. Leaving Elora in the care of Madmartigan and Sorsha, Willow returns home to his village and family in triumph.

Cast

Production

Development

conceived the idea for the film in 1972. Similarly to his intent in Star Wars, he created "a number of well-known mythological situations for a young audience". 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."
Lucas explained that he had to wait until the mid-1980s to make the film because visual effects technology was finally advanced enough to execute his vision. Meanwhile, actor-turned-director Ron Howard was looking to do a fantasy film. He was at Industrial Light & Magic during the post-production phase of Cocoon, when he was first approached by Lucas to direct Willow. He had previously starred in Lucas's American Graffiti, and Lucas felt that he and Howard shared a symbiotic relationship similar to the one he enjoyed with Steven Spielberg. Howard nominated Bob Dolman to write the screenplay based on Lucas's story. Dolman had worked with him on a 1983 television pilot called Little Shots that had not resulted in a series, and Lucas admired Dolman's work on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.
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. Pre-production began in late 1986. Various major film studios turned down the chance to distribute and cofinance it with Lucasfilm because they believed the fantasy genre was unsuccessful. This was largely due to films such as Krull, Legend, Dragonslayer and Labyrinth. Lucas took it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 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, greenlit Lucas's idea for Star Wars. However, in 1986, MGM was facing financial troubles, and major investment in a fantasy film was perceived as a risk. Ladd advanced half of the $35 million budget in return for theatrical and television rights, leaving Lucasfilm with home video and pay television rights to offer in exchange for the other half. RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video paid $15 million to Lucas in exchange for the video rights.
Lucas named the character of General Kael after film critic Pauline Kael, a fact that was not lost on Kael in her printed review of the film. She referred to General Kael as an "homage a moi". Similarly, the two-headed dragon was called an "Eborsisk" after film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

Filming

began on April 2, 1987, and ended the following October. Interior footage took place at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, while location shooting took place in Dinorwic quarry, Wales and New Zealand. Lucas initially visualized shooting the film 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. 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.
Some of the waterfalls scenes for the movie were shot at Burney Falls in Northern California, although Powerscourt Waterfall in Ireland was also used for other scenes.

Visual effects and design

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects and animation sequences. The script called for Willow to restore Fin Raziel from a goat to her human form. Willow recites what he thinks is the appropriate spell, but turns the goat into an ostrich, a peacock, a tortoise and, finally, a tiger, before returning her to normal. ILM VFX supervisor Dennis Muren considered using CGI stop-motion animation for the scene. 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.
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. He proposed filming each animal, and the actress doubling for Hayes, and then feeding the images into a computer program developed by Doug Smythe. 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, Muren and fellow designer David Allen achieved what would represent a breakthrough for computer-generated imagery. The techniques developed for the sequence were later utilized by ILM for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The head of ILM's animation department, Wes Takahashi, supervised the film's animation sequences.