When the public thinks of George Lucas and Ron Howard, they generally think of successful films like Star Wars And Cocoon. However, many fans forget that these brains have worked together on the fantastic hit of the 80s, Willow. Despite the use of a collection of special pioneer effects, Willow Has struggled to make a mark on the public and the criticisms that estimated that history lacked essential rhythm.
However, there are a large part of the fans who believe that Willow deserves much more respect in the fantastic genre always competitive. Not only did this film finally saw the formidable Warwick Davis in a leading role, but it presented a wonderful mixture of magic and creativity. Thus, after all these years, the public begins to think that criticisms were wrong about this vast epic.
At the time, Willow was a huge risk for George Lucas
Willow Presents us the titular character, a humble farmer who also has a talent for magic. During the preparation of a festival, Willow discovers that a baby called Elora Daban was left to herself. The protagonist later realizes that the nasty queen is about to capture the baby, because she is prophesied to overcome it as a sovereign. As such, it is at Willow and Keen Swordsman, Madmartigan, to save the young princess and to make sure that she can live her dawn. Just from this brief description alone, it is clear to see that Willow is a dark fantastic epic, mixing medieval patterns with long quests. In addition, with George Lucas who writes the story and Ron Howard as a director, the fans would assume that the studios would jump at the opportunity to give life to this story.
In reality, many studios were not convinced that George Lucas could tackle the fantastic genre while leaving success. Lucas first trained the idea of this film in 1972 and asked Warwick Davis to play his head while he was on the set of Return of the Jedi In 1982. In the mid -1980s, Ron Howard had left the world to act and was eager to collaborate with Lucas in the fantastic niche. But after having collaborated for years and created seven project scripts, a series of major film studios were too frightened to touch it. Admittedly, it did not do with Lucas, but more because the 80s had already produced a series of failed fantastic films. While films love Legend,, LabryinthAnd Dragonslayer are now considered with a feeling of tenderness and nostalgia, they were originally considered to be very expensive flops. To make matters worse, MGM knew a little financial crisis and did not want to experience more risks. So, even if Howard and Lucas had some of the strongest connections in cinema, they could not convince anyone Willow was worth funding.
In the end, Alan Ladd Jr. came to the rescue. Lucas first worked with Ladd in the 1970s while working for 20th Century Fox, the Greenlit studio Star Wars. Ladd agreed to finance half of the film’s budget in exchange for Willow theatrical and television rights. The remaining home video and television rights went to Columbia Pictures for $ 15 million. Even for those who do not appreciate WillowIt always seems strange to think that the majority of studios refused this film. While his predecessors tended to focus more on pioneering special effects rather than real intrigue, Willow had been in development for years. Without forgetting, the film already had its leading man and his director, suggesting that the whole film needed to be an injection of money. Unfortunately, this first obstacle was a sign that Willow was going to fall into the same trap as his predecessors.
Even now, the special effects are still holding
While fans must understand the background surrounding Willow And the obstacles he was confronted with, it may be even more important to discuss his strengths. Even with its slightly incompatible intrigue and its uncommon rhythm, this film managed to impress the public with its peak special effects. Unsurprisingly, these techniques were carried out by industrial light and magic (ILM), which contributed to pioneer a skill called Morphing technology. Halfway through the film, Willow restores a goat in a human. However, before she returned to her final form, Willow repeatedly spoils the fate, making her transform into ostrich, peacock, turtle and even a tiger. At the beginning, ILM supervisor, Dennis Muren, planned to use techniques already available for the animators at the end of the 80s. Thus, the team was originally to use optical dissolution, which allows filmmakers to reuse several strips of films, giving the impression that several individual elements are combined for a single scene. Associated with a standard cut, Ilm could have changed the end appearance without giving too much cinematic magic.
However, in the typical manner of ILM, the team decided to experiment with a fairly new type of technology. After having failed to obtain the desired result of the stop-motion effects and conventional optics, Muren began to film each animal individually, then filmed double the body of Patrica Hayes. These images were then introduced into a program that created a smooth transition from one animal to another, then put these results back on the film. Although this does not seem much these days, this trick was considered a major breakthrough in CGI and would later be used in successful successes as Indiana Jones and the last crusade,, Terminator 2: Judgment DayAnd Star Trek VI: The unknown country.
Willow has a lot of stature in the fantastic genre
Unfortunately, even with a starry cast and breathtaking visual effects, Willow was met with lean criticism. Although the film made an impressive $ 137.6 million compared to its $ 35 million budget, criticism could not help noticing how slow the film felt slow. Due to the premise of the film, the public is forced to follow the protagonist along a long quest that looks very much like other fantastic epics. In this sense, Willow Often feels like a pastiche of contemporary films rather than establishing himself as a passionate competitor at the box office. But it was not all misfortune. The vast majority of the public quickly rented the electric performance of Warwick Davis, which was quite impressive since he was only 17 years old at the time of the shooting.
Like many films of this time, Willow Later, he became a classic cult. Fans have started to appreciate its detailed history and saw the slow pace as a chance to better immerse yourself in the elusive fictitious world. Not to mention, Willow It was a fantastic success for little people. In 1986, renowned casting director Jeremy Zimmerman recruited 225 small people to play the Nelwyn people. Although a large part of these participants came from the United States and the United Kingdom, individuals around the world joined the project. So, even if many of these people did not speak the same language, they were ultimately united in the thing that made them if unique. Undoubtedly, Willow Also allowed little people to represent real characters rather than weak caricatures. Nelwyns can come from a fantastic land, but they are always realistic people with their own sense of politics and social consciousness. As such, this film did not simply place Warwick Davis under the spotlight; He was also the pioneer of positive representation for all different types of small people.
Of course, it would be wrong to discuss the success of Willow Without mentioning the TV series 2022. Located 20 years after the original film, the series follows a group of heroes from the Ragtag while they are preparing to fight against an evil force called the wind blows, which threaten their house. Regarding restarts, Willow was a fairly impressive effort. Davis has done a fantastic job to reproduce the character, even after so many years, and the series offered humorous references to the film without isolating new audiences. But, again, Willow was struck by an unfortunate blow. Although a second season was promised, Disney quickly canceled Willow And then deleted the series of its streaming platform, Disney +. Although some say that this cancellation was due to a small number of viewers, others think that the show was the victim of cost reduction measures. Overall, it seems that Willow had trouble finding his audience. When it was released in 1988, the public expected a lot more drama, especially a man like George Lucas. Regarding the series, it seems that the public has been disappointed with casting choices as well as tone problems. As such, even if Willow Has struggled to find its place in the fantastic genre, moviegoers always appreciate its influence on wider parts of the film industry.
Willow
- Release date
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May 20, 1988
- Execution time
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126 minutes