in 1988, 8 year old Jon Kasdan was the perfect age to be captivated by Willow, and many years later after his family’s involvement with Lucasfilm and the Star Wars saga Kasdan had the opportunity (and the clout) to suggest bringing back another Lucasfilm property. Now streaming on Disney Plus, Willow was that idea and Kasdan talks with Lucasfilm about his journey to the Mother World and how the ’88 film, despite its passable box office returns, remains a favourite in the hearts of many.
Lucasfilm.com: And it was a childhood favorite that I love. Do you think that it’s more beloved than people realize?
Jon Kasdan: I think it is. I also think it has a psychic power that people underestimate. What he did with that movie is that he created a visual language for a fantasy that was really kind of a little ahead of its time. It sort of falls into a group with Ladyhawke and with Legend and Dark Crystal, to some extent. But George and Ron, with all the tools of ILM at their disposal, did this incredible thing where they created an incredibly tactile, real world where he was in the mud and he was in the dirt, and you felt you were there. But it also contained monsters — you could make the argument that it was the apex moment of the Phil Tippett world of effects.
You know, that was when stop motion and things were sort of at their best. And certainly one of their virtues was that you never doubted that what you were looking at had substance and texture and weight. I think it had such a profound influence on kids who were children when that movie was on cable, was in theaters, was on VHS, that it had this sort of mysterious quality of like, How did they do this? Is that monster a 90-foot two-headed dragon? That fire sure is real. That courtyard’s real. And I think that even now, it’s like, I look at my niece and nephews and I see the way they react to most of the big stuff that comes out, and there’s just something built into our brains that when we see a bit of animation next to reality, no matter how fine it is, how finely rendered, we can distinguish it. So I think that what kids today don’t quite see as clearly as you and I maybe do, is there was a moment when movies were pure magic, and you could not distinguish between reality and fantasy and filmed and trickery.
Be sure to read the full and fascinating interview over at Lucasfilm.com.
