--- product_id: 1869985 title: "The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film" price: "541.85 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1869985-the-making-of-star-wars-the-definitive-story-behind-original store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Exclusive behind-the-scenes film insights 372 pages of rich content Smythe sewn binding for durability & lay-flat reading The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film **Price:** 541.85 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🚀 Own the legend: The ultimate Star Wars origin story in your hands! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film - **How much does it cost?** 541.85 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1869985-the-making-of-star-wars-the-definitive-story-behind-original) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Premium Craftsmanship:** Smythe sewn binding ensures your book lies flat and stands the test of time—perfect for collectors and daily readers alike. - • **Collector’s Essential:** Ranked top in Performing Arts Reference and Movie Production, this definitive edition is a must-have for the discerning Star Wars aficionado. - • **Unmatched Depth & Detail:** Dive into 372 pages of exclusive interviews, photos, and production secrets that no other Star Wars book offers. - • **Visual & Narrative Harmony:** Every page pairs stunning visuals with compelling storytelling, creating a coffee-table masterpiece that sparks conversation. - • **Iconic Film Origins Revealed:** Explore the decade-long journey of George Lucas’s visionary saga, from script drafts to legendary casting stories. ## Overview The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film is a 372-page hardcover masterpiece featuring Smythe sewn binding for durability and lay-flat reading. It offers unprecedented access to Lucasfilm Archives, including rare interviews, photos, and production notes that chronicle the decade-long creation of the original Star Wars film. Highly rated and ranked among top Performing Arts and Movie Production references, this book is an essential collector’s item for fans and film enthusiasts seeking the ultimate behind-the-scenes experience. ## Description A must-have for Star Wars fans—the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the classic film that started it all After the 1973 success of American Graffiti, filmmaker George Lucas made the fateful decision to pursue a longtime dream project: a space fantasy movie unlike any ever produced. Lucas envisioned a swashbuckling SF saga inspired by the Flash Gordon serials classic American westerns, the epic cinema of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, and mythological heroes. Its original title: The Star Wars. The rest is history, and how it was made is a story as entertaining and exciting as the movie that has enthralled millions for thirty years–a story that has never been told as it was meant to be. Until now. Using his unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives and its trove of never-before-published “lost” interviews, photos, production notes, factoids, and anecdotes, Star Wars scholar J. W. Rinzler hurtles readers back in time for a one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes look at the nearly decade-long quest of George Lucas and his key collaborators to make the “little” movie that became a phenomenon. For the first time, it’s all here: • the evolution of the now-classic story and characters–including “Annikin Starkiller” and “a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and large gills” named Han Solo • excerpts from George Lucas’s numerous, ever-morphing script drafts • the birth of Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects company that revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking • the studio-hopping and budget battles that nearly scuttled the entire project • the director’s early casting saga, which might have led to a film spoken mostly in Japanese–including the intensive auditions that won the cast members their roles and made them legends • the grueling, nearly catastrophic location shoot in Tunisia and the subsequent breakneck dash at Elstree Studios in London • the who’s who of young film rebels who pitched in to help–including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and Brian DePalma But perhaps most exciting, and rarest of all, are the interviews conducted before and during production and immediately after the release of Star Wars–in which George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, composer John Williams, effects masters Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, and John Dykstra, Phil Tippett, Rick Baker, legendary production designer John Barry, and a host of others share their fascinating tales from the trenches and candid opinions of the film that would ultimately change their lives. No matter how you view the spectrum of this thirty-year phenomenon, The Making of Star Wars stands as a crucial document–rich in fascination and revelation–of a genuine cinematic and cultural touchstone. Review: Review from the OPB - Overview This is a fantastic work, which spans the origins and creation of the film and includes insights into nearly every aspect of the filmmaking process. A true archive of both information and visuals, it is, in my opinion, a book that should be in the collection of every fan of the film. Highest recommendation. This review is broken down by the following group areas - Written Content, Visual Collateral, Presentation/Quality, and Overall Value - focuses on the perspective of the original prop hobbyist, in that sometimes we are looking for photos pertaining to real, original props and editorial content is of less interest; other times, in performing research, we may be seeking information more so than photos, etc. Written Content (10/10) This is, quite frankly, the most impressive and comprehensive Star Wars resource I have ever laid hands on. Whereas the legendary Star Wars Chronicles set the mark some time ago, in my opinion, in terms of visual collateral and photos, it had little by way of actual written content - just remarks about the stunning photography and images. This book matches the visual collateral in quality (though not sheer quantity) but far exceeds in the realm of pure information, narrative, background, insights, opinions, and more. You truly can't appreciate it until you begin flipping through this book - it's just astounding. If anything, the reader gains an appreciation for how impossible it seems to be that the final product is what it is, in that it was such a collaborative process that underwent constant change and alteration, and it had so much stacked against it throughout the creation of the film. As