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Brimming with previously unpublished photos, production artwork,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 sa of all time. Get up
close to the action and feel like a studio insider as
• creator George Lucas, O-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 her, 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 ins 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 in 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