Article Summary: A review of the book, The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film.
Book Review: The Making of Star Wars
This is a review of The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (published April 24, 2007). It is a fantastic work, which spans the origins and creation of the film and includes insights into nearly every aspect of the film making 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 recommendations.
Overview (from the publisher)
Book Description
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.
About the Author
J. W. Rinzler, executive editor at Lucasfilm Ltd., is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, as well as The Art of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Art and Making of Monster House, and Creating the Worlds of Star Wars, which he co-authored with visual-effects supervisor John Knoll. J. W. Rinzler now lives in Petaluma, California.
Book Facts (from the publisher)
The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (Star Wars) (Hardcover)
by J.W. Rinzler (Author)List Price $75.00
Amazon.com $44.99# Hardcover: 372 pages
# Publisher: Del Rey (April 24, 2007)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0345494768
# ISBN-13: 978-0345494764
# Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 10.4 x 1.7 inches
# Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
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 huge bonus, in that there is so much content to work through to find specific references. 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 $45 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