The feud between David Prowse and George Lucas can be traced back to the original Star Wars movie. During filming, Prowse delivered all of Darth Vader’s lines himself. In a 2016 interview with Film Fad, he admitted that he knew his dialogue would have to be dubbed over due to the constraints of the costume, but he assumed he would be the one to do it. Instead, Lucas chose to cast James Earl Jones, which Prowse attributed to the studio not wanting to pay to fly him out to America for recording.
There are many stories of Prowse and Lucas colliding after the first film was released. The actor mentioned the possibility of Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker’s father at a 1978 fan event, which took place before a script for “The Empire Strikes Back” had been properly written. Prowse later claimed it was simply speculation, but rumors hold that Lucas was very upset at the suggestion. Perhaps not coincidentally, Prowse didn’t show his face in “Return of the Jedi” in the scene where Luke removes Vader’s helmet. Instead, Sebastian Shaw portrayed the dying Anakin Skywalker. In an interview with Rockcellar Magazine, Prowse said this was because Shaw was a friend of Alec Guinness and needed work at the time, so the casting was essentially a favor. Still, some have theorized that Lucas had more vindictive intentions.
