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The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film Hardcover – April 24, 2007
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After the 1973 success of American Graffiti, filmmaker George Lucas made the fateful decision to pursue a longtime dream project: a space fantasy movie unlike any ever produced. Lucas envisioned a swashbuckling SF saga inspired by the Flash Gordon serials classic American westerns, the epic cinema of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, and mythological heroes. Its original title: The Star Wars. The rest is history, and how it was made is a story as entertaining and exciting as the movie that has enthralled millions for thirty years–a story that has never been told as it was meant to be. Until now.
Using his unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives and its trove of never-before-published “lost” interviews, photos, production notes, factoids, and anecdotes, Star Wars scholar J. W. Rinzler hurtles readers back in time for a one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes look at the nearly decade-long quest of George Lucas and his key collaborators to make the “little” movie that became a phenomenon. For the first time, it’s all here:
• the evolution of the now-classic story and characters–including “Annikin Starkiller” and “a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and large gills” named Han Solo
• excerpts from George Lucas’s numerous, ever-morphing script drafts
• the birth of Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects company that revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking
• the studio-hopping and budget battles that nearly scuttled the entire project
• the director’s early casting saga, which might have led to a film spoken mostly in Japanese–including the intensive auditions that won the cast members their roles and made them legends
• the grueling, nearly catastrophic location shoot in Tunisia and the subsequent breakneck dash at Elstree Studios in London
• the who’s who of young film rebels who pitched in to help–including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and Brian DePalma
But perhaps most exciting, and rarest of all, are the interviews conducted before and during production and immediately after the release of Star Wars–in which George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, composer John Williams, effects masters Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, and John Dykstra, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, legendary production designer John Barry, and a host of others share their fascinating tales from the trenches and candid opinions of the film that would ultimately change their lives.
No matter how you view the spectrum of this thirty-year phenomenon, The Making of Star Wars stands as a crucial document–rich in fascination and revelation–of a genuine cinematic and cultural touchstone.
- Print length372 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Worlds
- Publication dateApril 24, 2007
- Dimensions11.75 x 1.26 x 10.66 inches
- ISBN-100345494768
- ISBN-13978-0345494764
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- Publisher : Random House Worlds; 1St Edition (April 24, 2007)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 372 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0345494768
- ISBN-13 : 978-0345494764
- Item Weight : 5.12 pounds
- Dimensions : 11.75 x 1.26 x 10.66 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #87,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #41 in Video Direction & Production (Books)
- #62 in Movie Direction & Production
- #105 in Movie History & Criticism
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Former executive creative for 15 years at Lucasfilm, Rinzler wrote and directed an animated short "Riddle of the Black Cat," which was shown at numerous film festivals, including the Montreal World Film Festival. His adaptation of George Lucas's original rough draft became "The Star Wars" graphic novel and was a #1 New York Times best-seller.
Born in Lakewood, New Jersey; grew up in Manhattan/NYC and Berkeley, CA, J W Rinzler fell in love with old monster films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as Robin Hood and other adventure movies.
His historical-fiction novel ALL UP, a thriller about the first Space Age, from World War II to the Apollo 11 mission, will be out in July 2020.
"All Up is an exceptional book that takes the reader beyond the usual descriptions of the challenges and achievements of the first Space Age, by describing the human reality behind the extraordinary efforts of intelligence and will that made it all possible. Imagine if we could meet Wernher von Braun, Jack Parsons, and Sergei Korolev, and hear them speak about their lives, their failures and hopes and their eventual successes. That is the story told in All Up, a timely contribution at the moment America is seriously considering a return to the Moon, and a valuable guide to the stunning voyages to come."—Dr. Jacques F. Vallée, computer scientist, winner of the Jules Verne Award for science-fiction
“With its fascinating personalities that only Rinzler could describe, ALL UP can’t be put down.”
—David Mandel, Emmy–award winning writer/executive producer, Veep & Curb Your Enthusiasm
“Hang on for the jet-propelled ride of your life. You won’t want to stop till you find out how it all comes out!”—Roy Thomas, writer/editor, member Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame
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This is a fantastic work, which spans the origins and creation of the film and includes insights into nearly every aspect of the filmmaking process. A true archive of both information and visuals, it is, in my opinion, a book that should be in the collection of every fan of the film. Highest recommendation.
