'Empire Building'  by Garry Jenkins   Simon & Schuster 1997

Includes:
    - early moments in George Lucas' life
    - comments on the original drafts, which included characters 'Mace Windu' and 'Valarium' (orig. sp.)
    - original memos about the making of 'Star Wars' (A New Hope)
    - how the first film was cast, and other actors considered for the roles
    - the trials and tribulations (financial and physical) of trying to get SW to the big screen. It's scary to realise how close Hollywood came to ditching SW altogether. As it was, only 40 theaters in the whole of the US booked the film for opening night, as no-one else wanted it.
    - how Lucas made his money through the shrewd move of keeping the marketing rights
    - even the making of ESB went far from smoothly, with spiralling costs, tetchy actors, Norwegian blizzards, and sets going up in flames
    - mentions early bits about 'The Phantom Menace', but was published way before TPM's release

Buy it? - sad bits, happy bits, angry bits - they're all here. The book is a bit 'tabloid', but still an interesting read, with several (16 - I just counted!) previously unpublished photographs.

Rating -- 6 out of 10
 
 
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