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Making of "The Star Wars"

Discussion in 'Original Trilogy' started by Lock_S_Foils, Jun 14, 2018.

  1. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    Lucas' original title way back in 1968...."The Star Wars"

    I am deep into the incredible book "The Making of Star Wars"....wanted to start a thread about the awe-inspiring story of the making of the original movie in 1977.

    So many things I did not know about Lucas and the incredible team that put this together.....I will share more here upcoming. If anyone has any background they would like to share as well.

    There were many many times this whole thing could have come apart at the seams and the whole project being scrapped.....shudder to think of this as we would have no SW Universe as we know it now.....
     
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  2. NinjaRen

    NinjaRen Supreme Leader

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    Wasn't the title called: 'The Adventures of Luke Starkiller'? 'The Star Wars' was first used in 1974, right? Maybe I'm wrong though...

    A lot of people don't know that the first Star Wars movie was saved by many people, even Lucas' wife.
     
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  3. CTrent29

    CTrent29 Rebel Official

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    So . . . what are you saying? That Lucas wasn't responsible for the film's success? First, fans deny him any responsibility for the success of "The Empire Strikes Back" . . . and now "A New Hope"?
     
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  4. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    .....aaaaand 3 posts in and here we go.....
     
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  5. NinjaRen

    NinjaRen Supreme Leader

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    I only wanted to say that films are a collaborative effort. There are many factors and people who decide whether the movie is a success or not. I never denied Lucas any responsibility. I just wanted to show some honor to the lesser known co-workers. Why are people so negative and aggressive these days?
     
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  6. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    You’re right @NinjaRen it was 1974....when I can edit I will go back and fix it.....

    I am up to the part where Dykstra is working on the motion capture camera....that was so groundbreaking at the time. Remember the news shows talking about it after the movie was released
     
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  7. Rogues1138

    Rogues1138 Jedi Sentinel - Army of Light
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    Without Lucas there is no Star Wars... but alas, Lucas needs a good editor, someone thats not afraid to tell him, no George that is crap, for example I remember reading a book called Skywalking, its a book about how Star Wars was put together; George wanted OB1 to be played by an Asian actor but Alan Ladd Jr. told George no, so we ended up getting the great legend Alec.

    When Spielberg and Lucas were creating Indy, George wanted Indy to be called Indiana Smith but Spielberg told George that doesn't sound right so we got Indiana Jones which sounds better. When George was directing the prequels he was looked at like a god amongst men so no one dared question him, if they did we would have gotten a great prequel trilogy. When George was making ANH he was Luke and when he made the prequels he became the Emperor.
     
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  8. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    Interesting insight @Rogues1138 ..... what is most amazing to me about Lucas is his absolute unwavering vision to get the movie made. A case study in goal setting and visionary leadership. There was a short section I just read last night where Lucas thought Star Wars would make approx $15 to $20m or just breaking even.....amazing. You know he used approx $400K of his own money financing the movie because Fox was so frugal with the budget....
     
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  9. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

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    The version said to be the second draft is my favourite:

    "Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars"
     
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  10. Smullie_1138

    Smullie_1138 Rebel Commander

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    Recently came across a practically new copy of The Making of Star Wars for €10,-
    Can't wait to dig in!

    As a companion piece, I highly recommend the Empire of Dreams documentary, which originally could be found on the 2004 DVD boxset.

    The old Behind the Magic CD-ROM also has many great BTS sections.
     
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  11. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    I am re-reading this book because it is so damn good.....amazed at how Lucas admits he HATED WRITING SCRIPTS, he described himself as more into the visual aspects, storyboarding aspects of moviemaking.

    The last chapter of the book describes the release of Star Wars in May 1977....only a handful of theaters to start with. It was NOTHING like openings are today with 4,000+ theaters -- Star Wars was released to all of 32 theaters on May 25, 1977!!!

    Here is Page 1 of Lucas' Original Journal of the Whills…..this is where STAR WARS started!!!!
    Journal of the Wills Page 1 original.jpg
     
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  12. Lock_S_Foils

    Lock_S_Foils Red Leader

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    In 1975, Luke was a girl.....Chewie looked kind of weird.....and Han had a cape!!!??!!!!!
    img20181007_13412690.jpg
     
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  13. RockyRoadHux

    RockyRoadHux Ginger General

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    Screenshot_2018-10-08-11-16-00.jpg

    I like that they kept the haircut, it's so Star Wars-y. It's pretty similar to haircut Luke was sporting in ANH.
     
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  14. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

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    I'd say it's just typical of a 1970s haircut more than anything.

    Luke's hair is that way because that's how Mark Hamill had his hair. Because it was the 70s and that's pretty much how people had their hair. Unless you were Farrah Fawcett.

    The style of the day just influenced the look in the drawings.
     
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  15. RockyRoadHux

    RockyRoadHux Ginger General

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    Of course the style of the day influences the look, take Kaz for example, he's sporting this side undercut haircut that is popular these days. So yeah I agree, but if you take a look at Han in that drawing- his hair looks quite different to Luke's haircut. I can’t imagine Mark Hamill pulling off a haircut like that, it looks more like how George Lucas used to wear his hair in the mid 90ies. Anyways at that time they didn’t know who they would going to cast, but they pretty much knew that the Luke character should have that certain haircut and that's what I find interesting.
     
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  16. daRinze

    daRinze Force Sensitive

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    The one who holds the lightsaber makes me furiously think in George himself :) :) :) (without the glasses)...

    ... yes or no ? :) :) :)
    gg.jpg gl.jpg
     
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  17. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

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    I was going to say exactly the same thing myself! That depiction of Han looks remarkably like a slightly more rugged jawed version of George Lucas himself!

    It does, but I get the impression the version of Han as portrayed in that concept picture is one that is actually more like what eventually became Ben Kenobi - he's an older and wiser version of Han, a mentor to the younger 'Luke'.

    Older and wiser people in the 70s didn't have floppy longer hair! They had shorter hair. And beards of course. Gotta have a beard to be older and wiser!
     
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  18. NinjaRen

    NinjaRen Supreme Leader

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    That's not Han, that's General Luke Skywalker. Han looked like this:
    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Too Bob Bit

    Too Bob Bit Jedi Commander

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    According to Ralph McQuarrie, who drew the picture, it WAS Han. He says; "Han Solo is in the blue cape."

    I'm not sure the picture you posted is early concept art - it looks to me like a more modern comic book/novel cover, just based on some early concepts for Han.

    We have to remember that Lucas's idea about who was who and what their names were was constantly going through revisions.

    So in that Ralph Mcquarrie picture, is it a depiction of a character called 'Han'?

    Well yes.

    Or is it a picture of 'General' Luke/Anakin Skywalker?

    Well yes, it's probably that as well.

    That character finally became known as Ben Kenobi, and 'Han' became a separate character and the smuggler we now know.

    It's true that at one point Han was going to be a green skinned alien. But at one point he was also going to be black. Lando in ESB was kind of a revival of that idea. Complete with cape!
     
  20. TheSenate

    TheSenate Rebel Trooper

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    Definitely a book I need to add to my library. Thank you all for making me aware to this masterpiece.
     
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