This review is broken down by the following group areas - Written Content, Visual Collateral, Presentation/Quality, and Overall Value - focuses on the perspective of the original prop hobbyist, in that sometimes we are looking for photos pertaining to real, original props and editorial content is of less interest; other times, in performing research, we may be seeking information more so than photos, etc.
Written Content (10/10)
This is, quite frankly, the most impressive and comprehensive Star Wars resource I have ever laid hands on. Whereas the legendary Star Wars Chronicles set the mark some time ago, in my opinion, in terms of visual collateral and photos, it had little by way of actual written content - just remarks about the stunning photography and images.
This book matches the visual collateral in quality (though not sheer quantity) but far exceeds in the realm of pure information, narrative, background, insights, opinions, and more. You truly can't appreciate it until you begin flipping through this book - it's just astounding.
If anything, the reader gains an appreciation for how impossible it seems to be that the final product is what it is, in that it was such a collaborative process that underwent constant change and alteration, and it had so much stacked against it throughout the creation of the film.
As someone particularly interesting in story, character, and writing, I was especially captivated in following the development of the story and script itself, and its many and drastic changes.
But I would say that there is definitely something for everyone in this work. There is focus given to special effects, models, creatures/masks, acting, production, post production - it's all here, in a format that encourages a bit of "flipping around".
Visual Collateral (9/10)
Of course, some of the photos have been seen before, in various publications and elsewhere. But there is so, so much I'd never personally seen. An incredible amount of "eye candy". Description just can't do it justice.
Particularly interesting to me were some of the prototype props, such as the photos of the unpainted prototype R2D2 and the early lightsaber prototypes (think "flashlight").
There is a substantial amount of behind the scenes material as well as sketches and artist renditions, photos of models, sets, workshops, actors, etc.
As far as photos of actual props go, there are some excellent reference photos with great detail, which may be of some help to those lucky enough to have original pieces from A New Hope.
Between this book and Star Wars Chronicles, I think any fan would be happy with the amount of material covered in both books.
Presentation/Quality (9/10)
It's a nice-looking, squareish hardcover book with a reflective yet not "fingerprint magnet" jacket. I usually take the jacket off right away (I find them annoying) and the actual book is all black textured material with a gold signature across the front (I assume George Lucas).
The interior pages are of a high quality, and I get the impression it will hold up to handling quite well. Again, not of the "fingerprint magnet" variety (my biggest pet peeve with books - designed so as to discourage handling!).
The content of the book is laid out in good order and there is at least one photo on every page in the book; though the "all photo(s)" pages are few and far between, which is a distinct departure from the Chronicles style. This is just as much about information as it is the visuals, and the visuals truly compliment the editorial content.
Given the overall length of the book, things are broken up well enough to where you can read section by section or skip around based on interest.
I was a bit disappointed with the index. It is fairly comprehensive in listing actors and production members, as well as main characters, but is limited to mostly that (i.e. you can't look up "lightsaber" and find the references in the book). Not the biggest deal, but given how much content there is, going back and trying to find something after the fact is a huge challenge. An expanded index would have been a bonus, in that there is so much content to work through. One would truly have to read through the entire work once just to have an idea of how much is covered throughout the book.
In summary, it is a beautiful "coffee book-style" piece that is difficult to put down once you start flipping through it.
Overall Value (9/10)
The retail price is $75, which seems like a lot for a book. However, Star Wars Chronicles was $150 in initial release, and was fewer pages (320 vs 372) though it was 100% full color with pull outs and a slip case.
Given that it can be had via Amazon.com for $[...] and deeply discounted at other retailers as well, I think it is well worth the price of acquisition. It is a wealth of information, in a high quality book, with all full color photos throughout.
