Ever since the first Star Wars movie came out in 1977, there have been millions of people who've absolutely adored the franchise. Thanks to the fact that so many people share that passion, there have been many friendships and even romantic relationships that have been formed because of Star Wars.
Sadly, however, there have been times when the Star Wars fandom has notably turned toxic. Some sad examples of that include the times when Star Wars actors have been on the receiving end of a wild amount of anger from so-called fans.
When Obi-Wan Kenobi streamed on Disney+ in 2022, Moses Ingram notably received a lot of angry feedback on social media. Years before that, Jake Lloyd was hired to play a young Anakin Skywalker and he received so much anger that the pressure made him retire from acting.
Sadly, Lloyd isn't the only actor who portrayed a version of Anakin that things didn't go well for. After all, the original actor who portrayed Darth Vader on set, David Prowse, wound up getting into a feud with George Lucas that lasted until his passing. Since their relationship was bad for so many years, that begs an obvious question, what went so wrong between Prowse and Lucas?
Inside David Prowse And George Lucas' Bitter Feud
As of the time of this writing, there have been eleven different big-budget live-action Star Wars movies that have been released in theaters. In addition to that, there has been a seemingly endless array of shows, animated movies, comic books, novels, and much more.
Given that there has been so much Star Wars media over the years, it is hard to overstate how many characters fans have come to know and care about. Since there are so many Star Wars characters, there are lots of options when fans decide which one is their favorite.
While fans can make their own choices about which Star Wars character they embrace the most, one thing has never changed.
From the moment that Star Wars rose to fame, the character that had the most impact on pop culture is Darth Vader.
When a lot of Star Wars fans think about Darth Vader, they think of the legendary actor James Earl Jones since his incredible voice is synonymous with the character. Despite that, another actor played a pivotal role in bringing Vader to life in the original trilogy, David Prowse.
When Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were being filmed, it was David Prowse who embodied Darth Vader on set. As a result, there is no doubt that Prowse will forever go down in cinema history.
Because Star Wars fans love the franchise so much, there have been loads of events dedicated to the franchise over the years. In some cases, those events were put on by fans, but there have also been several official events that were embraced by Lucasfilm and George Lucas.
At those events, fans get the chance to meet and have their photo taken with many of the most important Stars Wars actors. With that in mind, it would certainly seem like welcoming Prowse to official Star Wars events would be a no-brainer given how important his role was to the franchise.
As it turns out, however, Prowse's feud with Lucas became so personal over the years that the man behind Star Wars reportedly had the Vader actor banned from official events. When Prowse was asked about the situation, he revealed the explanation he was given for why he was banned.
"After enquiring, the only thing I have been told is that I have 'burnt too many bridges between Lucas Film and myself' - no other reason given."
Why George Lucas And David Prowse's Relationship Went So Wrong
During the late-'70s and early-'80s, George Lucas and David Prowse made three Star Wars movies together. With that in mind, the men clearly spent a lot of time together at certain points in their lives.
By the time Prowse passed away, however, it seemed like Lucas didn't want to be in the same room as the Vader actor. With that in mind, it is amazing to learn why things went so awry for the men that will always be associated.
According to reports, Lucas and Prowse's feud actually dates back to the time of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi's production.
In 2010, the New York Daily News published an article looking at Prowse being banned from Star Wars events. In that piece, they reported that Prowse claimed that Lucas blamed him for leaking a major spoiler back in the '80s.
"The 75-year-old Prowse claims Lucas accused him of leaking Vader's death before the release of "Return of the Jedi".
Furthermore, Prowse said that Lucas' belief that he leaked Return of the Jedi's ending made everyone involved in Star Wars sour on him.
"And that ruined my association with Star Wars. I was ostracized while on the movie, the producer and director wouldn't work with me, and Lucas wouldn't speak to me. I had six weeks of purgatory."
On top of that incident, Prowse also revealed that Vader was Luke's father during an interview that was released before The Empire Strike Back was released. In fact, it is believed Prowse made that claim before the script for The Empire Strikes Back was even written.
According to Prowse, his comment about Vader and Luke was just a lucky guess since nobody told him about that twist. On top of that, a lot of people believe Lucas had no idea about Prowse's remarks at the time so that likely played no role in their feud. However, that has never been confirmed.
On top of Lucas reportedly believing that Prowse leaked to the press, it also seems like George was frustrated by David complaining about his pay for years.
After Return of the Jedi was released and became a massive hit, Prowse told the press he was owed a huge payday. The reason for that is Prowse claimed multiple times that his agreement to star in Return of the Jedi called for him to get a percentage of the film's profits.
Going further than that, Prowse repeatedly said that Lucasfilm claimed he wasn't owed anything because Return of the Jedi wasn't profitable.
"I get these occasional letters from Lucasfilm saying that we regret to inform you that as Return of the Jedi has never gone into profit, we've got nothing to send you. Now here we're talking about one of the biggest releases of all time."
Prowse continued, "I don't want to look like I'm b**ching about it," he said, "but on the other hand, if there's a pot of gold somewhere that I ought to be having a share of, I would like to see it."
When Lucasfilm was asked to comment on Prowse's claim, they didn't comment and explained that was their policy for matters like that.
After Prowse was banned from the conventions, a source close to the actor blamed the Vader actor's complaints about his pay for that decision.
"Dave never received much money for his role and was always shoved to the side. He believes he's been an embarrassment or annoying to Lucas. But he lives for conventions. So to strip this from him, too, is heartbreaking."
