| A Gnome Named Gnorm | |
| Director: | Stan Winston |
| Screenplay: | John Watson Pen Densham |
| Story: | Pen Densham |
| Producer: | Robert W. Cort Scott Kroopf Pen Densham Richard Lewis |
| Starring: | Anthony Michael Hall Jerry Orbach |
| Cinematography: | Bojan Bazelli |
| Editing: | Marcus Manton |
| Music: | Richard Gibbs |
| Studio: | Trilogy Entertainment Group Interscope Communications Lightning Pictures |
| Distributor: | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 84 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
A Gnome Named Gnorm (also known in some markets as Upworld) is a 1990 fantasy buddy comedy film directed by Stan Winston and written by Pen Densham and John Watson. The film stars Anthony Michael Hall, Jerry Orbach and Claudia Christian, and is about a Los Angeles police detective who teams up with a gnome to solve a murder.
Gnorm is just an average gnome who lives underground, but he wants to impress another gnome romantically by doing something heroic. He takes the "lumen", a stone that must be brought to the surface (called "Upworld" by the gnomes) to be exposed to the sun to recharge it. When he gets to the surface, he witnesses a murder and the killer ends up with the lumen. Detective Casey (Hall), who was working a sting operation with the murdered man, is blamed for botching the sting, and the man's death. Wanting to catch the killer to clear his name, he accidentally discovers Gnorm, and they team up.[1]
The movie was filmed under the title Upworld in 46 days, and was completed in early 1989, except for the ending.[3] The film's writer and supervising producer, John Watson, said he wanted to make something in the vein of E.T. meets 48 Hrs..Director Stan Winston had initially shot the film with a more poignant ending, but said that after screening the film with a live audience he decided to change to a more humorous ending as he felt the tone didn't work with the rest of the film and re-shot the ending to be more humorous in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film.
Due to the bankruptcy of Vestron Pictures, the film wound up in limbo without experiencing a major release. A Gnome Named Gnorm was given a straight-to-video release on April 20, 1994.[4]