Conclusion and Overall Rating (10/10)
I would characterize this book as a "must have" for any Star Wars fan. It is a fantastic book with an incredible about of both written and visual content, much of which is unique to this release. Along with Star Wars Chronicles, I would say these are the two books any serious Star Wars fans should have in their library. Highly recommended. I can count the books in my collection that I would rate a "10" overall on one hand, and I have a pretty extensive library. Star Wars is, in my opinion, the most important film of my generation, and this book gives exclusive insights into the making of that legend.
Jason De Bord, Original Prop Blog
This book chronicles the entire process of the making of Star Wars, one of the most successful movies of the 20th century. Rinzler did a great job tying in George Lucas's past experiences with what eventually was seen on screen. It also shows you the money trail that allowed Lucas to make this movie, something that a lot of "behind the scenes" books leave out. Want to know how Lucas retained the merchandising rights to Star Wars in a time when the studios retained All rights to all movies, it's in there. Wonder how ILM got those amazing special effects on a such low budget ($3 million), it's in there. This book is an exhaustive resource on film making the the film business as much as it is a look into the lore and story of the movie we call Star Wars.
For costumers, the full page glossy photos are a very good resource at times, but for the most part the photos in the book are focused on production stills from the producers and concept artist points-of-view. There are enough exclusive behind-the-scenes images in this book though that justify a Star Wars costume fanatic to buy this book.
All in all I would recommend this book to anyone wo is a Sta Wars fan of an level. It's is a monster read (took me three weeks to read it in my off time) but the time spent in these pages is well worth it. Buy-Buy-Buy!!!!
As a fan, I pride myself on knowing a decent amount of Star Wars trivia and folklore. Still, I was amazed at the things I learned in the book. It's been 33 years since the original film came out. I, like some many others, have grown up with the Star Wars mythos as part of the fabric of my life - it's easy to take for granted. For most of us, we don't really remember a world without Star Wars. (I'm also happy to say that I've passed my love of "Star Wars" done to both of my kids.) With that perspective, I found it fascinating to Lucas struggle to pull this new world together. You get to follow that evolution through four different versions of the script, and ultimately to what we all know and love from the film itself. You can see Lucas as he struggles to meld the ideas that he has, refine them down., and deliver a true "modern fairy tale". You also see his unyielding self criticism, and unhappiness with how the movie eventually turned out. It's easy to understand why he revisited the films in 1997 to "fix" them, and try to put on the screen the story he always wanted to (except for the Greedo incident - there he should have left well enough alone - Han ALWAYS shoots first. End of story).
Along with the evolution of the script, you get a good look at what it took to start a special effects company from scratch (ILM), and get a movie that no one believed in, made in the late 70's. There were many stories I had heard before - Luke Skywalker was originally called Luke Starkiller; and many that I had not heard - he was called Starkiller up until just shortly after principle photography had started. Lucas felt, with the Manson murders in the news, that Starkiller might not play well. They hadn't yet filmed the scene where Luke introduces himself to Leia in the Death Star prison cell, so the change was made.
If you are a "Star Wars" fan, or just a fan of movies, you should read this book. I am giving it five stars. I almost gave it four stars because it was so physically frustrating to read but, in the end, I just enjoyed it too much. "Star Wars" was a seminal event in film history, and I loved to get a look behind the scenes of how it came to be. Rinzler is publishing a definitive history of the making of "The Empire Strikes Back" - due out this summer. I've already got it in my shopping basket on Amazon.
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it absolutely does. Rinzler's meticulous research shows how the making of this film wasn't "just a little B-movie". the level of thought and detail that Lucas and the hundreds of people who helped him make the movie put in are truly extraordinary. While the popular discourse around Lucas and the film denigrate his impact, Rinzler shows that really, this never would've been possible without him.
The full art splashes by McQuarrie and the notes and sketches are beautiful and it's incredible to see the thought process that led to the film's release, as well as hearing some of the trials and tribulations that went into the production are great. Rinzler did a masterful job. The hardcover being a simple engraved signature of George's is a beautiful touch. If you like star wars, cinema, or behind-the-scenes storytelling, this is a must-buy.
Book came in much better condition than I expected, especially since it was sent by a third-party seller.
A. The movie got made at all
B. The movie got finished
C. The movie is any good.