The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film

by J.W. Rinzler
The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
book data
107 ratings, 4.42 average rating, 23 reviews (more data...)
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published
April 24th 2007 by Del Rey

binding
Hardcover, 372 pages

isbn
0345494768    (isbn13: 9780345494764)

description
After the 1973 success of American Graffiti, filmmaker George Lucas made the fateful decision to pursue a longtime dream project: a space fantasy movi...more




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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 178)

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Jon
11/01/08
Jon rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in September, 2008
recommends it for: Star Wars fans, people who think it's easy to make movies
I first saw Star Wars at the age of 3, and from my early childhood until today, I have spent countless hours reading about that movie. From the first comic book adaptations, to magazine article and books, I have always wanted to know more about how the movie was made.

I've seen at least a dozen "making of" documentaries and shows, and even attended a 30th anniversary screening of the film after which George Lucas, Carrie Fischer, Mark Hammill, and the special effects, sou...more
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Matt
04/24/09
Matt rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in April, 2009
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.
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Richard Ladew
09/08/07
Richard Ladew rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2008
One of the few books on Lucas / SW that is worth the time.

Sound engineer Ben Burtt as a teenager used to go to drive-in movies, disassemble speaker mechanisms and attach them to recording equipment to build up his sound effects library.

SW started as an idea barely a paragraph long by a filmmaker who admittedly hated to write. Through determination and infinite draft revisions he finally came up with a script that everyone in Hollywood hated (DePalma, Scorsese, and mos...more
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Edward
03/16/09
Edward rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in March, 2009
From a kernel of an idea through rewrites, reworks, location selection, models, sketches, and finally....many years down the road....to movie theaters everywhere. A good story of how a film is made and a wonderful story for Star Wars lovers like me.
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Brenton
09/23/07
Brenton rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: history-documentary
Read in November, 2007
Chronicling the genesis of the greatest sci-fi franchise in history, this thick book is packed with production and behind-the scenes photos from the set of the original Star Wars, as well as loads of early production artwork. It provides a play-by-play of how Lucas imagined his story, developed it, and made it into a movie. It tought me a lot about the movie-making process and about how major motion picture studios work (not unlike record labels today, stifling creativity and generally giving ...more
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Joe
01/05/09
Joe added it

Definitive for the star wars dork.
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Geoff Gresh
08/10/08
Geoff Gresh rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: currently-reading
One of the few Star Wars books that avoids staring through the rose-colored glasses and shows Lucas & Co as what they were: a bunch of 20-something prodigies who could have just as well made a huge sci-fi flop as they could a media empire. Most of the interviews were culled from the time of actual production, so there's not much revisionist history. An excellent read with lots of awesome photos of people in 70s dress.
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Jonathan
02/29/08
Jonathan added it

bookshelves: 2007
i bought into G. Lucas' utopian fantasy after reading this -- not the Star Wars fantasy, but the other one: the anti-Hollywood utopian fantasy, wherein he attempts to control the relations of and means of production. it was a quasi-anti-capitalistic-communitarian enterprise, and actually beautiful to contemplate. the effort was heroic and amazing for its completion, if not its success.
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Warren
07/08/07
Warren marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read
recommends it for: Star Wars Filmmaking Fans
Currently plugging through this book. But so far it does indeed deliver on the reality details that help bring all the creative peeps involved from (from lucas to mirch to coppola, and on and on) down to earth, while pulling back the curtain a weee bit on lucas's little talked about saavy business decisions.

more when finished. currently less than a tenth of the way though it
...
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Obadiah
06/18/07
Obadiah rated it: 4 of 5 stars

I got this from the library over the weekend. So far, it's fantastic. Nearly all of the interviews in the book were done in 1976/77 before Star Wars was released. It's interesting to hear how tough it was to make the movie and, unlike everything since 77, it doesn't bow at the altar of Lucas and go at lengths to tell you what a genius he is. Interesting stuff... so far...
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Missy
06/27/07
Missy rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: pastreads, sawtheplaymovie
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for: anyone
My husband got this book as a wedding present. It is clearly something that will help our marriage succeed. I read through it and learned a lot about the making of the first film and the process of making a film in general. My husband loves the unseen pictures and old interviews. May our marriage stand the test of time much like Star Wars has.
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Karl Kindt
12/31/08
Karl Kindt rated it: 5 of 5 stars

bookshelves: 2007
Read in January, 2007
By far the best "making of" book for Star Wars, because of all reasons: the photos, the info, the length, and the depth. Fantastic read for anyone who saw Star Wars in theaters in 1977.
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Danforth
05/19/07
Danforth rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Don't let the coffee table book size and the many, many previously unreleased production photos fool you into think this is some cheap tie-in for nerds. Making Star Wars is a TOME about the creative, collaborative, and frustrating process of American filmmaking. Oh, and droids.
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Brian
04/21/08
Brian rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in December, 2007
As all of my friends know, I am a hopeless Star Wars geek! (You can blame my parents for taking me to see them in the theatre during my formative years!) Very interesting to see the plot and characters evolve into the movie that we know and love.
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Owain
01/07/08
Owain rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in February, 2008
A fantastic book, much more than just the usual stories you've heard thousands of times before. Unusually for a Lucasfilm product, this is refreshingly candid with all the nastiness and bad vibes included. Makes a change.
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Tom
05/22/07
Tom rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in June, 2007
The early part of it was worth reading, even for a coffee table book. Excellent look into how the story developed with great extracts from actual notes and scripts. Would love to see more of that!
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Natasha
03/29/08
Natasha rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2007
I'm sorry to say I haven't fully read the entire book yet only because I cannot find it at my local library, but from what I have read, this is an amazing book with a wealth of information!
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Matthew Houts
11/09/07
Matthew Houts rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in July, 2007
I waited forever for this. I will wager a bet no one estrogen has purchased this book.
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Godfrey
01/24/08
Godfrey rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in April, 2009
This is on my coffee table which explains why I've been reading it since January.
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Anne-marie
09/03/07
Anne-marie rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in September, 2007
Just got it. I highly recommend it to any Star Wars fan. It's fascinating.
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