Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 2363586" data-attributes="member: 14159">Actually, the Star Wars films were non-union.  Lucas was fined by the Director's Guild for not putting opening credits in front of Star Wars, and the guild demanded that Star Wars be re-cut with "proper" opening credits.  Lucas refused, paid the fine, and quit the guild, leaving the union scene in Hollywood (and becoming rich enough to generally not worry about the unions).  Lucas wanted Spielberg to direct The Empire Strikes Back, but he couldn't because of union obstacles (since Spielberg is part of the Director's Guild.)  However, as Spielberg is credited as an Assistant Director on Episode III, he either changed his mind, left the Guild, or the rules were relaxed.The non-union status of the Star Wars movies has kept some notable actors out, like Gary Oldman (the original voice of General Grievous), who bowed out of production early on because Lucas uses non-union actors and crew.  Presumably some SAG members didn't have a problem (like Samuel L. Jackson).Also note that most of the production of the Star Wars movies was done overseas, either in location shooting, or in studio work done mostly in England (although some of Episode II was done in Australia).  The only shooting I can think of for any Star Wars movie done in the U.S. would be the Dune Sea parts of Return of the Jedi, which were filmed in Death Valley.</blockquote>