'Willow' Main Cast Interview
The cast and creators of “Willow” on Disney+ including Tony Revolori, Erin Kellyman, Ruby Cruz, Ellie Bamber, Amar Chadha-Patel, Dempsey Bryk, Jonathan Kasdan, and Michelle Rejwan discuss the new Disney+ series in this interview with CinemaBlend's Mike Reyes. They discuss their memories from boot camp, growing close with each other on set, making a sequel 35 years later, and much more!
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00:00 I like CinemaBlend, that's my morning right there.
00:03 That's my coffee and someone's asking me for an answer to a question,
00:08 usually Michelle, and I'm looking at CinemaBlend going like,
00:11 "Uh-huh, no, I totally hear you."
00:12 Right, I'll call you right back.
00:13 You realize who's directing Blade, I'll say to her?
00:29 What was the one factor from the original that you both wanted to preserve,
00:34 and at the same time, where did you think the greatest change could have been had?
00:38 Well, I think that though it's not the most exciting answer,
00:41 the first question answer is obvious to us, it's Warwick.
00:44 It's that he grounds this universe completely,
00:48 and something about the sort of the silhouette he struck in 1988
00:54 and the presence he brought to that movie,
00:57 it just screams fantasy, credible, the world is real, the stakes are real,
01:04 and the opportunity to bring that character back
01:06 was at the heart of why we wanted to do this.
01:09 And then the flip side of that question, just as important, was Elora Dannon,
01:15 because for both of us, it seemed like this was the unusual thing
01:19 that because the movie had been focused on this child,
01:22 and we're told at the start of the movie that this baby is going to be an empress,
01:27 almost unique among all IP, it begs for a sequel.
01:32 You have to know what that journey is,
01:34 and we as people who grew up in these stories know it's not going to be an easy journey,
01:39 and it's going to be fraught and probably pretty scary.
01:43 Well, that's the thing, it's so tempting when you get to play with some of your,
01:47 inside some of your favorite worlds that you have such affection for from your own childhood,
01:52 but as John's saying, you have to, we always begin with that question of
01:56 why are we telling this story?
01:57 And we were so lucky because Willow, the original film,
02:01 left us with this incredible question and journey we wanted to see of Elora Dannon.
02:06 What happened to that baby?
02:08 What happened to that baby?
02:09 Did she become the empress?
02:10 Was Willow able to train her and teach her?
02:13 And what are they up against next?
02:15 So we had a natural jumping off point for this story,
02:18 and John had an incredible take on where to go with it.
02:22 Oh, it means a lot.
02:23 Like, it truly does.
02:24 And I think that the experience that I had shooting the show with everyone,
02:30 it just means the world to me.
02:31 And the relationships, like the friendships that we've created on set were just really wonderful.
02:37 I was a fan of the original movie, and I watched it as a kid,
02:41 so being a part of this was exciting, and I'm honored to be a part of it.
02:47 And then beyond that, I just, I had so much fun on set with these guys as well.
02:52 It was so fun.
02:52 And, you know, I just can't wait for people to see it.
02:56 I think it's a very surreal experience and feeling.
02:59 You don't think about this part of it when you're actually filming it,
03:04 and so it feels kind of like a dream-like situation.
03:08 I was certain all the way through filming, and actually now,
03:11 I was going to absolutely screw this up and crash and burn,
03:14 and then my career would be over.
03:16 So the fact that we're here and people are enjoying it is still a surprise to me.
03:20 But it's a joy to be part of this, not just Willow,
03:23 but the fantasy, adventure world which I grew up with.
03:26 And to be able to play one of my favorite archetypes within it,
03:30 and deconstruct it, and do it with, you know,
03:32 the biggest sword in the world that was written for me by our showrunner,
03:36 John Caston, was like the little child inside me.
03:39 It was his dream.
03:41 I was reading, there was a pretty intense boot camp experience
03:45 that went into getting all this together.
03:47 Everyone trained and bonded as a cast.
03:49 So I wanted to start off with what your favorite memory
03:52 or proudest moment was after going through that experience.
03:55 First day of boot camp, the production gave us a hat that said,
03:59 "I survived boot camp."
04:00 Oh, yeah.
