“Children can only be on set for a number of hours,” Pierce said. “The producers had approached our parents and said, ‘Is there any way we can do a bit of overtime to get it done.’ That’s not uncommon at all in the industry because it literally saves $100,000 (£73,000) plus to do that extra half hour rather than a whole day.”
He says that Williams “caught wind of these conversations” and “pulled the director [Joe Johnston] and producers aside” to tell them that wouldn’t be happening.
“He said, ‘No, we are not doing any extra time. You’re going to let everybody out now and we’re going to come back next week.’”
Pierce added: “For all the dollars that would have cost, nobody would have stood up the way he did. In addition to being warm, generous and kind, he was also very protective.”