Why Gary Oldman was replaced as the voice of General Grieve in Star Wars

“Star Wars” is full of fascinating, enigmatic villainsmost of them barely get any dialogue, let alone an explanation of their backgrounds or backstories—at least in the movies. Whether Darth Vader is presented as nothing more than a tall, menacing guy in dark, robotic armor or Boba Fett's silent, striking suit of armor, these antagonists work because of how little we know about them and how memorable their designs are.

This is especially true in the prequel trilogy, where we get characters like Darth Maul, who is just evil incarnate, a perfect design. While perhaps not as popular, the character design of General Grievous himself is just as effective. He is a villain that is at once memorable and surprising, his cybernetic exterior and biological organs making him quite mysterious and appealing.

Grievous, like most things in Star Wars, went through a lot of changes before his debut George Lucas even briefly considered making the character Darth Maul in disguise. The General was first introduced by Genndy Tartakovsky in the 2003 animated miniseries The Clone Wars, voiced by John DiMaggio and Richard McGonagall, before making his big screen debut in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. ” In this film, Grievous was voiced by sound editor and voice actor Matthew Wood, who would go on to play the role in the Clone Wars cartoon series (where he also voices battle droids and many others).

But before Wood became the voice of Grieve, the asthmatic cybernetic villain in Revenge of the Sith was almost played by none other than Oscar winner Gary Oldman. Once, appearing on “Happy Sad Confused” On the podcast, Oldman said he even wrote a few lines for the character, which was directed by Lucas himself. So what went wrong? According to Oldman, “what happened was union stuff and non-union stuff,” adding that he didn't want to be “the poster child for breaking union rules.”

The reason Oldman was unable to voice Grievous in Revenge of the Sith was because the film was not a SAG shoot, which took place in England and Australia – like all the Star Wars films. The Screen Actors Guild has a rule known as Global Rule One, which ensures members retain full union protection even when working overseas. Although Lucasfilm requested special permission for Oldman to appear in a non-union production, the actor ultimately had to accept the film.

This is far from the first time George Lucas has run into trouble with unions and guilds, with whom the director has had a long, tumultuous and complicated history. It started after the release of the movie “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980. when Lucas very publicly left the Directors Guild of America after a dispute over the use of the screen director's credit. Although Lucas has received awards from the Producers Guild (of which he may still be a member), he's not technically a member of the WGA either. Instead, the retired filmmaker is a “fi-core member,” meaning he opted out of full membership in the writers' union and instead pays his dues and union contract benefits, but is otherwise not subject to any union rules, including union strikes.

In 1981, Lucas even became the very first person to become a WGA fi-core member — though other notable filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Bob Gale, Robert Rodriguez and Steven Soderbergh soon joined the list.