04:00 I was like, "That's really preemptive."
04:02 And like very naily, we did the math.
04:03 No idea what was coming, even.
04:05 I loved the stunts.
04:09 It's hard to, you know what, there was a, I won't say specifically what,
04:14 but there were some things from the original movie that they were like,
04:17 "You know what, you should learn this exactly,
04:19 and it'll be a little Easter egg."
04:21 And maybe I'm saying too much, but whatever.
04:23 I started it and I can't stop.
04:24 And then the moment that I got it, I was like, "Okay, that's pretty exciting."
04:29 Yeah, I think it was how rewarding it was to like train our bodies to do something,
04:33 and then suddenly they could do something that they couldn't do before.
04:36 I think that was really cool.
04:37 And me and Aaron, our characters were trained together a lot,
04:41 and we fight together a lot.
04:45 And we did this one fight where we had to get everything in sync,
04:49 and it was so hard.
04:52 And then we just did it all day, every day for like a week,
04:55 and finally we got this whole, I think they cut it, honestly.
04:58 I think when I watched it, we never even touched.
05:00 My best memory during was there were these cardboard boxes
05:07 that kind of separated areas in this big warehouse that we were doing the boot camp in.
05:14 The stunt team was also training in.
05:16 Yeah, and so they had these boxes up to kind of, I suppose, separate from the PT area.
05:22 And one day, I think it was you, you...
05:25 -Armor. -Armor, Tony.
05:27 I'm Tony.
05:28 -You, Armor, Dempsey and I. -I'm Tony and Dempsey.
05:31 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:31 We just decided, we were like, "Should we just run through them and see what happens
05:36 and if we get in any huge trouble about it?"
05:38 So we literally like pelted ourselves at these cardboard boxes,
05:42 and it was possibly the best moment.
05:44 We all did it separately.
05:45 We didn't do it at the same time.
05:48 No, we didn't. We all did it separately.
05:49 And it was like, they were having a big conversation about fight scenes and fight choreography
05:54 -and what it was going to look like. -Super serious.
05:56 And Armor just like dive rolls through the boxes.
06:00 Dempsey just like flat back goes back.
06:02 Ellie just walks like it's nothing and goes, "Sorry, where's the bathroom?"
06:07 I don't remember what I did, but I do remember what you all did.
06:12 Oh, I think I might have put on the VR goggles and just walked through.
06:15 Yeah, I think that was it.
06:16 Like pretended. Anyway, that was a very fun moment.
06:19 That was a great memory.
06:21 We, on the very last day of boot camp, we went back to Tony's and we played video games.
06:29 -We played VR. -Yeah.
06:32 I guess that's how we celebrated.
06:33 But it felt so relaxing to just be like, "Okay."
06:37 And we're done. And Tony has these recliners too, which I was just...
06:40 They're so much more enjoyable when you know you don't have to wake up at 6 in the morning
06:43 -and work out. -Was that the night with the red LEDs?
06:46 No, that was one of the first weekends.
06:48 Yeah. I mean, I actually learned to horse ride and that was such an achievement for me.
06:52 And there was one horse riding session towards the end of the boot camp that Ellie and I went on.
06:57 And they were like, "Do you guys want to try flag riding?"
06:59 And we're like, "What's that?"
06:59 And they just gave us massive flags.
07:01 So we learned to like joust and ride around with these flags and it looked insane.
07:05 And I was like, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I grew up in East London.
07:09 There were no horses there."
07:10 How did you both go about building not only the sibling chemistry,
07:13 but the twin sibling chemistry?
07:15 Because there's just that little extra twist when it's a twin.
07:18 So it was crazy. I mean, the first time we...
07:20 We didn't honestly do anything. It was immediate.
07:22 -And I wish that I was like... -It really was.
07:24 ...the secret acting technique that makes you a twin with someone.
07:26 But we just got on FaceTime and it was immediate.
07:30 It was like, "Oh, I know you."
07:31 Like, I think we literally said that to each other.
07:33 And then...
07:33 Yeah.
07:34 Do you remember what happened like the second day that we hung out with the cashier?
07:37 Of course I remember that.
07:39 What? Do you want to tell?
