Is there another Leprechaun film in the works?
, by Amber Curtis, 6 min reading time
We know Lep just wants “me gold”, but the people want another sequel. Although SyFy released a reboot in 2018, the film didn’t feel the same without its star, Warwick Davis. Davis had portrayed the character of the leprechaun for over a decade. But it looks like we might be in for some luck, as director Mark Jones teases he does have hopes for a sequel.
Zenescope’s co-founder Ralph Tedesco and newcomer Amber Curtis interviewed Jones live via their latest virtual convention. The trio chatted on St. Patrick’s Day regarding the impact of the film, their favorite cigars, and a vampire leprechaun crossover which might feature Davis!?
Here is an excerpt from the interview. You can view the entire interview here. Please fast forward to the 2:00 mark.
Ralph: How did the origin of Leprechaun happen? What was the antithesis or the beginning of that idea and how did it come about?
Mark Jones (MJ): I knew that they were making low budget movies and I figured as a first time director, that would be a good way to start. No studio is going to give a 20 million movie [to you] in those days.
They did Friday the 13th. They did Halloween. They did all these kind of movies, with these Holidays like the Santa Claus. [No] one has done St. Patty’s Day or a leprechaun. And those ‘Lucky Charms’ commercials were always playing and I was at a bar with my secretary. And I said you know no one had done a horror movie about a leprechaun. [People] think they are cheery happy creatures. They have sort of a dark past if you look into the mythology. [That] would be great. No one has done it. And they could release it every St. Patty’s Day.
So I wrote it. Got it to TriMark. [They] turned it down twice. The ole typical Hollywood story. Two executives turn it down. The head guy...saw the script, liked the title, read it and said, “Let’s make it.”
And then the two executives that turned it down, talk about it to this day. How great it was; how they got it going.
Ralph: And then they pushed it along.
MJ: Yeah, yeah. One of them I’m still friends with and he knows who he is.
Ralph: At least you’re still friends.
MJ: I’m friends with everybody.
Amber: I mean I would be friends with you all the time if we just smoked cigars.
Ralph: I want to talk about casting and Warwick Davis in particular. I know he had done Willow in the ‘80s. And then you got him on board. Was that someone you set out to attach to the film or was he someone who auditioned?
One that we almost got made? A Leprechaun gets bitten by a Vampire and becomes a Vamprechaun. It’s a really good script.
MJ: I saw Willow and I liked it. Lucas [film] did and that’s a big movie. A guy like that isn’t going to be into a low budget movie. My casting director set out for little people to read. And a lot of guys read.
My casting director said, [Davis] is in England and I talked to his agent and he’ll read the script. So we sent it out. He read it and in his book he mentioned it was very unfortunate he and his wife Sam had just had a child who passed away after a week. They were very depressed and he said he got the script and I read it and really liked it.
[He] thought about going to LA just to get away so [he] could have good therapy. So it just came for the right time for him. He liked the comedy and wanted to do comedy horror.
Amber: Kinda following up on the casting, obviously this is Jennifer Aniston’s feature film debut, did you see her in Leprechaun instantly or were there other people that you saw as Tori?
MJ: I’ve said this story and it’s really true.
[My producer and I] were reading young pretty girls and we saw maybe 80 of them and Jennifer was just one coming in, really hadn’t done anything...couple little parts.
And she walked in the room [she] did have a charism.
I bumped into her a few times since she became [a star] and she was wonderful. We sat down and had a drink at an event, about four years into Friends….We spent about an hour talking and I remember she said to me, “You know whatever you hear I say about Leprechaun, that’s an exaggeration and she was apologizing...I said Jennifer, you don’t have to apologize. If I ever have the success that you have, I’ll deny I ever directed Leprechaun. Haha.
Amber: Mark, what other projects do you have in your pipeline, if any, that you would like to talk about
MJ: I have one that we almost got made. It’s called a Leprechaun gets bitten by a Vampire and becomes a Vamprechaun. It’s a script. A really good script. We had a green light and then a lawsuit, we won, but now the funding fell out...and Warwick, at one point, wanted to do it...so that’s a secret, but he wanted to wait until his kids got older before he did a horror movie again...so that might come about.
We’ll let’s keep all praying and hoping for another Davis appearance as Leprechaun and a much anticipated sequel.
Leprechaun was released in 1993 as TriMark’s debut film. The film features Willow and Star Wars alum Davis and the film debut of Aniston. Since its release almost 30 years ago, Leprechaun has spawned multiple sequels, an origins story, and a recent reboot release by SyFy in 2018.
Zenescope’s Virtual Conventions began last March and occur monthly live via their Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch channels. The multi-day stream includes exclusive sales, guest interviews, giveaways, and more. For the full schedule and monthly themes of the conventions, please follow us on our social pages, @zenescope.