by Gill Pringle
Jon Kasdan was eight years old when he first saw Ron Howard’s fantasy film Willow starring Joanne Whalley and Val Kilmer in what would provide the backstory for their own real-life romance.
“Willow had a powerful impact on me. Its humour, its frightening moments, and its romance, have stuck with me all these years,” recalls Kasdan.
Given that he is the son of legendary filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat, The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp), Jon plied his father for information, learning how Willow was written by George Lucas with whom his father had collaborated on The Empire Strikes Back.
The full circle moment, you might say, took place in 2017 when Jon came to work with both Howard and Lucas, co-writing the script with his father for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
It was here too, that his paths would cross with Warwick Davis, the eponymous Willow, who proved a powerful ally in pushing to continue the Willow journey.
“Warwick had been hoping to return to this role, I think ever since the original movie came out in 1988. Fans approach him all the time asking if he would ever want to be Willow again and he’s always said yes,” says Kasdan, 43, who grew up on his father’s film sets, making cameo appearances in The Big Chill, Silverado, The Accidental Tourist and Dreamcatcher.
“Over the years, Warwick has tried to mount public interest in bringing Willow to the screen again, and there has been interest and a lot of enthusiasm.
“But I think what was missing was someone who was going to really drive the story forward and when he and I met on the set of Solo in 2017, he immediately realised that I probably was that person – and that my enthusiasm and passion for this thing might be enough to help get him the continuation of the story that he’d always wanted,” Jon says.
“We talked for about three minutes, and I made up my mind then and there that I was going to devote myself, singularly, to bringing back Willow Ufgood. It was one of those dreams you have and think, ‘maybe I’ll be able to make this happen’.”
His next step was to convince Joanne Whalley to reprise her role as warrior queen Sorsha and Val Kilmer as mercenary swordsman Madmartigan. With Kilmer’s health failing and the couple’s real life marriage having ended in divorce almost three decades earlier, it was a daunting prospect to get them both on board.
When FilmInk asks Kasdan how he persuaded Whalley – who is extremely selective about her roles – to return, he laughs. “Just pure charisma, I think is the answer to that question! No, I jest, but only a little. I called her up cold and told her that we wanted to do this, and she was reticent to re-enter this particular character, especially because it’s such a specific moment in her life,” he says, alluding to her relationship with former co-star Kilmer.
“But then, I sent her the script and I proposed that her character was going to have a level of dimensionality and complication that she had longed for in the original movie, I think. And she was intrigued enough to give the script a read and to relate and identify to the ideas about motherhood and responsibility that run through the whole show, but specifically through her character’s journey.
“By the time she came to Wales to actually work with us, she was our strongest and fiercest advocate and really held us up in a lot of ways. She’s an amazing human being and is such a bright light, that we all gravitated toward her and sought her approval and wisdom and authority in the Willow universe, of which she is maybe as qualified as anyone alive,” says Kasdan who shot the series on location in Wales where the original film was also shot.
He hopes that he’s made Whalley proud with his new Disney+ series: “If you asked Joanne now, she would say that she was ambivalent to come back and then the script and our friendship, frankly, really did it for her, and we’ve remained preposterously close ever since because I just adore her. And, as much of a crush as I had on her when I was eight years old, I got it even worse now because she’s the greatest person in the world.”
Nor has he entirely given up on coaxing Kilmer back to the story should it be renewed for a second season. “I went to visit Val the moment that I knew this project was moving forward at all. And I said to him that, ‘we’re going to do more Willow and Madmartigan is an integral part of that story. He’s the second half of the unlikely marriage that is the core of that movie, and we wouldn’t dream of doing it without you’,” recalls Kasdan who says Kilmer was “absolutely game to be back.
“I explained to him, that much of the story would hinge on the mystery of what had happened to Madmartigan and where he’d gone and what sacrifices he’d made to protect his family and to protect Elora Danan and all these characters, and we would find a way to bring him back at the most meaningful possible moment for the story.”
But with all the crew and cast assembled in Wales, Covid would hit hard.
“It became increasingly unlikely that we were going to be able to get him there for filming at the moment we needed him there. So, we simply called him up and said that we still intended to tell his story, but we were just going to extend it a little further into the future and create an opportunity down the road for Madmartigan to return.
“And he totally understood, he knew the pressures that everyone in the world was under at that moment, to make production safe and to keep him safe and we agreed – with a groan – to postpone the return of Madmartigan for at least the moment, and what it facilitated for us was the opportunity to bring in Christian Slater’s character as sort of the clue to what happened, and a stop along the way on the journey to finding Madmartigan eventually, and that gave a whole fun new layer and dimension to the show we made.”
With Whalley’s Sorsha and Davis’ Willow in place to continue the legacy of the story, Kasdan was able to assemble a new young cast featuring Ellie Bamber, as Dove/Elora Danan; Dempsey Bryk as Airk; Ruby Cruz, as Kit; Tony Revolori as Graydon; Erin Kellyman as Jade, and Amar Chadha-Patel as Boorman.
With all the stars aligned, this new Disney+ series walks a tonal line between epic fantasy, comedy, and a reverence for the original, but with a contemporary edge.
Ron Howard believes Kasdan’s series is a worthy successor to the original film. “Jon Kasdan loved the blend of humour, magic, and adventure that existed in the original movie,” says the two-time Oscar winning director who brought Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy into the mix.
“And Jon knew how to apply his sometimes-Gonzo sense of things in a way that fits with this world and these characters, so it was a really great creative progression,” says Howard recalling how Davis and Kasdan would discuss the project between set ups on Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“I said, ‘you know, George always wanted this, and so did I. And Warwick Davis is such a great resource; he is becoming a better actor every year, so let’s find a way to do it’. Kathy joined into that conversation, and it was one of those things where the timing turned out to be perfect,” he says.
Reflecting on the long journey between a boyhood fantasy to the realisation of a TV series, Kasdan says, “I think I understood, even then, that what George Lucas and Ron Howard had created was part of a tradition that stretched back to Robert Louis Stevenson and the Brothers Grimm.”
Willow premieres on Disney+ on November 30, 2022
