Behind-The-Scenes Secrets From The Star Wars Universe

An Oscar?

In fact, the character of Yoda was so well portrayed that George Lucas thought Yoda was worthy of winning an Oscar. The Empire Strikes Back, the first movie in which Yoda appeared, was a critical and commercial success and regarded as one of the best sequels ever made. Lucas tried to spin that into an Oscar nomination for Frank Oz, who was the puppeteer and voice of Yoda.

Lucas launched a campaign to get Oz the nomination, but the Academy would not allow it. While Oz did a great job creating one of the most iconic characters of all time, the Academy does not consider puppeteers to be actors, making Frank Oz ineligible for an Oscar nomination.

Fined over Credits

This was not the only time rules and regulations interfered with Star Wars’ success. One of the most iconic things about Star Wars is the opening crawl that can be seen at the beginning of the films, telling us that these things happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” George Lucas, however, would be fined for this.

Union rules require movies to list the credits at the beginning of a film or before it starts. George Lucas, however, decided to plunge viewers right into the story. Since the credits in Star Wars films don’t appear until the end of the film, George Lucas was fined for breaking the rules of the filmmaking union.