The Making of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

The Making of Star Wars #1

by Laurent Bouzereau

In 1977, George Lucas brought Star Wars to the big screen — and made science-fiction cinema history. Now, more than twenty five years later, the visionary writer-director, his brilliant crew of special-effects wizards, and an exciting cast of talented stars have united to make the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated Episode I of the Star Wars epic.

Star Wars: The Making of Episode I is your exclusive entrée to the behind-the-scenes world where the wonders of the newest chapter in the Star Wars saga are brought to life by masters of movie-making magic. Join authors Laurent Bouzereau and Jody Duncan for a tour de Force through every fascinating facet of production on the dream project of the decade:

A series of exclusive interviews with George Lucas as he discusses the genesis of the Star Wars story, from themes to scenes of dialogue
The development of such classic characters as young Jedi student Obi-Wan Kenobi and R2-D2 — plus intriguing newcomers Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Amidala, and Jar Jar Binks
The creation of new state-of-the-art creatures and special effects by the legendary Industrial Light & Magic team
Pre-production: including editing, scoring, and combining computer generated effects with live-action footage
Shooting in England, Italy, and Tunisia, with stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman

Lavishly illustrated throughout with hundreds of drawings and photographs, Star Wars: The Making of Episode I is the ultimate companion volume for fans of the film that launches the thrilling next phase in this exciting saga.

Genres: Star Wars, Nonfiction, Film, Reference, Media Tie In, Art, Photography

161 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is definitely interesting to read this book in 2013 knowing how Phantom Menace would be received. The tone of this book reflects the excitement fans felt before the movies which is no longer around. Being a huge Star Wars fan, I found the tone somewhat nostalgic and the book helped me appreciate Phantom Menace a little more. This book explains what inspired George Lucas to make another trilogy, how the designs of characters were created (more on this in a bit), casting, and the production and filming of the movie. It is fairly comprehensive. I was happy to learn more about some of the most visually interesting parts of the movie like the final battle, the podrace sequence, and the underwater segment on Naboo. All of these things helped me appreciate how at least technologically and from a film-making perspective, Phantom Menace was groundbreaking.

There are a few parts I don't love about the book. There is a two or three page summary of the entire plot of the movie. This seems unnecessary and maybe we're just a more spoiler-aware culture now, but it also seemed curious to include. Also, the design and concept art takes almost all the information from the "Art of Episode I" book so it essentially repeats a lot of information and images. Since I had just read that book, it made that section significantly less interesting than it should have been.

If you're a Star Wars fan or curious to see how they made Episode I, this book is worth tracking down for a light, but mostly entertaining read.

[Eduardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one feels *strange* to me. It’s listed as being part of the same “series” as the “Making of Star Wars” book that I read recently, about the process of making the original “Star Wars” film (despite having a different author). Based on that, I was expecting something of similar length and detail. This is… not that. I managed to read it in a single day. In fact, this book was published in 1999, meaning that this is less of a nuanced, detailed documentary look at the making of the movie by a film scholar as much as a promotional, behind-the-scenes look at “The Phantom Menace.”

That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not as good of a thing. It doesn’t have any reference to the resulting backlash, for starters–yeah, *I* loved this movie when it came out because I was in first grade. But this movie got a HUGE angry response from large portions of the fandom when it released, because of how different it was. There are a couple of sentences in this book that make it seem like everyone involved thought it would be universally loved, and it wasn’t.

[George Lucas isn’t one of those–he seemed to realize that a lot of people might hate it, but thought it was still the story that needed to be told as it was. Food for thought.]

So yes, there are some details about how the movie came together, and some great concept art and discussion about how characters were designed. There’s fun facts about the casting process. And there’s a ton about how the movie was filmed and the special effects were added in. But I was really hoping for a long, detailed look that would chronicle all the steps and cover the film’s reception at the time, as well as the legacy years later. And this isn’t that book.

