Read Online Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis by Warwick Davis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Warwick Davis
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– the mouth could actually move this time, although it was a little stiff, a bit like the Monty Python mouths in the Terry Gilliam animations.
Another new development was that I could now move the Ewok eyes using a wrist mechanism, which was weird at first but I soon got so used to it that I started to move my wrists in anticipation of where I was going to look – even when I was out of costume.
The main problem hadn’t yet been dealt with, however; the eyes would still mist up within seconds. So, once again, I had to memorize the set layout and use the glare of the studio lights to judge whether I should turn left, right, or keep going straight ahead. The suit was a lot heavier as well and I fell over a great many times. Luckily it was so thick I never hurt myself, but it was also much harder to stop myself rolling down a hill once I’d started.
To my dismay surfer dude Ray had been replaced by the Snow Queen–esque Mrs. Ramsay. She was a woman’s woman and was pretty scary. She held an unshakable faith in education over every other one of life’s pursuits and was an obsessively strict timekeeper who held no fear of film directors. She once marched onto the set while the cameras were rolling and commanded: “Warwick Davis, put down that spear immediately, modern political history awaits you!”
“Please, just one more take!”
“Absolutely not,” she’d say, tapping her watch with barely contained fury. “Lessons should have started ten minutes ago.”
The one exception that did halt Mrs. Ramsay in her tracks was the sudden appearance of the King of Pop. Apparently Michael Jackson was a big fan of the Ewoks and had dropped by to see us in the fur, so to speak. This was 1984, two years after Thriller and his legendary world tour. Jackson was at the absolute height of his godlike fame.
“Hi,” he said. “Can I have my picture taken with you?”
My reply probably sounded like Ewokese but I gave the distinct impression that this would be more than OK. He put his arm round me, leaned in, and “snap,” the moment was over.
“Well, it was lovely meeting you, I gotta run, I’m going to the White House now, I’m late for my meeting with President Reagan.”
And he was gone.
It was then that I realized I’d forgotten to remove my head.
“Oh no! No one will ever know it was me!”
Tony Cox and Debbie Carrington played my Ewok brother and sister. They’d both been Ewoks in Jedi and have since gone on to have incredibly successful acting careers of their own. Tony was actually a stunt Ewok in Jedi , and acted as a double for Kenny in the scene where Paploo was struggling to keep a grip on the speeder bike he’d just stolen. To get the shot the crew positioned the bike so it was vertical and filmed Tony dangling from the handlebars with the camera tilted to match the on-screen perspective. Tony was also the fabulously brilliant little limo driver in Me, Myself and Irene and has been in dozens of Hollywood films, while Debbie has appeared in Bones , Dexter , Nip/Tuck , Boston Legal , ER, and many more famous TV dramas.
We stayed in a Holiday Inn in Marin County, very near the Golden Gate Bridge. I leapt out of bed every morning and greeted the day with a twenty-step sprint and dive into the swimming pool, which was just outside our door.
When the film, called Caravan of Courage , aired it broke U.S. TV records. It was so successful that George decided to show it in cinemas in Europe. I was invited to the special media screening in Leicester Square, so I took my Nan. She loved it and appreciated the fact that I hadn’t forgotten who started it all.
During filming it happened to be George Lucas’s daughter’s birthday. Amanda was four years old and she loved the Ewoks, none more so than Wicket. She was one of the reasons the Ewok movies were made. George saw that she and her friends couldn’t get enough of the little
Another new development was that I could now move the Ewok eyes using a wrist mechanism, which was weird at first but I soon got so used to it that I started to move my wrists in anticipation of where I was going to look – even when I was out of costume.
The main problem hadn’t yet been dealt with, however; the eyes would still mist up within seconds. So, once again, I had to memorize the set layout and use the glare of the studio lights to judge whether I should turn left, right, or keep going straight ahead. The suit was a lot heavier as well and I fell over a great many times. Luckily it was so thick I never hurt myself, but it was also much harder to stop myself rolling down a hill once I’d started.
To my dismay surfer dude Ray had been replaced by the Snow Queen–esque Mrs. Ramsay. She was a woman’s woman and was pretty scary. She held an unshakable faith in education over every other one of life’s pursuits and was an obsessively strict timekeeper who held no fear of film directors. She once marched onto the set while the cameras were rolling and commanded: “Warwick Davis, put down that spear immediately, modern political history awaits you!”
“Please, just one more take!”
“Absolutely not,” she’d say, tapping her watch with barely contained fury. “Lessons should have started ten minutes ago.”
The one exception that did halt Mrs. Ramsay in her tracks was the sudden appearance of the King of Pop. Apparently Michael Jackson was a big fan of the Ewoks and had dropped by to see us in the fur, so to speak. This was 1984, two years after Thriller and his legendary world tour. Jackson was at the absolute height of his godlike fame.
“Hi,” he said. “Can I have my picture taken with you?”
My reply probably sounded like Ewokese but I gave the distinct impression that this would be more than OK. He put his arm round me, leaned in, and “snap,” the moment was over.
“Well, it was lovely meeting you, I gotta run, I’m going to the White House now, I’m late for my meeting with President Reagan.”
And he was gone.
It was then that I realized I’d forgotten to remove my head.
“Oh no! No one will ever know it was me!”
Tony Cox and Debbie Carrington played my Ewok brother and sister. They’d both been Ewoks in Jedi and have since gone on to have incredibly successful acting careers of their own. Tony was actually a stunt Ewok in Jedi , and acted as a double for Kenny in the scene where Paploo was struggling to keep a grip on the speeder bike he’d just stolen. To get the shot the crew positioned the bike so it was vertical and filmed Tony dangling from the handlebars with the camera tilted to match the on-screen perspective. Tony was also the fabulously brilliant little limo driver in Me, Myself and Irene and has been in dozens of Hollywood films, while Debbie has appeared in Bones , Dexter , Nip/Tuck , Boston Legal , ER, and many more famous TV dramas.
We stayed in a Holiday Inn in Marin County, very near the Golden Gate Bridge. I leapt out of bed every morning and greeted the day with a twenty-step sprint and dive into the swimming pool, which was just outside our door.
When the film, called Caravan of Courage , aired it broke U.S. TV records. It was so successful that George decided to show it in cinemas in Europe. I was invited to the special media screening in Leicester Square, so I took my Nan. She loved it and appreciated the fact that I hadn’t forgotten who started it all.
During filming it happened to be George Lucas’s daughter’s birthday. Amanda was four years old and she loved the Ewoks, none more so than Wicket. She was one of the reasons the Ewok movies were made. George saw that she and her friends couldn’t get enough of the little
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