Books about the making of films, and genre movies in particular, have become quite popular in recent years. The on-set journalist and photographer are as much a part of the production as the DVD making-of crew are. There have been some fantastic books published, such as The Art of The Matrix and Hellboy: The Art of the Movie, and most of them come from Titan Books. However, just over 30 years back there was a movie that was struggling to get made that was about to change cinema forever – STAR WARS.
Back then it was a motley crew of maverick filmmakers with ideas bigger than the studios they were trying to coerce into financing them. Having a dedicated documentary crew attached to a movie’s limited payroll was a rarity, especially for a science fiction film, but thankfully someone had the foresight to conduct lengthy interviews with the director and his cast and crew, but in the ensuing madness of the film’s success these interviews were ‘lost’ in the Lucasfilm archives. Thanks to the diligence of STAR WARS scholar (yes, really) J.W. Rinzler, these interviews and a mountain of other Star Wars artefacts were uncovered. While the material may not have been as exotic as what Indy inadvertently uncovered at Area 51, in his latest movie adventure, for STAR WARS fan boys this is like the discovery of the motherlode.
It’s a fat, 450-page book filled with enough anecdotes and photos to excite even the most rabid STAR WARS fan, but it is much more than that. It is the story of a handful of skinny, independent Californians with a passion for visual storytelling. It is about the people who heralded in a new era in cinema and became the greatest filmmakers of the last 50 years. So even if you aren’t a big fan of STAR WARS this is a fascinating, and very well written look at one of the most vital eras in cinema history.
The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler is published by Ebury Press in hardback and paperback and is available now from major retailers including Amazon for £8.99 and Play.