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4.48 AVERAGE
4.48 AVERAGE
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book is a fabulous, well-researched look at not only the making of Star Wars but really at George Lucas’s beginnings and how it all led to him making Star Wars and his own company.
I feel that reading this further emphasizes the fact that George Lucas is brilliant. You can see how Star Wars, despite at first being written as one movie, though later revisions started adding ‘Episode I’ into the title, that there was a whole galaxy worth of ideas here. He had so many characters, species, worlds that were never meant for just one movie. As he continued doing revisions, you can see the world-building and character development that became foremost to the story.
My favorite parts were reading through each draft and script revision, watching as the story got closer and closer to the Star Wars we know. And seeing how he knew some elements he wanted right from the beginning, including names!
It was just utterly fascinating learning everything that went into making the first Star Wars. All the behind the scenes you would never know. One of my favorite BTS moments was learning on the last day of on-location shooting they couldn’t stop R2 from moving and he ended up on the production of Jesus of Nazareth which was filming in the same town! That had me laughing out loud at the very idea!
All in all, this book is amazing; I read it from cover to cover. It has so much information about George Lucas, his two movies before Star Wars, the process of trying to get Star Wars started, how they started making their own technology, etc. I learned so much that I had never known before, and I love Star Wars! Making movies is hardly a simple process especially when the studio is against you the whole way. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about Star Wars, George Lucas, or what really goes into making a movie. You certainly won’t be disappointed!
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Gives a great overview of the beginning to movie theater of star wars ep4. Much like the special features.
J.W. Rinzler is an excellent, meticulous researcher who is able to present his information in a clear, interesting manner. He has the talent to do this for both books like this one, that are "out of universe" and for "in universe" books like the Star Wars blue prints series. For die hard fans, he's a real treasure. This is a fantastic book, filled with wonderful details about the making of my favorite movie, ever. It's fun to read, and has great photographs, but it also makes a great reference book. (I actually read it for an essay I wrote on George Lucas's creative process--there's so much good stuff in here about that, man, you'll never look at Star Wars the same way after you read this book.) If you like Star Wars, this is definitely a book you should, at least, check out from your local library. But I highly recommend owning it.
Excellent not only for Star Wars fans, but for anyone interested in how films get made. There's real drama and suspense here: Lucas' difficulty to obtain backing for what was an ambitious kids' movie; putting together a crew that would attempt to do groundbreaking work, and actually getting it done and in the process changing cinema history.
The book is gorgeous: great attention to detail, loads of never-seen-before sketches and photos, and sections that chronicle the evolution of the story, showing how Lucas changed the plot and script from draft to draft.
A note on editions: the coffee-table physical book is really beautiful to look at. But the Kindle version has loads of extras: snippets of interviews, behind-the-scenes videos, and, most interesting of all, notes Lucas made right after the film's release as preparation for the sequels, on the background of the characters and events in the first movie. Very interesting, particularly for what they reveal about how Lucas changed and developed the story all the way to the prequels.
Being a completist, I endend up splurging for both...
The book is gorgeous: great attention to detail, loads of never-seen-before sketches and photos, and sections that chronicle the evolution of the story, showing how Lucas changed the plot and script from draft to draft.
A note on editions: the coffee-table physical book is really beautiful to look at. But the Kindle version has loads of extras: snippets of interviews, behind-the-scenes videos, and, most interesting of all, notes Lucas made right after the film's release as preparation for the sequels, on the background of the characters and events in the first movie. Very interesting, particularly for what they reveal about how Lucas changed and developed the story all the way to the prequels.
Being a completist, I endend up splurging for both...
To call this a complete story of Star Wars would be an understatement. Great visuals, good text, and the book is heavy as a brick. Love the behind-the-scenes shots and stories. The ILM pieces would make a book of their own, but they fit in well enough here.
A great, comprehensive account of the making of the original Star Wars. What could have been dry accounts of finances, script revisions, and production challenges instead read as compelling stories. Plentiful interviews, both archival and newly conducted for this book, are very skilfully deployed to flesh out that narrative. This is the kind of "making of" book that every great movie deserves.
A must-read for any fan of the original trilogy. Rinzler does a great job at describing all aspects of production of the first film and while the text is pretty straightforward and somewhat dry, it's never boring. I particularly enjoyed reading about the cast getting to know one another and the formation of ILM, which basically had to create new special effect techniques to accomplish what Lucas wanted. The abundance of conceptual art and production photos itself is worth the price of the book.
It's not often that I read a coffee table book cover-to-cover, but this was well worth the exception. Based on interviews with the cast & crew during production of the first movie, it was filled with unique insights culled from the Lucasfilm archives. It was so good, it almost made me forgive George Lucas for the Special Editions. Almost.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book delved into more “making of” than I expected. I thought I would only be reading about on-set stories, but this book covered every second of the story. From early inspirations at the start of George Lucas’s career to the surprising success at the theaters, you will learn everything there is to know about the making of the original Star Wars film. I was fascinated by the attention to detail, and I learned a lot more about the business of filmmaking than I expected. The lead-up to actual on-set stories was a bit slow, but I know filmmakers/enthusiasts would love those details. Overall, I found this book enlightening as someone mildly interested in film and also as a massive Star Wars fan.