10 Things You Didn’t Know About Willow

We all have those movies that we loved so much as a child but when we watch them as a grown up we realize just how God-awful they were. Well, for me Willow is not that type of film. You probably thought I was gonna say it was, didn’t you? It’s not because Willow is still awesome. Even after 30 years of growth in the world of special effects and all that jazz Willow continues to posses the one quality that you can’t make on a computer; heart. You can have your Avatar or your Jupiter Ascending and I will be over here teaching my child to turn things to stone by using magic acorns. That’s called good parenting, people. Without further ado, here are 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Willow.

1) The two-headed dragon is named “Eborisk” after Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. It is also said that one of the heads is modeled after director Ron Howard’s brother Clint Howard.

2) Warwick Davis was only 18 when they started filming and he wore a wig throughout the film.

3) John Cusack tried and failed to get the part of Madmartigan before Val Kilmer was cast. He considers it one of his greatest disappointments.

4) The film didn’t make as much money at the box office as they had expected so the sequels took the form of a three book series called “The Chronicles of the Shadow War”. The third and final book in the series was released in 2000.

5) Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley met on set and would eventually marry, have two kids,  and divorce.

6) The films synchs up in places with the Pink Floyd album The Wall. When the baby is in the basket on screen you can hear crying at the beginning of the song Is There Anybody Out There, and the village elder is also moving his fingers while the album is playing a keyboard solo until the old man makes a fist at the exact moment that a single drum beat hits.

7) There is a scene that was filmed before Willow makes it to the island to find Fin Raziel where the evil Queen Bavmorda conjures up a tempest to try and kill the two of them and Willow drops one of his acorns in the boat and turns it to stone. The scene was edited out but if you watch the film you will see Willow leaving shore in a boat and arriving with wet hair and clothes. Also, that was the first of his three acorns that he was given.

8) There is a Willow Board game that you can and should buy here.

9) George Lucas originally came up with the idea of doing the film in 1972 and wanted to call it Munchkins. Later, he would meet Warwick Davis on the set of Return of the Jedi and offer him the role. It would take another 5 years before they would start filming as Lucas has said that the special effects just weren’t ready yet for his vision of the film.

10) The film would go on to be somewhat of a failure at the box office. Not in the sense that it didn’t make a profit but that expectations were high based on Lucas and Ron Howard’s involvement and it didn’t do as well as hoped. It was also slated to go up against Crocodile Dundee II, Big, and Rambo III at the box office, as well.