Book review
Written by J.W. Rinzler
Ebury Press hardback
Release date Out now

Despite the success of the Star Wars franchise, the story behind the original film has been largely untold. Until now…

Though clues have been dropped in interviews (usually alluding to crippling technical problems or difficulties with writing dialogue) the full background to the creation of Star Wars has always been frustratingly foggy and undefined.

Thankfully, this handsome volume offers the definitive account of what would become one of the most influential films of all time. It’s a lavishly illustrated coffee table edition, and features a wealth of previously private photographs and illustrations from the Lucasfilm archive (to which Rinzler was granted full access). It's amazing that there are still new images to be seen here, and the more familiar shots are kept to a minimum.

Admirably, the book all but ignores the sequels and the expanded universe. The revised versions of the film are also sidestepped; here Greedo shots first!

The most surprising aspect of the book is how in-depth it is. The text is meticulous, yet never gets bogged down in details. The film's evolution from overly complex early scripts to the finished version is carefully detailed, and there's a selection of the names that were discarded before filming began. Jar Jar Binks pops up at one stage, proving that even bad ideas were not thrown away!

Elsewhere, the process that resulted in Star Wars' highly distinctive spacecraft is just as fascinating. It’s amazing to see how closely some ships resemble the vision in Lucas' crude sketches. Also of interest are the beautifully realised but ultimately unused designs for Alderaan, which were carried over for The Empire Strikes Back.

There is plenty of new information throughout the book, and it's interesting to learn that both C-3P0 and even Chewbacca were considered for the chop during the escape from the Death Star. The claim that Lucas came up with the idea for Obi-Wan to die midway through the film is reprinted here, though Alec Guinness has suggested elsewhere that the idea was his.

Near the end of the book is a selection of storyboard images and, as a final surprise, a detailed backstory to the character interaction, written by George Lucas himself. This covers Han Solo‘s mysterious history, and suggests that female stormtroopers were one of the many unseen elements on the Death Star.

As a historical record of the blood, sweat and tears that goes into a work of creative genius, The Making of Star Wars should belatedly fill a 30-year-old gap. An essential purchase for Star Wars fans. Gavin Lovely

VERDICT: 9/10
A worthy testament to an all-time great.

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