07:39 Okay. Yeah, sure. Well, we were with...
07:42 We were together. Yeah.
07:44 It was like the first or second time we were hanging out.
07:46 And this guy asked us if we were twins and we were like, "Yeah, we are."
07:50 And he was like, "Oh, I would know because I have a twin."
07:52 And we were like, "You're so smart."
07:54 And he was holding our IDs, which had our different names and birthdays.
07:57 So it was just a bit like, cool.
08:00 Either he's a plant for the production or he's just really...
08:02 That's so...
08:04 Disney was making us feel like twins the whole time.
08:07 This is a Truman Show moment.
08:08 Yeah. No, it was definitely just like hanging out together and like getting...
08:11 Like discovering our twinnergy to just translate onto screen.
08:16 Like that... It was so easy, honestly.
08:19 To become the twins.
08:20 As we call it now.
08:21 Aaron, you've worked with the MCU and Star Wars.
08:24 And Amar, you've been part of the Wheel of Time series.
08:27 And those are obviously big deals in and of themselves, but Willow's no slouch either.
08:33 How would you say your experience on this project differed from those previous projects?
08:38 I think the size of the production is quite similar.
08:41 But for some reason, Willow felt way more...
08:44 I think maybe because we were on a smaller...
08:48 In a smaller studio.
08:51 It felt way more intimate.
08:54 Like, I feel like everybody knew everybody and it became like this gigantic family.
08:59 Everybody got really close really quickly.
09:00 And it was just us in the studio.
09:02 There was no other production.
09:02 Yeah, there was no...
09:03 I think that makes it like really like enclosed and it feels very intimate.
09:07 Yeah, it felt like a campus.
09:08 I mean, I think Wheel of Time, the scale again is humongous and it was a joy to be there.
09:11 And it was just so much more a bigger story than what we were doing.
09:15 And we were just really creating this motley crew.
09:18 Like a Breakfast Club John Hughes vibe.
09:20 And then just throwing them into every situation possible.
09:23 So it's almost quite insular in a way.
09:25 Tony, just a quick note.
09:26 This is your second big Disney project.
09:29 We gotta get you into Star Wars now.
09:31 Or maybe we should just get everyone into Star Wars now.
09:34 I would love it.
09:35 I would love it.
09:35 I mean, Aaron has already done it and Warwick already has done it.
09:39 But I could see, you know, Umar as a big, you know, Stormtrooper kind of guy.
09:45 Dempsey as a, you know, ragtag type of rebel.
09:49 You would be destroying the Empire slowly bit by bit in like an Andor series.
09:54 I'm really desperate.
09:54 I love Andor so much.
09:56 Like, I passionately love Andor.
09:59 I would love to be like a little guru out in a far, far, far planet that like
10:04 speaks like Yoda but doesn't look like him.
10:07 And has the force.
10:08 That would be fun.
10:10 Just be like sitting in a corner going, "Hmm."
10:13 One thing that I think we're both fantasizing about as the future of this whole business
10:19 we're in is that maybe there's the possibility that the train can go the other way a little bit.
10:24 And sometimes these series can culminate in theatrical experiences that you need to see
10:30 in a theater.
10:30 I think, you know, Benioff and Weiss wanted that with Game of Thrones.
10:35 I think there's lots of opportunity to do that.
10:37 And we'd love to see that happen.
10:39 I think Disney would too, ultimately.
10:41 There's so many cool new storytelling possibilities out there.
10:45 So it's been, we feel very lucky that we got to do this as a series, in fact.
10:50 Yeah.
10:50 Right?
10:50 I mean, there's just so many more creative opportunities that afforded us over the eight
10:56 chapters and just incredible imaginative, like endlessly imaginative ideas that come
11:02 out of my friend John here that we got to do in just one season.
11:06 So it's pretty cool to, you know, we're very proud of it.
11:09 Both Michelle and I come from the movies.
11:12 So like, you know, I'm counting the days till Avatar comes out.
11:15 I'm a devotee of the cineplex.
11:17 And Willow for me was, you know, it was a very formative movie going experience because
11:22 it was so big and so epic.
11:24 [Music]
11:26 Ride!
11:27 [Music]
11:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]