The casting director took Lucas's decisive utterance to mean that he wanted the star of the mildly successful series of direct-mail-order "Dorf" comedy videos (such as Dorf On Golf and Dorf Goes Fishing), veteran TV funnyman Tim Conway.

As it turned out, Lucas was merely choking back the attempted escape of his lunch (his usual half-dozen bacon 'n' sour cream Gorditas from the corner Taco Bell), and had made a fast exit for the nearest restroom. However, before the miscommunication was discovered, Conway had been cast, and the crew had finished shooting two-thirds of the Palpatine scenes (with Conway shuffling around on his shoe-clad knees, squinting and bumping into things).