Before Jennifer Aniston became America’s sweetheart on Friends, (which is streamable with a Max subscription), she cut her teeth in the entertainment business with a cult classic. The movie in question is Leprechaun, a low-budget 1993 horror flick where she played a character that squared off against a gold-obsessed goblin played by Warwick Davis. And, according to Davis, some of her on-screen terror might’ve been the real deal. That aside, though, Davis also revealed what stood out about Aniston at that point.
Warwick Davis chatted with Entertainment Weekly at the opening of Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando. It was during the event that he shared his thoughts on filming what some might call a not-so-great but still a fun and campy awesome '90s horror movie. Davis mentioned just how taken aback Jennifer Aniston was when she saw him in his full costume on set. According to the Willow star:
She was a great actress, but whether the fear on her face was real. I think it was at times, because it was pretty intense, that makeup and the stuff we were having to do. Having me in that getup with the nails and everything, chasing her. It's got to have been pretty terrifying.
Davis was buried under layers of grotesque prosthetics and long, sharp nails to play the evil Leprechaun, and he admits the whole process was physically demanding. Considering how Davis' appearance for the film, I can understand how Aniston or any of their co-stars would be unnerved. Still, it was effect for what the film was going for. While the horror-comedy hybrid didn’t wow critics, it clawed its way to a box office take of $8.5 million on a shoestring budget under $1 million, per Box Office Mojo.
Of course, Leprechaun may not be the role anyone expected to launch the career of someone who would star in one of the best sitcoms of all time. Over the years, Jennifer Aniston has poked fun at the film for being one of her worst roles, even famously calling it “embarrassing” in a 2021 InStyle interview. Despite all of that, Davis wasn’t surprised when she landed the life-changing role of Rachel Green soon after. He saw something early on that others might’ve missed:
I remember Jennifer, because I thought, 'Oh, she's definitely got something special about her.' You could tell she was gonna become a big star one day. She had that quality about her, that energetic performance.
So, as Aniston was fending off a demonic fairy in an old farmhouse, Davis was already clocking the charisma that would turn her into one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. Despite the We’re the Millers star’s occasional quips about her debut in horror movies, Leprechaun’s director, Mark Jones, told EW in 2014 that the actress later assured him she didn’t mind the film and had been misquoted in the past.
More than thirty years later, Jones' 1993 horror film stands as a campy cult classic and a fascinating footnote in the otherwise polished résumé of the Morning Show actress. But, for Davis, the film isn’t just horror nostalgia; it’s a time capsule of two careers on very different trajectories, colliding for one weird, wonderful, and slightly terrifying movie.
Jennifer Aniston isn’t the only Leprechaun alum who's made it big. Warwick Davis is a movie icon, from playing an Ewok in Star Wars to starring in Willow and its Disney+ spinoff and playing a Hogwarts professor in the Harry Potter movies. Davis has truly had an extraordinary career, and I'm grateful for his work, including the A+ way he spooked Aniston and co. on screen.
Check out Leprechaun for yourself by streaming it for free on Tubi.
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