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 Spare a thought for Warwick Davis the next time
you see a leprechaun, goblin, pixie, elf or gremlin on the telly. Chances are that's him in the costume, him under the make up, him doing whatever it takes to turn a mass of material and prosthetics into a lively and believable character.
The biggest short actor in the business, Warwick got started at the tender age of 11, when fantasy guru George Lucas cast the 2'11" wunderkind as warrior teddy bear Wicket the Ewok. Six years on from Return Of The Jedi, with a further 7 inches to his credit, Warwick cemented his fame with the starring role in family favourite Willow.
Horror buffs fear him as Leprechaun, veteran of six slasher sagas. Harry Potter fans love him as Professor Flitwick, Hogwarts' eccentric charms teacher. You may also remember him from the classic BBC adventure Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, in which he played the brave and noble Reepicheep, a swashbuckling mouse.
An invitation to meet the actor is rendered irresistible
by the opportunity to combine the interview with a trip to the BBC's
fabled costume department. Since it's not every day that an obsessive Star
Wars fan gets to play dress up with one
of his heroes, I was there in a heartbeat. Suddenly, staring
me square in the waist, stood Warwick, friendly, chatty and willing to
squeeze into an outfit that has hung out of sight for almost 15
years.
First though, some Star Wars chat. "I had the
time of my life," remembers Warwick. "I'd never met let alone worked
with any short people before, so to me it was all really cool." As a
fan of the first two Star Wars movies, which as an eleven year-old
lad he was programmed to be, Warwick had a tough time separating
fact from fiction. "Even when I was working on the film, with the
cameras and lights all around me, I'd look at Harrison Ford but I'd
see Han Solo."
Only his lessons
interfered with the fun. "Having a tutor on the set was a real drag.
One minute you're fighting stormtroopers, and the next you're
sitting in a classroom." Warwick argued that since
he was going to be an actor, he had no use for education. "That
was when I was 11," he explains. "I'm 33 now, much older
and wiser. When a child tells me he wants to be an actor, the
first thing I tell him is to keep up with his schooling. Acting
is such an unstable profession; you need to be able to turn your hand to
something else that'll bring some money in."
Strolling past racks of clothes from every
comedy, kids show and costume drama put out by the BBC, Warwick tells me about the
second string to his personal bow, Willow Management. Finding work for actors under
five feet and over seven feet tall, Warwick's agency would have no place
for a bog standard six-footer like myself. "We represent over a hundred people now,"
says Warwick with due pride. "It's very rewarding to be able to call
someone and say, 'Remember the audition you went to? You've got the
part.'"
There is
the odd disappointment, though. "Lord Of The Rings was the one we
were all waiting for, but there weren't enough short actors with the
right attributes to fill the roles, so they used computer effects on
regular sized actors instead. They couldn't have done it
half-and-half. John Rhys-Davis, who plays Gimli the dwarf, said he's
worried he took my part. He told me, ' I'm scared of being lynched
by some little bugger!' I said not to worry, but I'm arranging an
ambush. I'm going to put some little guys in balaclavas and get them
to rush him!"
Fortunately, acting is not the sole avenue of
employment offered by Willow Management. Personal appearances are
also big business. "We do mini Devils every Halloween and Cupids for
Valentine's Day. We have a mini Ali G lookalike who's just amazing.
Wealthy people often hire small waiters for their dinner parties,
and nightclubs love mini bouncers. We also did a Full Monty strip
show for a while, took it to nightclubs and even toured Europe, only
we called it The Half Monty."
On this note it's time for
Warwick to strip off himself and squeeze into his mouse suit, a
practiced, unselfconscious act he does right in front of me. "It's
not just about wearing a costume," he says of his craft. "You have
to work it. You might look fantastic, but if you can't bring your
character to life, people will soon lose interest. Your personality
has to reach the surface. You have to exaggerate your movements and
mannerisms to make the audience believe they're seeing something
amazing. Not just a guy in a suit." To illustrate the point, Warwick
completes his transformation which, even without the mask, is
effective enough to make me want to jump on a chair or whack him
with a broom. "I lost count how many times people stepped on my
tail," says Warwick of his oversized appendage.
A fabulous
creation in gold and fur from celebrated designer Judy Pepperdine,
who swings by to help us with our costumes, Warwick's Reepicheep
outfit is a grand piece of work indeed. Mine turns out to be rather
less inspiring, a freakish nightmare of nylon and foam that I am
assured looked scary in the show. I'm an Underworlder, apparently,
and boy, do I feel like one.
It's at this stage, as the
camera starts to click, that I realise I'm only in these pictures to
make Warwick look good. And he does, for a mouse. In lieu of cheese,
I ask another question. Isn't it hot under all that fur? "That's
just something you learn to put up with," answers the pro. "It
really doesn't bother me any more. Heavy costumes are harder work
than hot ones, but I never let them get me down. Being uncomfortable
kind of goes with the territory, you know?" As does being typecast.
"People think I must be sick and tired of only being cast in
fantasy, sci fi and horror movies because of my size, but I'm a big
fan of those kind of films and I love acting, so really, what's the
problem?"
Our ordeal over, Warwick reverts to human form and
as we say our goodbyes I can't help but mention some of the wilder
rumours circulating about him online. "I don't know how they get
started," he says with a laugh, "but let me assure you my body is
not covered with tattoos, I have never been arrested for biting
someone's ankle and I'm definitely not dead!"
For more
Warwick info, visit his official website at www.warwickdavis.co.uk.
Warwick Davis filmography
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