When asking the legendary actor Warwick Davis about to continue Willowthe already classic film that he starred in during the great fantasy boom in the 80s, the word he uses the most is “freedom”. It is something that comes from his own George Lucas: “He often mentioned it to me. When he wrote, he often had to limit himself to what he was going to be able to show on the screen to the audience, by budget or by means. But I think a big part of the reason we’re experiencing a genre renaissance is because now we can do almost anything”, underlines an emotional Davis. It is a feeling that jonathan kasdan, creator and showrunner of the project, seconded in several ways. Initially forged in cult television as Freaks and GeeksIt is not the first time that this screenwriter has had the opportunity to play in Lucas’ mixed bag: he has already signed with his father, the iconic Lawrence Kasdanthe script for the recent Star Wars spin-off, Han Solo. But it is, again, the time that he seems to feel the most freedom behind her back.
“I feel like I lost my favorite toys 30 years ago and now found them in my parents’ basement,” Kasdan says. “It’s a story I’ve been very fond of since I was little.And it’s amazing to me that it’s stayed intact for so long, like it’s just waiting for us.” But love wasn’t the only factor in Davis and Kasdan’s interest in turning Willow into a series. “The sense of danger in the original is one of the things that most attracted me to the project.Kasdan says. “As a kid, it was the scariest movie I’d ever seen! And it was in a very tactile, very visceral way. It had a certain darkness, and I wanted to keep it in our series. But I was also drawn to the fact that all of this shared footage with the relationship between Warwick’s characters and Val Kilmerwhich for me was the soul of the movie”.
Still from ‘Willow’Cinemanía For this reason, Davis’ own presence was also key. “Over time, Warwick developed into a brilliant comedic talent through series like Life’s Too Short. And that gave us a golden opportunity to recapture that humor and mix it with the darkness. That was my great ambition for the project: that was funny and scary at the same time”. Davis agrees. “I wanted to be involved in comedy for years, and never got the chance, until I came up with the proposal for Life’s Too Short and took it to Ricky Gervais Y Stephen Merchant. Since then I’ve built a lot on the genre, and Jon Kasdan wanted to embrace it for Willow, because A lot of what made the original movie work is that it didn’t take itself too seriously..“I feel that the series is also a great opportunity for the new generation.Davis says. “There are children who weren’t born when Willow came out who have now seen it through her parents. And in the times that we are living in now, fantasy seems particularly important to me: I think that it not only allows us to escape to other worlds, it also allows us to experience magic in a way that is impossible in real life. That’s what fantasy is all about, living things that we couldn’t live otherwise”.
Still from ‘Willow’Cinemanía
The evolution of fantasy
In the midst of the debate, Kasdan recalls, with the intention of contextualizing the evolution of the genre: “I have spoken a lot with Ron Howard about the original Willow, and he feels like he missed the big wave of film fantasy just in time. Ridley Scott had just done legend, Richard Donner had just signed ladyhawkand they all seemed to have stayed on the verge of connecting with the audience. And so, in the early ’90s, the studios gave up… until Peter Jackson does something crazy and changes the world.This evolution seems to have been a crucial part of the development of the series. “We’ve speculated a lot about what would happen if Willow, with her unique sense of humor and her own spirit, opened up in a world that was so full of fantasy…and especially so serious a fantasy. What would this universe, which has a more adventurous style, be like now? And it is something that we have tried to answer ”. It’s certainly an interesting time for his return, and Davis and Kasdan aren’t missing that. With the return of fantasy to the pure mainstream in modern fiction, there is a lot to tell… but also a lot to be compared to.
Still from ‘Willow’Cinemanía “Part of you wishes there weren’t other fantasy shows right now, but part of you is excited that there’s so much interest in these kinds of stories these days.. As for how she’s going to be received compared to all of them, any guess you have is going to be as good as ours!” But Kasdan is optimistic about it. “I think the fact that our series doesn’t have the gigantic scale of the rings of power either the house of the dragon It also gives us a certain advantage. These shows carry the full weight of the future of huge corporations, while Willow was always the side project that was left to do a little whatever they wanted!” she laughs. “Thanks to that, we consider Willow as the original: a somewhat stranger, smaller and at the same time more surprising series. It will be interesting to see if anyone agrees or if Disney is already too big an entity for anyone to see us like this!” While waiting to verify it, one thing is clear: Davis and Kasdan do not seem to have missed the opportunity to have that freedom.Do you want to receive the best movie and series recommendations? Sign up for our Newsletter.