The Making of Star Wars
By James Grahame
George Lucas has rehashed Star Wars more times than I'd care to count: The groundbreaking 1977 original, the remastered 1997 theatrical release (I admit to seeing it on the first night), and the 2004 restoration / reimagining. Each time, the legends surrounding the film grow and people's memories become more and more clouded. What was wrong with Han shooting first, anyway? It's what one would expect from a ruthless mercenary.
J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film cuts through the myths and time-worn memories in an attempt to tell the true story behind this seminal sci-fi epic. The hardcover version runs 372 pages and outlines how a tale about "Annikin Starkiller” and “a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and large gills” named Han Solo evolved into the battle of good vs. evil that we know so well.
It's stunning to realize that 30 years have passed since a young George Lucas took on more than he could chew and pulled off a cinematic miracle. Some have argued that the book focuses too heavily on Lucas, but that is probably because it is impossible to imagine the Star Wars franchise without him. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some wamp rats to hunt on my uncle's moisture farm...
"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 an unprecedented 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."
The Making of Star Wars [April 2007, Del Ray]