Just as Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi completed the most
successful cinematic trilogy of its generation, perhaps of all time,
this splendid thirtieth-anniversary tribute completes New York Times
bestselling author J. W. Rinzler's trio of fascinating behind-the-scenes
books celebrating George Lucas's classic films.
Once again, the author's unprecedented access to the formidable
Lucasfilm Archives has yielded a mother lode of extremely informative,
vastly entertaining, and often unexpected stories, anecdotes,
recollections, and revelations straight from the closely guarded set of
a big-screen blockbuster in the making. Brimming with previously
unpublished photos, production artwork, script excerpts, exclusive
intel, vintage on-set interviews, and present-day commentary, The
Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi chronicles "how George Lucas
and his crew of extroverted artists, misfits, and expert craftspeople
roused themselves to great heights for a third time" to create the next
unforgettable chapter in one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Get
up close to the action and feel like a studio insider as
- creator George Lucas, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan,
and director Richard Marquand huddle in a script conference to debate
the destinies of iconic Star Wars characters, as well as plot twists
and turns for the epic final showdown between the Rebel Alliance and the
Empire
- artists and craftspeople at the groundbreaking Industrial Light &
Magic facility top their own revolutionary innovations--despite the
infamous Black Friday--with boundary-pushing new analog visual
effects
- a crack team of sculptors, puppeteers, actors, and "monster-makers"
bring Jabba the Hutt and his cohorts to startling, slobbering life from
the inside out
- a Who's Who of heavyweight directors--from such films as Superman,
Gremlins, Halloween, Dune, Scanners, and Time Bandits--are considered
for the coveted job of bringing a new Star Wars adventure to the
silver screen
- actors and crew race to the finish line at Elstree Studios, in a fiery
desert, and beneath the trees of a dense redwood forest--before money
runs out--to answer the questions that audiences had waited three years
to find out: Is Darth Vader really Luke's father, who is the
"other"--and who or what is the Emperor?
Star Wars' stars from both sides of the camera--including Mark Hamill,
Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, David
Prowse, Alec Guinness, director Richard Marquand, producer Howard
Kazanjian, Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett,
and mastermind George Lucas--weigh in with candid insights on everything
from technical challenges, character design, Ewoks, the Empire's
galactic city planet, and the ultimate challenge of bringing the
phenomenal space fantasy to a dramatic close. The Making of Star Wars:
Return of the Jedi gives a spectacular subject its just due, with more
than five hundred images and many, many new interviews.
Praise for The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
"Just like Rinzler's 2010 volume about Empire Strikes Back, The Making
of Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi is an indispensible volume that
will add tons of insight to your appreciation of George Lucas' Original
Trilogy. Rinzler has gone through masses of production documents at
Lucasfilm and interviewed tons of people, and come up with a portrait of
Lucas struggling to find a fitting ending to his ambitious, heroic
saga."--io9