Ah, well.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty-two years after Star Wars was released, George Lucas presented The Phantom Menace to a world eager for new adventures in their favourite universe. The results, I think it’s fair to say, were mixed and although it didn’t really work for me at the time, looking at it now (a staggering 24 years later!), it’s easily the best of the prequels (how can it be 24 years?). Bouzereau and Duncan are capable, readable writers whose work I’ve thoroughly enjoyed in the past, but this at times feels a little bland. There’s plenty of information, certainly - from writing the script to designing the film, from casting to filming and the special effects - but it feels like it’s skating over the surface rather than giving us anything meaty. There’s some good interviews with Lucas, Rick McCallum (producer) and the key cast and it’s great to see ILM alumni from the first film involved and, yes, there’s a nice nostalgic air to reading it. For all my apparent gripes, I did enjoy it and the photographs scattered extensively throughout the text are very well chosen and reproduced. Worth a read for behind the scenes nerds like me and Star Wars fans in general.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great info and photographs and interviews and material, but what really stands out here is the artwork and the sketches done for the film, which I'd much rather see more of that.

Book is worthy of coffee table material.

[Steven Latour · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the making of Episode I. Includes a lot of interesting concept art and photography, along with quotes from many of the people involved in the film. I decided to read this in time for the 25th anniversary of the film.

[Jeffrey Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laurent Bouzereau and Jody Duncan wrote an easy-to-read book that covers the making of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, complete with behind-the-scenes photographs. The authors keep the focus tight on the progression of how the film was made from the time that George Lucas began writing the script through the finished product including the film score and final edits. What they have succeeded in doing is movie magic through literature, as the topics they cover, storyboarding, set design, modeling, casting, filming, pre-production, post-production, editing, CGI creation, and film scoring, are all covered. This is advantageous for budding filmmakers who have never been a part of a crew working on a well-known blockbuster film to understand just how complicated the process is, and how many moving parts there are. What would have improved this book is a series of organizational charts as a companion, as certain crew members had multiple parts and it was difficult to keep them straight. Additionally, it appears that Bouzereau and Duncan each wrote different parts (as there are two chapters to the book, I'm assuming that each wrote one chapter), but there is a certain level of redundancy in each part. Perhaps it could have been edited a little more tightly in order to have a continuity of voice. Thankfully, the redundancies were limited in scope which did not detract from the read.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This as the book title says is the making of... It contains a lot less of the concept art than you would see from purely an artwork book and in some chapters very little photography at all. But what it does chart is the story of the making of the film but also the story of the return to the star wars universe which upon the completion of the special editions had been pretty much left alone. This book charts the return to the star wars universe and its re-awakening to the next incarnation - which led to the next 3 films, tv series and countless spin off merchandising.
This book rather than giving a rare glimpse in to the film makers work on how things are done (since as the ILM books) or cataloguing the creative ideas that never saw the film cut (as in the artwork books) - this gives you something more - it gives you a perspective we as the general public would never see- how a film is conceived, created and then released in to the world

[Serene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writers were very thorough with charting the technical aspects of the production, but seemed to have neglected the human interest stories. The book is filled with interviews with cast and crew, but hardly any detail from the writers' own observations or anecdotes from the set (you get the sense they never went down at all, just pieced together fact sheets with interviews). Additionally, many of the more interesting parts do not receive much in-depth coverage, like the lightsaber choreography, which was lightly touched upon, and the reader has to (and can) glean more information from other sources.
Compared to latter Making Of books (like ROTS), it feels very sterile - like an extended newspaper article than an insightful or engaging book.

[Graham Tomlinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for those interested in how these big budget films are made. Without going into great detail it gives you an insight into how the people involved invest up to 4 years of their lives in making it arrive on the big screen. Whilst some may argue it was a disappointment ( NOT including myself ) it was not the failing of those involved in its making. I have owned this book for almost 14 years and can finally say I have read it and enjoyed it.

[Bryan Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish there was more new info in here, or that it was as substantive as the Making Of books that Rinzler wrote.

[(Jen) The Artist Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one as much as some of the later "behind the scenes" or "making of" or "the art of" Star Wars Prequel books (e.g. "Attack of the Clones"), but still, something to at least borrow from the library if you want a peak into the making of "The Phantom Menace" movie.

[Matthew Siemers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and I learned a lot from this book. It was fascinating to learn how they went about producing this film. It also gave a lot of insight into the creative process. This film is a lot deeper than most people think. Highly recommended to Star Wars or film fans.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the movie? (Couldn't resist)

[Tasha]

I'm sort of sad that we have this...