someone particularly interesting in story, character, and writing, I was especially captivated in following the development of the story and script itself, and its many and drastic changes. But I would say that there is definitely something for everyone in this work. There is focus given to special effects, models, creatures/masks, acting, production, post production - it's all here, in a format that encourages a bit of "flipping around". Visual Collateral (9/10) Of course, some of the photos have been seen before, in various publications and elsewhere. But there is so, so much I'd never personally seen. An incredible amount of "eye candy". Description just can't do it justice. Particularly interesting to me were some of the prototype props, such as the photos of the unpainted prototype R2D2 and the early lightsaber prototypes (think "flashlight"). There is a substantial amount of behind the scenes material as well as sketches and artist renditions, photos of models, sets, workshops, actors, etc. As far as photos of actual props go, there are some excellent reference photos with great detail, which may be of some help to those lucky enough to have original pieces from A New Hope. Between this book and Star Wars Chronicles, I think any fan would be happy with the amount of material covered in both books. Presentation/Quality (9/10) It's a nice-looking, squareish hardcover book with a reflective yet not "fingerprint magnet" jacket. I usually take the jacket off right away (I find them annoying) and the actual book is all black textured material with a gold signature across the front (I assume George Lucas). The interior pages are of a high quality, and I get the impression it will hold up to handling quite well. Again, not of the "fingerprint magnet" variety (my biggest pet peeve with books - designed so as to discourage handling!). The content of the book is laid out in good order and there is at least one photo on every page in the book; though the "all photo(s)" pages are few and far between, which is a distinct departure from the Chronicles style. This is just as much about information as it is the visuals, and the visuals truly compliment the editorial content. Given the overall length of the book, things are broken up well enough to where you can read section by section or skip around based on interest. I was a bit disappointed with the index. It is fairly comprehensive in listing actors and production members, as well as main characters, but is limited to mostly that (i.e. you can't look up "lightsaber" and find the references in the book). Not the biggest deal, but given how much content there is, going back and trying to find something after the fact is a huge challenge. An expanded index would have been a bonus, in that there is so much content to work through. One would truly have to read through the entire work once just to have an idea of how much is covered throughout the book. In summary, it is a beautiful "coffee book-style" piece that is difficult to put down once you start flipping through it. Overall Value (9/10) The retail price is $75, which seems like a lot for a book. However, Star Wars Chronicles was $150 in initial release, and was fewer pages (320 vs 372) though it was 100% full color with pull outs and a slip case. Given that it can be had via desertcart.com for $[...] and deeply discounted at other retailers as well, I think it is well worth the price of acquisition. It is a wealth of information, in a high quality book, with all full color photos throughout. Conclusion and Overall Rating (10/10) I would characterize this book as a "must have" for any Star Wars fan. It is a fantastic book with an incredible about of both written and visual content, much of which is unique to this release. Along with Star Wars Chronicles, I would say these are the two books any serious Star Wars fans should have in their library. Highly recommended. I can count the books in my collection that I would rate a "10" overall on one hand, and I have a pretty extensive library. Star Wars is, in my opinion, the most important film of my generation, and this book gives exclusive insights into the making of that legend. Jason De Bord, Original Prop Blog Review: Terrific! - This is a wonderful book showing a behind the scenes look at the first Star Wars movie. The photos are amazing, the storyboards are incredible as well as all other behind the scenes photos, not to mention ones like how they accomplished the opening crawl and spaceship models. ## Features - "The books were bound using the smythe sewn technique, one of the highest quality binding techniques. It allows the books to lie flat and not have the pages bow up or for material to get lost in the gutter." ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #156,702 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #15 in Performing Arts Reference #61 in Movie Direction & Production #73 in Movie History & Criticism | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,214 Reviews | ## Images ![The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/910NuQSsZWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review from the OPB *by A***R on April 25, 2007* Overview This is a fantastic work, which spans the origins and creation of the film and includes insights into nearly every aspect of the filmmaking process. A true archive of both information and visuals, it is, in my opinion, a book that should be in the collection of every fan of the film. Highest recommendation. This review is broken down by the following group areas - Written Content, Visual Collateral, Presentation/Quality, and Overall Value - focuses on the perspective of the original prop hobbyist, in that sometimes we are looking for photos pertaining to real, original props and editorial content is of less interest; other times, in performing research, we may be seeking information more so than photos, etc. Written Content (10/10) This is, quite frankly, the most impressive and comprehensive Star Wars resource I have ever laid hands on. Whereas the legendary Star Wars Chronicles set the mark some time ago, in my opinion, in terms of visual collateral and photos, it had little by way of actual written content - just remarks about the stunning photography and images. This book matches the visual collateral in quality (though not sheer quantity) but far exceeds in the realm of pure information, narrative, background, insights, opinions, and more. You truly can't appreciate it until you begin flipping through this book - it's just astounding. If anything, the reader gains an appreciation for how impossible it seems to be that the final product is what it is, in that it was such a collaborative process that underwent constant change and alteration, and it had so much stacked