But even though I did not see the movie until it had been out for nearly a year, it was very foundational for me. Probably for many of the same reasons it was for a lot of kids back in the '70s. I then grew up with Star Wars, and have wacthed the original film at least once a year since '78. I'm not nearly as expert as some, but I've learned more than a little about how the original trilogy was made and have loads of obscure trivia rattling around in my head. So I was eager to see what Lucas Wars by Laurent Hopman and Renaud Roche was like.
It's basically just the story of how Star Wars got made. We get a bit of a George Lucas personal biography. but mostly just enough to show how he got interested in movies and how he initially made a name for himself as a film student. The rest is the making of the movie, and it carries through to shortly after it first opens and blows away everybody's expectations.
What's initially striking is that it's really comprehensive. Most of the Star Wars documentary type stuff focuses on what ultimately got shown on screen. Actor screen tests, how SFX shots were built, etc. Which makes sense since they're mostly looking to show interesting visuals, so they go with stuff they have footage of. The graphic novel doesn't have that limitation, though, since Roche can simply draw anything he wants, so the book goes further by covering a lot of really back-end development stuff. What the Fox execs were talking about, the various early drafts of the script, what Lucas' filmmaker friends were saying when he'd ask for suggestions...
What was cool, too, is that even though I was familiar with most of the little bits throughout the story and there wasn't much that was strictly speaking new to me (though there was a bunch of stuff I'd heard at one point but had forgotten), this was I think the first time I'd seen it all put together in a single narrative. This had what Lucas was doing personally, and the financing, and the SFX, and the behind-the-scenes actor drama, and the legal crap, and the score, and the weather, and... All of these obscure anecdotes -- many of which had, in my mind, been relatively unconnected since I'd picked them up in relative isolation to everything else -- now are part of the same path.
As good as the overall story is, a lot of credit needs to go to Roche. His illustration style is deceptively simple, but he absolutely nails everybody's likeness on every single page. I immediately recognized every person straight away (except the Fox execs and the lawyers and such). But all the ILM guys and Lucas' friends and everybody. I opened the book and right there in panel one, I said, "Wow, that looks exactly like Gary Kurtz!" (Although admittedly, not many people tied to the making of the original movie had as distinctive a hair style as Kurtz, so that was kind of an easy win for Roche!) But even Harrison Ford, who is notoriously hard to draw well, looked spot-on throughout the whole book. Coupled with some impecable storytelling abolities, the whole book is an incredibly easy read in that there's NEVER any question of who is whom, or who is doing what. It's all perfectly readable even at a glance!
If you've got any interest in how all this Star Wars hoohah got started, I would recommend this over any documentary I've seen. Obviously, if you've got more interest in, say, how exactly the special effects were done or particulars on the music or whatever, there's not a ton of detail on any one specific aspect of the movie, but it covers everything top to bottom, and puts it all together in the most comprehensive -- and surprisingly succinct! -- way I've come across. The book only came out from 23rd St. Books last week, but retailing for $30 US, I highly recommend picking it up from your favorite bookstore!
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