'Leprechaun' director on film's 30th anniversary, working with Jennifer Aniston and Warwick Davis

Director Mark Jones talks about the 30th anniversary of his horror film "Leprechaun," how Warwick Davis got involved and what it was like working with Jennifer Aniston on her first film.

Video Transcript

KEVIN POLOWY: Mark, congrats on the recent 30th anniversary of your baby Leprechaun, a true horror classic in my humble opinion. What can you say about the origins of this one? I mean, were you always fascinated by leprechauns? Were you scared of them as a child? Did you just find them inherently creepy?

MARK JONES: Well, you know, probably creepy. I remember, when I was a kid, there was like Shirley Temple theater, probably in the 60s or something, and they had-- they did a Rumplestilskin and they had a little person playing, and he was really creepy and stuff. But I basically said, you know, they've done Friday the 13th, they've done Halloween, they've done Christmas movies, Santa Claus, all these things. Nobody's done Leprechaun, and the lucky charms commercials were all over the place. This is late 80s.

So I just came up with the idea. Let's do St. Paddy's Day, Leprechaun.

- I'm a leprechaun, my dear.

MARK JONES: And I did some research, and I kind of found out that they were a little bit creepy, and they would do pranks, leprechauns, and kill people sometimes, and they were shoemakers. So I said, I can sort of gobble that into an interesting character. And then I wanted to add the comedy, so it wasn't a straight slasher horror movie.

KEVIN POLOWY: Did you have Warwick Davis in mind at all when you wrote this? I mean, you know, he was very prolific at the time, obviously, with Star Wars, and he had just done Willow, right? He was--

MARK JONES: Right. No, we didn't we. My casting director brought in a bunch of little people, and we were reading them and, you know, they were OK. It's just I wanted a real character, you know, somebody who could, I think, deliver, and she suggested Warwick Davis. Lisa London was my casting director. He got the script. He really liked the script. And it was a very sad part and he talks about it in his book, so I'm not giving anything away, but they had just had a child, and it passed away after about two weeks.

He and his wife Samantha. So they were very depressed and he said, you know, this gets us out of England. Let's go to America. We'll spend three months there doing the movie, so that was part of it. And he thought playing a villain, because he had done Willow, he had done the Star Wars stuff, so it was the right timing. And he liked that there was comedy. I then work and I came in and really ramped it up and got his character, but he liked the aspect of it wasn't just a straight horror monster.

KEVIN POLOWY: What do you remember about your first time meeting Jennifer Aniston?

MARK JONES: She walked in, and there was something about her, obviously. I mean, she became a superstar, and you don't get that just by acting, even though she's a terrific actress. You get it by some kind of charisma, some kind of, you know, magic. And I looked at Michael and I said, boy, I hope she can act. She was a professional. She had a great sense of humor. If I said, let's do it this way, she did it. I mean she worked. She was also a real pro, a real pro.

And then, right after Leprechaun came out, that next year, that following month, she got Friends.

KEVIN POLOWY: Right. What were your biggest horror inspirations?

MARK JONES: I like little creepy monsters because, in a way, they're scarier than big ones.

KEVIN POLOWY: I mean, was it an easy sell? Was it a tough sell at the time or was Hollywood like, killer leprechaun? We will take it.

MARK JONES: We thought it was direct to video. It wasn't going to go theatrical, and then it just went theatrical. They tested it. It tested so well. And then, you know, eight sequels later-- (CHUCKLES)