Also, today from the archives, let’s celebrate the Magic of Willow with Starlog magazine issues #131 & #132!
These issues from summer 1988 feature Willow-related front & back covers. “After getting killed by Indiana Jones, James Bond, Conan and Red Sonja…” actor Pat Roach (General Kael) sat down with Starlog’s British Correspondent Adam Pirani for a lengthy interview on his career and the villains of Willow. To balance things out, Pirani also penned an interview with Gavan O’Herilhy (Airk Thaughbaer) where he details some of his days on set shooting scenes with large amounts of extras and horse related injuries.
The following month Pirani was back with “Ron Howard: Storyteller of Shadow and Magic” where he interviewed the Willow director discussing the new film and aspects of Howard’s career where he was decidedly “not involved in that at all” in projects such as Splash Too, and Cocoon II: The Return.
When asked about a potential Willow II, Howard had this to say at the time: “George and I have joked around a little bit about that, and certainly there are many different ways you could go with Willow. Whether I would want to undertake a project of this size again, I don’t know. I would have to give it some serious thought. But I wouldn’t discount it altogether. I
enjoy working with George Lucas, and I’m really pleased with the progress that Warwick Davis is making as an actor. Eventually, he’ll become an important filmmaker. So, it does intrigue me.”
Despite Willow being mentioned as a TV series as far back as 2005 (17 years after the film), it didn’t premiere for another 17 years (which is also how long after the film, the series story is set). Fortunately, Howard is back with an Executive Producer credit on the show.
The Willow film turned 37 years old this week! I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!
Dale's Toys 