Rick McCallum Talks 'Star Wars: Episode III'

[He] said yesterday that Episode III would be shot almost entirely inside the studios from next Monday. The main shoot would take 12 weeks, with Lucas returning for additional filming over the next 18 months.

The only shooting outside Sydney would be some plate photography - for visual effects - in Italy, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The tone of the new episode would be "dark" - McCallum joked that it saw the young Jedi turn "from a sweet youth into a producer". But he declined to say exactly why Anakin turns into one of cinema's greatest villains. "Let's put it this way, that's what drives this film."

"It's a huge picture and, under today's standards, it's a pretty moderately budgeted film," McCallum said. "But they're a lot of fun to make."

For Episode II, Lucas finished the script only three days before shooting started. This time around, he finished with five days to spare.

"I think they're always tough for him to write," McCallum said. "Especially this one, because it has to tie everything up from the prequels to the original trilogy. And you've got really big themes and issues in this one - how and why Anakin turns into Darth Vader."