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The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Part of Star Wars

Foreword by Brad Bird
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Hardcover
$85.00 US
11"W x 12"H x 1"D   (27.9 x 30.5 x 2.5 cm) | 84 oz (2,393 g) | 6 per carton
On sale Oct 01, 2013 | 372 Pages | 9780345511461
Sales rights: US, Canada, Open Mkt
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 Brimming with previously unpublished photos, production artwork, script excerpts, exclusive intel, vintage on-set interviews, and present-day commentary, The Making of Star Wars: Return of the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 sagas of all time. Get up close to the action and feel like a studio insider as
 
• creator George Lucas, Oscar-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 father, 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 insights 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 insight 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
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 insight 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

Praise for J. W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars
 
“A mammoth tome so packed with photos and facts, a wookiee could get a hernia trying to lift it.”New York Daily News
 
“Outstanding . . . Rinzler’s Making of will be an instant fan fave and a shining star in that galaxy far, far away.”—Library Journal (starred review)
Senior editor at Lucasfilm Ltd, J. W. RINZLER has overseen dozens of Star Wars books, including Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, The Visual Dictionary: Attack of the Clones, and The Cinema of George Lucas. Rinzler attended Parsons School of Design and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science. He settled for a while in Paris, where he taught art history and cinema for many years at private and public universities. As the associate producer for a video game developer, he wrote the scripts for a number of educational titles. Rinzler returned to the States to become managing editor of GamePro magazine, and published a number of articles on the industry. He is the author of The Art of Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Rinzler lives in Petaluma, California. View titles by J. W. Rinzler
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About

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 sagas of all time. Get up close to the action and feel like a studio insider as
 
• creator George Lucas, Oscar-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 father, 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 insights 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 insight 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

Praise

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 insight 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

Praise for J. W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars
 
“A mammoth tome so packed with photos and facts, a wookiee could get a hernia trying to lift it.”New York Daily News
 
“Outstanding . . . Rinzler’s Making of will be an instant fan fave and a shining star in that galaxy far, far away.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Author

Senior editor at Lucasfilm Ltd, J. W. RINZLER has overseen dozens of Star Wars books, including Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones, The Visual Dictionary: Attack of the Clones, and The Cinema of George Lucas. Rinzler attended Parsons School of Design and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science. He settled for a while in Paris, where he taught art history and cinema for many years at private and public universities. As the associate producer for a video game developer, he wrote the scripts for a number of educational titles. Rinzler returned to the States to become managing editor of GamePro magazine, and published a number of articles on the industry. He is the author of The Art of Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Rinzler lives in Petaluma, California. View titles by J. W. Rinzler

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