Lucas Wars
The True Story of George Lucas and the Creation of Star Wars
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Rebellious child who cheated death. Indomitable visionary. And mastermind behind one of the world's most enduring fandoms: Star Wars.
"An epic tale of creative struggles and triumph." —Jeffrey Brown, bestselling author of Darth Vader and Son
In a tale befitting the saga he created, Lucas Wars follows George Lucas’s journey from aimless dreamer to filmmaking trailblazer and prodigy of the New Hollywood movement. While his fellow rising stars—directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese—craft The Godfather, Jaws, and Taxi Driver, Lucas follows his childhood dreams and begins work on an epic fantasy . . . which, he soon discovers, is not without its epic challenges.
Writer Laurent Hopman and artist Renaud Roche dive deep into the creative process behind Star Wars: A New Hope, from the hell of casting to the nightmare of filming. Lucas is forced to juggle actor quarrels, a secret love affair, costume and set mishaps, and constant pushback from film execs. But despite it all, a landmark movie emerges—one that changes the medium of film forever.
Lucas Wars is an exhilarating underdog story and a unique glimpse into the world of cinema. But most of all, it’s an ode to the magic of childhood and the value of perseverance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The messy personal, creative, and business tensions that shy young filmmaker George Lucas battled to complete the first Star Wars movie get wrangled by Hopman (Girl Rebels) and storyboard artist Roche into a similarly rousing quest narrative. A rebellious underachiever from Modesto, Calif., who preferred comics and hot rods (one of which he crashed) to studying, Lucas found his calling in film school. But despite obvious talent, he lacked the confidence of friends Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola (whose "loud, impulsive" style made him the model for Han Solo). Hopman gives short shrift to Lucas's early career, zooming in on the near catastrophe of Star Wars. Saddled with a distrustful studio, disgruntled crew, and his script that nobody understood, Lucas nearly lost control of the film and his health. Hopman maintains an upbeat verve, however, positioning the obsessive and touchingly naive Lucas as a dark horse it's impossible not to root for. Roche's fluid, expressive art, given depth by dramatic shading and pops of color, generates momentum. Along the way, Hopman effectively threads in production trivia about Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher's secret on-set affair, the foley studio behind the now-iconic sound effects, and more. This is pop culture history of the first order.
