Trevor Hogg reviews The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back…
Carrying on the tradition he established with the original Star Wars, and the Indiana Jones franchise, author J.W. Rinzler delves once again into the Lucasfilm archives to assemble a detailed history on “one of the milestones of cinema”. Dividing his research over eleven chapters, Rinzler chronologically follows the development of the project from the initial 1977 story conference to the theatrical and critical reaction upon its release in 1980. Though the topic has already been explored in Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by Alan Arnold, Rinzler expands the coverage into the preproduction and postproduction phases; an example of this is the series of insightful summaries on the 51 page story conference transcript and the first five drafts of the screenplay.
| Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Helping screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan to visualize the science fiction-fantasy world about which he was writing were the stunning paintings by revered design consultant and conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie which are featured among the over 1,200 images found in the publication. Other pictures included are storyboards, character and creature sketches depicting the evolution of the tauntauns, Boba Fett and Yoda; international movie posters, and candid behind-the-scenes photographs. Valuable are the numerous quotes gathered from the interviews conducted by Arnold and Rinzler with key figures from the principle cast such as Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher plus director Irvin Kershner, producer Gary Kurtz, visual effects supervisor Brian Johnson, art director Joe Johnston, sound designer Ben Burtt, and the man whose vision they sought to cinematically portray, George Lucas. The wide range of perspectives allows for a more complete picture of the effort it took to bring the second installment to the big screen.
And of course, the thirtieth anniversary edition would not be complete without the inclusion of entertaining anecdotes such as local market potatoes being deployed as asteroids by the mischievous special effects team, and a crazed Harrison Ford picking up a saw and sawing through the spaceship console of the Millennium Falcon. There is no doubt that the fans of the original Star Wars trilogy will find The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by J.W. Rinzler to be a worthy addition to their collection.
| Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd. |
| Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
Originally published November 7, 2010. Updated April 10, 2018.
