What is Reddit's opinion of The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film?

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This one and Rogue One need a "making of" book like these.

If access was given on that level, we might find out the truth.

The Making of Star Wars is a fantastic read. Even if you think you know the majority of the story behind the making of the first film, there's a ton of stuff there I guarantee will be new to you.

Lucas is a petty, jealous, bitter person, but Marcia must have the best PR team of all time for this myth of her “saving Star Wars” to have spread so far and wide.

She did do a small amount of editing work on the initial cut of Star Wars, but left the project altogether after a disastrous test screening. It was GL who then personally put thousands of hours in the editing room—all uncredited because he didn’t officially belong to the professional editors guild—and saved his film.

The academy awarded Oscars to the editing team, but left out GL—again, not a member of the guild—which I believe Lucas took as a huge slap in the face after putting in more work cutting and splicing celluloid than virtually the entire editing staff combined.

Should mention that despite GL’s resentment of her work and recognition, some of her influence on Star Wars persists. Most notably, Leia kissing Luke “for luck” as they make a daring escape from the Death Star was 100% Marcia’s suggestion and exists in all cuts of the film today.

source: film historian J.W. Rinzler’s excellent The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film

i would note that she was the "saviour" of the trench run mainly becuse that was her part of the movie, and the edits to the trench run was made during a time post the first cut (not to be confused with the john jympson rough draft) which the three editors and george was working together.

>EDITING, THE SPIRIT OF ’76
>
>Following the first cut, there was a new temp cut every couple of weeks, which only the same small group would review. After the first major structural changes, other adjustments were made to the successive cuts...
>
>The end battle was also running too long, so Luke’s two trench runs were combined into one. This created tighter storytelling, but also several editorial challenges. Within one trench run, the following would now have to be conveyed either visually or verbally: Luke’s initial intention to use the computer, Ben’s dialogue, Vader’s actions, R2-D2’s drama, Han’s arrival, the fate of the other pilots, Leia’s feelings—all within the believable length of physical space along the trench. To draw out the suspense, Lucas had decided to shoot second-unit footage at ILM of the Death Star preparing to fire, some of which would be added to this sequence, along with coverage taken of Peter Cushing, stolen from an earlier scene that had been shortened. “It was all editorially manufactured,” says Marcia Lucas, who, just after Thanksgiving, left the picture to help Martin Scorsese on New York, New York.

source: The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film

He had several different story lines. I love this book even though it was long winded at times: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Definitive-Original/dp/0345494768

He absolutely did NOT write Episodes 1 -6 before releasing Star Wars. That is wrong. Many many many ideas were there but he barely wrote Star Wars before he finalized the screenplay and ESB wasn't even started.

The movie was indeed just Star Wars (at one time it was filed under "The Star Wars") and there was no other screenplay at the time for a sequel.

Yes, literally. We have always been.

Before he started working on Star Wars, Lucas was developing a script for Apocalypse Now but he was unable to get it made:

>“A lot of my interest in Apocalypse Now was carried over into Star Wars,” Lucas says. “I figured that I couldn’t make that film because it was about the Vietnam War, so I would essentially deal with some of the same interesting concepts that I was going to use and convert them into space fantasy, so you’d have essentially a large technological empire going after a small group of freedom fighters or human beings.”

Source: The Making of Star Wars

Mm, I'm not sure we can call Star Wars B-Level. Maybe in some of the dialogue aspects and other cheesy things, but the movie developed special effects techniques that definitely had never been used before. It was able to portray scope, grandeur and dynamic action (Gigantic Star Destroyer flying over the camera, the x-wing dogfights, the used feeling of the world) and it created a sense of realism that we were watching something that was actually happening.

The tricks you mentioned were created by the Star Wars team. They had a whole team in Los Angeles just developing special effects and new motion camera systems while Lucas was shooting the film and working up in Nor-Cal. They were so experimental that lots of the techniques used in the final film weren't even ready until really close to the movie's premiere date.

If anyone is interested in just how revolutionary and exciting the making of the first Star Wars was, read The Making of Star Wars by JW Rinzler.

