Mark Jones’s 1993 cult classic Leprechaun launched a long-running horror franchise that quickly became known for its gruesome, over-the-top kills. However, the original movie’s inspiration was much less dark. “The Lucky Charms commercials had the cute little leprechaun advertising cereal,” Jones explained during a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I said, ‘We can turn this into something evil.’”
Evil, but child-friendly, that is. In a 2023 interview with ComicBook.com, Jones revealed that he was actually planning to gear Leprechaun toward younger audiences. “I originally wrote it to be comedy-horror, and I said I didn’t want to do a straight slasher,” the director recalled. Jones also said a toned-down version of the film was lying around somewhere that he hoped to find.
The Original ‘Leprechaun’ Was Almost a Live-Action ‘Scooby-Doo’ Movie
“The kids loved it, because I wanted it to be a kid’s horror movie, like Scooby-Doo, but live-action,” Jones continued. The studio, on the other hand, was pushing for a hard R rating. Battles ensued behind the scenes, but the final cut ended up being more adult-oriented. Later, when studio execs saw how Warwick Davis’s character still managed to appeal to children, they acknowledged they probably should’ve listened to Jones.
As for what changed, Jones said they cut a few cartoonish sequences in favor of more violence. “There were scenes of the leprechaun being run over by the truck, and we don’t see them, and there’s tire tracks, and he digs himself up, and he’s got tire tracks down the back,” Jones remembered.
Because Leprechaun was Jones’s first movie, he, unfortunately, didn’t have the final say in the matter. Ultimately, the studio heads decided to axe a number of comedic elements that, ironically, would later become a staple of the series.
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