The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back

By far my favorite Star Wars film is Chapter 5: The Empire Strikes Back.

Everything clicked in the film: the acting, special effects, soundtrack, practical effects, sets, costumes, direction--everything.  Most Star Wars fans agree.

A have large number of books about Star Wars are in my collection.  Of those there are about a half dozen that I consider the cream of the crop.  This book is one of them.

The Empire Strikes back was the second Star Wars movie released.

What makes Empire so unusual and special is that it was completely different in tone from the first film.  Empire is considered the ‘dark’ film of the original Trilogy.

George Lucas handed off the direction of the movie to Irwin Kirshner (a brillaint move on his part) and it shows.

Character development is much more insightful, the action sequences bigger in scale and the overall look of the film much more epic.

What impresses me most about the The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back book is the sheer volume of information and photos contained. Both publicity and behind-the-scenes photos (some never seen before) along with exhaustive and highly descriptive text make the book both a visual and reading treasure.

The huge oversize hardbound book with a dust jacket is written and compiled by J.W. Rinzler and published by Ballantine Books.

Alien director Ridley Scott provides the foreword.

The book is the most comprehensive examination of the film ever published in my opinion.

Page after page contains photos of pre-post and final production of actors, action sequences, lighting setups, set prep, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes and more.

Comprehensive text delves into every aspect of making the film from designs of the sets, costumes, etc, to script rewrites, direction, music, practical and visual effects--the entire gamut of producing a block buster film.

This is a book that you can spend literally hours looking over the art and photos, delving into the text and immersing yourself into the sheer volume of work that went into making the film.

A New Hope and Return Of The Jedi also have similar books.

Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."