Hey there,

1. No, you dont have a crazy mismemory.
2. Sadly this fact is untrue.

But to your defense, there were some star wars quizes which made it a fake "fact". Like the one i found below:

>5. One of the most memorable shots in the first "Star Wars" film was that of Luke Skywalker staring off into a twin sunset on the desert planet of Tatooine. How did George Lucas create that impressive special effect? > >The correct answer is D. The image of a double sun was not created using special effects, but was a natural optical illusion caused by the desert conditions in Tunisia, where the scene was filmed.

But the real making of books show that the second sun was added in post-production.

You can find this info here, if you dont believe me.

This article summarizes the history extremely well: http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/loststarwarsstories.html

But of course there are countless other sources:

This site thoroughly documents the drafts and development of Star Wars: https://www.starwarz.com/starkiller/

Or this book: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Definitive-Original/dp/0345494768

However, if you're talking about the Prequels, your skepticism is warranted. There is no evidence that Lucas had anything more than a very rough outline. He has claimed that he has a rough draft that he's never shown anyone, but I - like many - don't believe it exists beyond some very simple notes, especially considering he's shared almost every tiny thing from the creation of the films. However, he stuck to some key details, like Obi-Wan and Vader having their climactic duel around lava flows, which explains his burn injuries.

The making of Star Wars, empire strikes back and return of the Jedi are fantastic.

The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345494768/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_HXAWQS1FN1PAY858K2EP

The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345509617/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_3DMBFVHCQKDPDGAC3DXT

The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345511468/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_HM2JF9E6Q8H27FQ738VY

https://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Definitive-Original/dp/0345494768

I think they're talking about J. W. Rinzler's books:

• <em>The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film</em> (Amazon.com).
• <em>The Making of The Empire Strikes Back</em> (Amazon.com).
• <em>The Making of Return of the Jedi</em> (Amazon.com)

There's also the lesser-known <em>The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith</em> (Amazon.com). Unfortunately, the original trilogy books are all pretty expensive (as a lot of Star Wars making of books seem to be). :(

Someone hasn't read JW Rinzler's Making of Star Wars: A New Hope.

> "A lot of my interest in Apocalypse Now was carried over in to Star Wars," Lucas says. "I figured that I couldn't make that film because it was about the Vietnam War, so I would essentially deal with some of the same interesting concepts that I was going to use and convert them into a space fantasy, so you'd have essentially a large technological empire going after a small group of freedom fighters or human beings."

Here's a quote from Luke Starkiller in the 1975 second draft that basically lays out the political landscape backstory (before Luke was a farm boy).

> LUKE: As the Republic spread throughout the galaxy, encompassing over a million worlds, the Great Senate grew to such overwhelming proportions that it no longer responded to the needs of its citizens. After a series of assassinations and elaborately rigged elections, the Great Senate became secretly controlled by the Power and Transport guilds. When the Jedi discovered the conspiracy and attempted to purge the Senate, they were denounced as traitors. Several Jedi allowed themselves to be tried and executed, but most of them fled into the Outland systems and tried to tell people of the conspiracy. But the elders chose to remain behind, and the Great Senate diverted them by creating civil disorder. The Senate secretly instigated race wars, and aided anti-government terrorists. They slowed down the system of justice, which caused the crime rate to rise to the point where a totally controlled and oppressive police state was welcomed by the systems. The Empire was born. The systems were exploited by a new economic policy which raised the cost of power and transport to unbelievable heights. Many worlds were destroyed this way. Many people starved...

The politics were always there; the real reason none of this highly political stuff was included in the final film was exactly as Lucas has said time and again in interviews 1) While it was a story he wanted to tell, he knew it wouldn't be an easy sell to studios or audiences. Let's face it, it can be boring. 2) He had no budget; it was easier to just make an off-hand comment about the galactic senate than try to show it.

I highly recommend you read this: http://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Definitive-Original/dp/0345494768/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1431017453&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=making+of+star+wars

Knights are called "Sir".

"Sir Lancelot", "Sir Alec Guinness", for example.

It's symbolic foreshadowing of his forthcoming knighthood.

Also -- at that point, it had not been established what Jedis were called. And if I remember correctly from &quot;The Making Of Star Wars&quot;, there was a writing couple who joined in the project to help flesh out the dialog in some of those scenes. Entirely likely that line ... "Sir Luke" ... "No, just Luke" ... was written by them.