Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis (6 page)

As far as forest-dwelling creatures went, the Ewoks were incredibly unstable. One of the main problems proved to be their orange eyes. As heat built up inside the head they steamed up, so none of us could see where we were going. Even a special antimist spray proved ineffective. In an attempt to get around this, we didn’t wear our heads during rehearsals and I memorized how many steps I needed to take for any one scene and roughly where each tree stump or branch was.

The Ewoks’ rallying cry was “Heads on!” followed by a grumble of discontent from everyone (except me). An army of dressers would fasten our heads and we’d cross two of our three Ewok fingers, hoping that we’d still be standing by the time it was all over.

Typically, at the end of any scene half a dozen Ewoks would be rolling around on the ground, having tripped up or fallen over something or someone, or having run into one another. Luckily I was able to get up on my own. When some of the more rotund Ewoks fell it was almost impossible for them to get up – or stop rolling. I had visions of some unlucky fellow carrying on down Elstree High Street still rolling strong on his way to the highway. Between filming normal-sized “Ewok collectors” were dispatched to set them upright ahead of the next take.

Falling over and rolling about on Endor was all well and good until we shot the scenes in the Ewok village, which was thirty feet above the ground.

This was done to give it on-screen depth, and the “village” set was created by mounting dozens of fake polystyrene trees on a mass of scaffolding that filled the entire stage (real tree branches were attached to help them look real). It was surrounded by a cyclorama, a painting of the Endor forest, to provide background. It was hard to tell what it was until you were far enough away. Little bridges connected all the Ewok huts – which, as I’ve already mentioned, were
thirty feet above the ground
.

To make things even more interesting, the Ewoks had lots of campfires, so the special-effects team burned lots and lots of incense to create a thick smoky haze, just to make sure we really, really couldn’t see a damn thing. The Ewok body count should have shot through the roof but the perilous combination of the height and the smoke actually had the effect of making us concentrate very, very hard on where we put our feet so, against the odds, we managed to stay upright.

While no Ewoks were harmed in the making of this movie, the same cannot be said for humans. There is a scene where Chewie, Han, Luke, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are walking through the forests of Endor and a hungry Chewie spies some meat hanging in a tree. Before Luke can say “Chewie – no!” the hungry Wookiee takes the bait and our heroes are caught in a classic jungle trap, scooped up in a net.

In reality, this net was held by a bloke driving an excavator. Several million dollars’ worth of acting talent were entirely at his mercy so one can only imagine the thoughts that must have whizzed through his brain when the rope snapped and the cast dropped to the ground. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

At the end of each take, my fellow Ewoks would collapse in sweaty relief. David Tomblin, the first assistant director (Spielberg’s favorite AD and George’s right-hand man) who was running the Ewok scenes, would then typically say: “Can we go again or do you need a break?”

While the older Ewok actors groaned and begged for thirty minutes’ rest I hopped up and down, eager to prove I was feeling fine, and pleaded: “Please can we keep killing Stormtroopers?” I had been told to throw a rock at a Stormtrooper and I wanted to make damn sure it was going to hit him – right between the eyes.

“Well, if he can do it,” David said, “and he’s only eleven, then you guys can too!”

I was christened the “ever-ready Ewok.”

As soon as our first break on our first day finally came, I dashed to the trailer, leapt out of my costume, and put on my roller skates. I skated past the Ewok stage and into the next building and there, looking just like the scene in the Mos Eisley spaceport in
Episode IV
, was a huge stage with the full-size
Millennium Falcon
.

I think I said something like “Woooooow” as I rolled past to the next stage where I suddenly found myself skating around the Emperor’s throne room. This was quickly followed by Yoda’s hut and the Degobah swamp (not the best place for roller skating), before I ended my tour at Jabba the Hutt’s palace.

Now this was really magical.

Unlike my older counterparts, I didn’t realize there were rules – written and unwritten – that governed one’s on-set behavior. You didn’t talk to or touch the stars, something I managed to do frequently.

