Warwick Davis - Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis

CONTENTS

WARWICK DAVIS

(The Author)

Copyright 2010, 2011 by Warwick Davis. All rights reserved

Foreword copyright 2009, 2011 by George Lucas. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

First published in Great Brtitain in 2010 by Aurum Press Ltd.

Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material quoted in this book. If application is made in writing to the publisher, any omissions will be included in future editions.

Photo Credits: Unless otherwise stated, all images featured herein belong to the authors personal collection and are used under authorization. Page iii, author image courtesy of Nina Hollington; pages ivv, all images courtesy of Nina Hollington; pages 100101, image courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd; pages 132133, text courtesy of Chrissy Iley; pages 182183, Leprechaun provided through the courtesy of Lionsgate; pages 222223, image courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd; page 256, Leprechaun provided through the courtesy of Lionsgate; page 322, image courtesy of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant; pages 334345, images courtesy of Ray Burmiston. Color insert: All images featured herein courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd, including all screen grabs from Return of the Ewok , & Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.

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ISBN 978-0-470-91466-3 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-11937-2 (ebk);

ISBN 978-1-118-11938-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-11939-6 (ebk)

Mum and Dad You gave me life

Nana Davis You started it all

George Lucas For all the opportunities

Sammy, Annabelle, Harrison, Lloyd and Baby George You make me feel 10 feet tall

Love and magic... always x

FOREWORD

He was just a little guy when I first met him nearly three decades ago. But even at the age of eleven, and standing just two feet eleven inches tall, I could tell at our first meeting that Warwick Davis was not only agile, but full of life and spunk. Something about him cried out that he was a very special person, and in the years since as Ive gotten to know Warwick as an actor and as a human being, Im happy that my first instinct was correct.

It was his grandmother who heard that the Star Wars folks were holding auditions for people under four feet tall for Return of the Jedi but it was Warwick who had the gumption and self-confidence to think that he could get a part. When I saw him in his tiny Ewok costume, and got to know him better, I started giving him more and more things to do. What struck me was how energetic he was, how enthusiastic and very, very intelligent. When he got those extra pieces of business in the film, he did them really well, made them his own, and they looked great on camera. He may have started out as an extra, but he turned into a much more central character, Wicket W. Warrick, Ewok hero. He repeated that role in two made-for-television movies.

When Ron Howard and I decided to do Willow , it was really the experience of working with Warwick that gave me the confidence that we could do a film with not just a few dozen little people, but with a few hundred. I told Ron that Warwick was a very talented actor and could actually play the lead in a movie. After Ron talked to him and did a few screen tests, he agreed. Warwick worked very hard and turned in a great performance. He was all of seventeen.

Ive done a number of movies with little people and have gotten to know some of them quite well. Ive been asked why Ive used little people as heroes. Perhaps part of it, deep down, is the fact that throughout high school I was always the shortest one in the class, so perhaps I instinctively took on the fantasy life of a little person who overcomes all obstacles. And part of it is my real-world desire to point the spotlight on the struggles of societys downtrodden, whether they be different physically, mentally, ethnically, or even financially.

Warwick has already led an extraordinary life: actor, director, businessman and devoted husband and father. He has undergone tremendous physical and other challenges and has become an even stronger force of nature by overcoming them. As Ive gotten to know Warwick over the years, there has been one defining quality that has always shone through: hes a really good person. Hes smart, sensitive, and thoughtful. Hes very talented, as his long list of notable movie and television credits will attest. Hes also fun to be around. And Warwick has gone and continues to go in many different and interesting directions, all of which have helped him accomplish a great number of goals. This book recounts just the first forty years of what Im sure is going to continue to be an amazing life. In my book, for all that he has done and for his innate decency and integrity, hes a true hero.

George Lucas, Skywalker Ranch 2009

Prologue

Expecting Someone Taller

February 3, 1970

My dad had been sitting with no little anxiety in the expectant fathers waiting room when he saw the doctor marching down the long corridor toward him.

The doctor stopped at the doorway and studied my father for a moment or two.

Mr. Davis, he said seriously, would you please stand up?

My father rose unsteadily.

Hmmm, the doctor continued in a thoughtful and slightly puzzled tone, a tone that suggested all was not as it should be. He frowned and looked my father up and down. Walk to the door and back.

Excuse me? Dad was understandably perplexed. He had been expecting the doctor to enter the room and say something along the lines of: Congratulations, youre the father of a healthy boy/girl, and he would in return hand the doctor a cigar.