Additional information
by Warwick Davis (Author)
The life and times of Warwick Davis, star of Ricky Gervais's forthcoming sitcom, Life's Too Short
Actors work their entire careers hoping to achieve the kind of cult movie hero status that Davis achieved at the age of eleven playing Wicket W. Warrick, the lead Ewok in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. In this lively and down-to-earth memoir, Davis offers personal stories on the making of some of the most popular films of the last few decades--including the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Leprechaun movie franchises, among many others--and shares the unique perspective of life as experienced by someone with a one-in-a-million genetic condition.
- The real life of the man who helped destroy a Death Star, saved a princess, defeated an evil sorceress, taught magic to Harry Potter, became a Jedi Master, and embodied a mass murdering, gold-obsessed leprechaun--the one and only Warwick Davis
- Warwick Davis's honest look at the highs and lows of life as an actor and pop culture icon, from his screen debut in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi to his starring role in Ricky Gervais's forthcoming sitcom, Life's Too Short
- Includes behind-the-scenes stories, from sweltering inside a furry Ewok costume and filling in for R2-D2 to sliding down a glacier at Mach 2 with Val Kilmer and getting kicked in the face by Ricky Gervais (again and again)
- Features a foreword by George Lucas, who has been friends with Davis for almost three decades
Both refreshingly frank and highly entertaining, this book will help you see what life is like when it really is too short.
Front Jacket
Hi! Believe it or not, I'm a world-famous actor. No really, I am. Hey! Don't put the book back! Let me explain . . .
You may not recognize my name--or my face for that matter--but it's very likely you've seen me at work. I've managed to cram quite a bit into my thirty-year acting career. In fact, I've helped put more backsides on cinema seats than Will Smith or Tom Hanks.
Who else can say that they've helped destroy a Death Star? Defeated an evil sorceress? Taught magic to Harry Potter? Became a Jedi Master? Reluctantly hitchhiked across the galaxy in search of the answer to the Ultimate Question? Or embarked (six times, no less) on a psychotic killing spree as a gold-obsessed leprechaun? I've also performed in a jazz club with the late, great Ray Charles and been kicked in the head (twenty-three times) by Ricky Gervais, who has also asked me to play a fictionalized version of myself on the sitcom Life's Too Short.
You may also have noticed that, at three-foot-six, I am ever so slightly below average height. My genes are arranged in a vaguely peculiar manner, which means I have a disorder that no one can pronounce (spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita--go on, try!) and very few people understand. This comes with its own trials and tribulations--particularly when my wife and I tried to start a family--but also in an everyday kind of way--surviving a supermarket shopping trip, getting into fights with drunks, that sort of thing.
So, without further preamble--except to add that George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, Val Kilmer, Ron Howard, Ricky Gervais (amongst others) have chipped in--I urge you, discerning reader, to read on and discover what life is like when it really is too short. At the very least, George Lucas will finally explain why there really is no underwear in space--and who wouldn't want to know that?
Author Biography
Warwick A. Davis made his screen debut as Wicket the Ewok in 1983's Return of the Jedi. His extremely rare condition has led to a career as the world's leading little actor. He also runs Willow Management, an agency representing actors below five feet and above seven feet in height, and lives in Peterborough, England, with his wife, Sam, and their two children, Annabelle and Harrison.