Spying a certain Mr. Skywalker in his new all-black Jedi costume I tugged on his sleeve: “Excuse me. Can I see your light saber?” The young Jedi was very gracious about it.

Robert Watts, a delightful, avuncular, and much-respected producer on
Jedi,
took a bit of a shine to me and brought me to the attention of David Tomblin. David was a great character, a genuinely lovely man with immense experience and knowledge; he’d worked as assistant director to Stanley Kubrick and on such notable films as
Never Say Never Again
,
Gandhi
,
Superman
– the list was endless. He was also the mastermind behind the cult TV series
The Prisoner
.

When he was interviewed for a Channel 4 documentary,
Six into One: The Prisoner File,
in 1984, he recalled: “I have just worked on a George Lucas film called
Return of the Jedi
and, to get permission to work in the States, I had to write down every film that I had been on. I got to 478 and then decided that was probably enough to convince them that I had a reasonable amount of experience.”

One of David’s responsibilities in
Jedi
was “Ewok distribution,” and he couldn’t help but notice my tireless enthusiasm. He liked the fact I didn’t understand films, that I didn’t know the rules and wandered around during shoots chatting to the stars just like a curious Ewok would. These days, kids are a lot better informed about how movies are made, but in 1982 I didn’t have a clue, and neither did anyone else my age.

I took what little I’d learned about improvisation from acting school, added some of our family’s pet dog’s behavior, and my Ewok character emerged to explore the Moon of Endor.

In one scene the Ewoks encounter R2-D2 and C-3PO and decide that the golden robot is a god.
^b
I thought that R2-D2 would look so extraordinary to a young Ewok, who had after all seen nothing but plants and trees his whole young life, that he would want to check the robot out, so I wandered over and started poking and peering at him (I always assumed R2 was a he).

The older actors, meanwhile, would play by the rules; they would do what they were told, which was much better for such a complicated film. These days it rarely happens; an actor might approach a director with an idea and if they’re lucky they’ll get the chance to rehearse it, but out of politeness rather than any urge to actually put it on film.

The advantage I had was that I just did it “live,” so to speak, so it was captured on film and they could see straight away that it worked. This moment caught director Richard Marquand’s eye and he built a whole scene around me investigating R2-D2.

I was on my way.

^a
There actually
was
a secret passage from the cupboard under the stairs to the nearby fifteenth-century church.

^b
Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO, likes to be treated as a god in real life. I once did a
Star Wars
show at Disney with Anthony where he got the whole audience to bow down to him as if they were Ewoks. He was also wearing a metallic-gold jacket; this would have been like me going on wearing a fur coat.

Chapter Three

Just Me and Princess Leia

If you wrote me a fan letter in 1983, this is what you would have received – had you included a self-addressed envelope.

 

Chillin’ between takes.

 

A heads-off moment with my sister, Kim.

 

With weightlifting champ Dave Prowse, aka Darth Vader.

 

The ever-ready Ewok – I’d roller-skate my way round Elstree in between filming; I saw many strange and wonderful things as a result.

 

Shooting
Return of the Ewok
at Chelsea Football Club. “When the ball lands here, you grab it!”

 

Filming
Return of the Ewok
. He was a real cabbie who couldn’t act.

 

Princess Leia introduces me to her fellow rebels.

 

Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.

 

Just me and Princess Leia – I was asked to perform this scene after fellow Ewok actor Kenny Baker fell ill. The bright spot to the left is the result of a Biker Scout missing us with his blaster.

 

Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.

 

At the wrap party – I managed to miss most of it by falling asleep. Thanks for not waking me, Carrie!

 

Carrie Fisher and I getting cozy on Jabba the Hutt’s tail.

 

Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.

 

A few days later, David Tomblin took me to one side and said, “How would you like a speaking role in your own Ewok adventure, Warwick?”

Once he’d got his hearing back, David continued.

“Well, I’ve got an idea for a short featurette called
Return of the Ewok
which we might use to promote
Jedi
. George likes the idea and has given me permission to use the entire set and cast, whatever I want. And I want you to star.”