Leprechaun (1993)

Interesting facts

• Budget: $900K
• Filmed in: California

Leprechaun is a 1993 American horror comedy film written and directed by Mark Jones, and starring Warwick Davis in the title role, with Jennifer Aniston supporting. The film follows a vengeful leprechaun who believes a family has stolen his pot of gold. As he hunts them, they attempt to locate his gold to mollify him.

Production

Mark Jones, the writer-director, had a career in American television shows. Desiring to make a film, he decided that a low-budget horror film was his best opportunity. Jones was inspired by the Lucky Charms commercials to create a leprechaun character, only his twist was to turn the character into an antagonist. Jones was further influenced by the film Critters, which featured a small antagonist.

Novelist Armistead Maupin was aware of the production, and included it in his novel Maybe the Moon, focusing on a little person based on his friend Tamara de Treaux.

Leprechaun was filmed at Valencia Studios, where Terminator 2: Judgment Day had recently finished production. Several violent scenes were filmed at Big Sky Ranch, where Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons were shot. Davis later said it felt "a little blasphemous". Davis performed most of his own stunts.

Gabe Bartalos performed the make-up effects. Trimark contacted Bartalos to produce a sample. Bartalos's early efforts were not to his liking, and he pushed the design in a more grotesque direction, as that was what he wanted to see on the screen as a horror fan. Bartalos's design impressed Trimark, and he got the account. Applying the make-up took three hours, and taking it off took another 40 minutes.

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