Part of Series
This is it–the climax of the greatest science fiction movie epic of all time, and Star Wars fans can venture behind the scenes for all the fascinating details. From the first story discussions to the final stages of post-production, The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is an exclusive, unprecedented look at the crafting of the most anticipated and perhaps the most important Star Wars film ever.Packed with hundreds of never-before-seen photos and interviews with the visual-effects teams, cast, and crew–including writer/director George Lucas and producer Rick McCallum–this outstanding volume offers a rare insider’s look at the complete creative process. Granted unprecedented access to all those involved at every stage of the film–from Skywalker Ranch to the sets at Fox Studios, Australia–author and Lucasfilm senior editor J. W. Rinzler captures in riveting detail the intense drama and cliffhangers that occurred as production worked day and night for three years to bring their monumental undertaking to conclusion. Readers will uncover • details on how the art and animatics departments teamed up with ILM to create the spectacular opening sequence, perhaps the greatest Star Wars space battle ever produced • revelations on the genesis of archvillain General Grievous within the Episode III art department • accounts of how George Lucas and Rick McCallum reached critical decisions in often pressure-laden situations • exclusive interviews with Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor on how they prepared for their thrilling lightsaber duel as Anakin and Obi-Wan • an eyewitness account of the reappearance of Darth Vader on the set in Sydney, Australia Finally, there’s the film editing–Lucas’s favorite part of the moviemaking process. This portrait of the legendary director captures the down-to-the-wire tension encountered in getting to the final cut. Fueled by his imagination and his beginnings as a documentary filmmaker, Lucas makes films the way some painters create canvases, building layer upon layer in each frame of the film. And this book takes the reader along for the ride.
Author
J. W. Rinzler has authored over 20 books including two New York Times bestsellers and a #1 best-selling graphic novel. With more than 600,000 copies in print, his books have been translated into seven languages. J. W. Rinzler grew up in Manhattan, New York City, and then in Berkeley, California. He fell in love with old monster films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as Robin Hood and other adventure movies. He was an avid comic-book and novel reader, an intrepid moviegoer, and had his mind blown by The Beatles, Star Trek, Bruce Lee, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Frank Frazetta, Michelangelo, and Mad Magazine. Rinzler drew his own comic books (badly), then, in his 20s, moved onto figurative oil painting (okay-ly, but self-taught). He lived in France for almost 10 years, where he began writing. Back in the USA, he worked as executive editor at Lucasfilm for fifteen years, chronicling the work of George Lucas and his genial collaborators in a series of books about Star Wars and Indiana Jones. During this time, Rinzler also directed and wrote an animated short Riddle of the Black Cat, based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, which was accepted into several festivals, including the Montreal World Film Festival. His latest book is an epic historical fiction thriller called ALL UP, an epic about the first Space Age, published in July 2020. The sequel will be out in a year or two... Meanwhile his book on Howard Kazanjian, producer, is due in May 2021; and on Kubrick's The Shining in fall 2021. Rinzler is married and has two daughters and one grandson. He lives on the northern California coast.
