Question about Liam Neeson's absence

Originally posted by Ushgarak
"Neeson has made comments about the pressures of the TPM shoot (namely the amount of green-screen/digital work) but has not once rubbished Lucas and his work"

No, he did make criticism of AOTC.

You're right - but I still don't get the impression there was any bad blood between Neeson and Lucas, which is what some people like to think.
All I am saying is, if Lucas had of asked Neeson to record dialogue, and if he was available, I see no reason why he would not have done so.
The fact is, he was never asked - the scene was dropped.

i think he should have been there

Originally posted by mossman
I think it's time to clear up a few things:

1) Lucas made it quite clear he never intended to bring back the Qui-Gon Jinn as a corporeal ghost-like form. His corpse did not vanish in TPM for this specific reason.

2) When Lucas decided to bring QGJ back for AOTC, Neeson was not available. Rumours of bad blood between the two is nonsense - Neeson has made comments about the pressures of the TPM shoot (namely the amount of green-screen/digital work) but has not once rubbished Lucas and his work, or suggested they did not "get on". Lest we forget, Neeson was happy to turn up for the Vanity Fair shoot last year.
In Neeson's absence, a compromise was reached fro AOTC, some alternate ADR dialogue from TPM - "Anakin, Anakin!" (from "Anakin, drop!"😉 - was married to a voice-actor yelling "Noooooooo!".

3) During ROTS pre-production, as outlined in the Making of ROTS book, Lucas again stressed that Gui-Gon Jinn was never intended to achieve what Yoda and Obi do in the OT. He retains his identity through the Force, but not his physical form.
The scene where Qui-Gon speaks with Yoda in ROTS was dropped after the script had been passed to publishers of the novelization, the screenplay and graphic novel - hence that scene appears in all three tie-ins.
At this stage, McCallum has confirmed in Empire Magazine and on the OS, the scene had got as far as being "tried out" as an animatic with Frank Oz providing the voice of Qui-Gon.
It was decided at this stage the scene "didn't work" and McCallum also confirmed that Neeson was therefore never even approached for a role in ROTS.

So, basically - the scene featuring QGJ's voice was never completed, was dropped rather early in post-production, and Neeson was NEVER linked to ROTS.
Rumours suggesting he was, were exactly that - rumours.

i see.. that clears alot of things up. For one its a waste to think that plot of a movie could change depending on the availability of the actors. But i thought yoda told obi-wan that qui-gon did achieve it? how can u tell others of it when u have not achieve it yourself?

this to me is the largest downfall of ROTS. there should have been a scene with Qui-Gon. having no scene makes the scene between obi and yoda seem completely stupid and pointless. at the very least there should have been a scene of yoda meditating and talking to qui-gon, even if it was his voice only.

but this is the biggest disappointment, not only would it have been very cool, it would have tied Eps I and Eps III together more then it did.

i agree.. the short conversation yoda and obi-wan had about qui-gon learning to become one with the Force was rather short and intriuging..It is like as though the mystery surrounding that ability still stands,making obi-wan's and yoda's becoming one with the Force in the original series almost unexplainable.