against it throughout the creation of the film. As someone particularly interesting in story, character, and writing, I was especially captivated in following the development of the story and script itself, and its many and drastic changes. But I would say that there is definitely something for everyone in this work. There is focus given to special effects, models, creatures/masks, acting, production, post production - it's all here, in a format that encourages a bit of "flipping around". Visual Collateral (9/10) Of course, some of the photos have been seen before, in various publications and elsewhere. But there is so, so much I'd never personally seen. An incredible amount of "eye candy". Description just can't do it justice. Particularly interesting to me were some of the prototype props, such as the photos of the unpainted prototype R2D2 and the early lightsaber prototypes (think "flashlight"). There is a substantial amount of behind the scenes material as well as sketches and artist renditions, photos of models, sets, workshops, actors, etc. As far as photos of actual props go, there are some excellent reference photos with great detail, which may be of some help to those lucky enough to have original pieces from A New Hope. Between this book and Star Wars Chronicles, I think any fan would be happy with the amount of material covered in both books. Presentation/Quality (9/10) It's a nice-looking, squareish hardcover book with a reflective yet not "fingerprint magnet" jacket. I usually take the jacket off right away (I find them annoying) and the actual book is all black textured material with a gold signature across the front (I assume George Lucas). The interior pages are of a high quality, and I get the impression it will hold up to handling quite well. Again, not of the "fingerprint magnet" variety (my biggest pet peeve with books - designed so as to discourage handling!). The content of the book is laid out in good order and there is at least one photo on every page in the book; though the "all photo(s)" pages are few and far between, which is a distinct departure from the Chronicles style. This is just as much about information as it is the visuals, and the visuals truly compliment the editorial content. Given the overall length of the book, things are broken up well enough to where you can read section by section or skip around based on interest. I was a bit disappointed with the index. It is fairly comprehensive in listing actors and production members, as well as main characters, but is limited to mostly that (i.e. you can't look up "lightsaber" and find the references in the book). Not the biggest deal, but given how much content there is, going back and trying to find something after the fact is a huge challenge. An expanded index would have been a bonus, in that there is so much content to work through. One would truly have to read through the entire work once just to have an idea of how much is covered throughout the book. In summary, it is a beautiful "coffee book-style" piece that is difficult to put down once you start flipping through it. Overall Value (9/10) The retail price is $75, which seems like a lot for a book. However, Star Wars Chronicles was $150 in initial release, and was fewer pages (320 vs 372) though it was 100% full color with pull outs and a slip case. Given that it can be had via Amazon.com for $[...] and deeply discounted at other retailers as well, I think it is well worth the price of acquisition. It is a wealth of information, in a high quality book, with all full color photos throughout. Conclusion and Overall Rating (10/10) I would characterize this book as a "must have" for any Star Wars fan. It is a fantastic book with an incredible about of both written and visual content, much of which is unique to this release. Along with Star Wars Chronicles, I would say these are the two books any serious Star Wars fans should have in their library. Highly recommended. I can count the books in my collection that I would rate a "10" overall on one hand, and I have a pretty extensive library. Star Wars is, in my opinion, the most important film of my generation, and this book gives exclusive insights into the making of that legend. Jason De Bord, Original Prop Blog ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Terrific! *by P***N on February 22, 2026* This is a wonderful book showing a behind the scenes look at the first Star Wars movie. The photos are amazing, the storyboards are incredible as well as all other behind the scenes photos, not to mention ones like how they accomplished the opening crawl and spaceship models. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Making of Star Wars - Fantastic read for any Stars Wars fan or Filmmaker *by S***S on March 14, 2011* "The Making of Star Wars" by JW Rinzler is a must have book for any serious fan of Star Wars or Filmmaking. For Star Wars fans, the need to have this book is self explanatory, but for Filmmakers this book might not grab you first off as being a definitive film making resource, but it is! This book chronicles the entire process of the making of Star Wars, one of the most successful movies of the 20th century. Rinzler did a great job tying in George Lucas's past experiences with what eventually was seen on screen. It also shows you the money trail that allowed Lucas to make this movie, something that a lot of "behind the scenes" books leave out. Want to know how Lucas retained the merchandising rights to Star Wars in a time when the studios retained All rights to all movies, it's in there. Wonder how ILM got those amazing special effects on a such low budget ($3 million), it's in there. This book is an exhaustive resource on film making the the film business as much as it is a look into the lore and story of the movie we call Star Wars. For costumers, the full page glossy photos are a very good resource at times, but for the most part the photos in the book are focused on production stills from the producers and concept artist points-of-view. There are enough exclusive behind-the-scenes images in this book though that justify a Star Wars costume fanatic to buy this book. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone wo is a Sta Wars fan of an level. It's is a monster read (took me three weeks to read it in my off time) but the time spent in these pages is well worth it. Buy-Buy-Buy!!!! ## Frequently Bought Together - The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film - The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1869985-the-making-of-star-wars-the-definitive-story-behind-original](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1869985-the-making-of-star-wars-the-definitive-story-behind-original) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-09-06*