Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis
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Authors: Warwick Davis
CONTENTS
Prologue: Expecting Someone Taller
Chapter One: E Eetee, Eetee Chiutatal Bok Ootu Ootu Chuu-Ock
Chapter Three: Just Me and Princess Leia
Chapter Four: The Caravan of Courage
Chapter Five: Return of the Ewok
Chapter Six: Starman in My Caravan
Chapter Seven: Skating for Spielberg
Chapter Eight: Heroes Come in All Sizes
Chapter Eleven: Willow’s Shotgun Wedding
Chapter Twelve: Lep in the Hood
Chapter Thirteen: Love and Biscuits
Chapter Fifteen: The Little Menace
Chapter Sixteen: The Half Monty
Chapter Seventeen: Guess Who’s Back?
Chapter Eighteen: Pottering About
Chapter Nineteen: Luck of the Irish
Chapter Twenty: For the Love of Cheese
Chapter Twenty-One: Paranoid Android
Chapter Twenty-Two: A Little Extra
Chapter Twenty-Three: My Wonderful World
Epilogue: The Moral of the Story
Beyond the Epilogue: A New Beginning
The final word goes to my aged Aunt Jan
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 author’s personal collection and are used under authorization. Page iii, author image courtesy of Nina Hollington; pages iv–v, all images courtesy of Nina Hollington; pages 100–101, image courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd; pages 132–133, text courtesy of Chrissy Iley; pages 182–183, “Leprechaun” provided through the courtesy of Lionsgate; pages 222–223, 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 334–345, 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);
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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 I’ve gotten to know Warwick as an actor and as a human being, I’m 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.
I’ve done a number of movies with little people and have gotten to know some of them quite well. I’ve been asked why I’ve 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 society’s 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 I’ve gotten to know Warwick over the years, there has been one defining quality that has always shone through: he’s a really good person. He’s smart, sensitive, and thoughtful. He’s very talented, as his long list of notable movie and television credits will attest. He’s 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 I’m 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, he’s a true hero.
George Lucas, Skywalker Ranch 2009