Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars

by Edward Gross, Mark A. Altman

Overview

From the authors of The Fifty-Year Mission and So Say We All, comes the first and only comprehensive oral history of the Star Wars movie franchise.

For the past four decades, no film saga has touched the world in the way that Star Wars has, capturing the imaginations of filmgoers and filmmakers alike. Now, for the first time ever, Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, the bestselling authors of The Fifty-Year Mission, are telling the entire story of this blockbuster franchise from the very beginning in a single exhaustive volume. Featuring the commentaries of hundreds of actors and filmmakers involved with and impacted by Star Wars, as well as writers, commentators, critics, executives, authors, film historians, toy experts and many more, Secrets of the Force, will reveal all in Altman and Gross’s critically acclaimed oral history format from the birth of the original film through the latest sequels and the new televisions series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250236876
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	261,963
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

EDWARD GROSS has an extensive history covering film and television as a member of the editorial staff of a wide variety of magazines, including Cinescape, Starlog, Cinefantastique, SFX, Movie Magic, Sci-Fi Now and Geek. He has written or co-written over three dozen non-fiction books.

MARK A. ALTMAN is a television showrunner and motion picture writer/producer who is executive producer of the hit sci-fi series, Pandora. Previously he served as Co- Executive Producer of The Librarians, Agent X, Castle and Necessary Roughness among others. His first motion picture was the award winning, Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack, which he wrote and produced and for which he won the WGA Award for Best New Writer.

In 2019, Altman launched the Electric Surge video podcast network with producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate) which produces numerous podcasts spotlighting pop culture topics with notable experts in their field. The video podcasts which include The 4:30 Movie and Inglorious Treksperts, which he co-hosts, along with Best Movies Never Made as well as several others is also available on the streaming OTT platform, Electric Now, as well as through traditional podcast providers.

His bestselling two-volume book series with Edward Gross, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Oral History of Star Trek, was released by St. Martin’s Press in 2016 in hardcover to unanimous critical acclaim including raves in The Wall Street Journal, Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Their oral history of the James Bond films, Nobody Does It Better, was released in 2020.

Table of Contents

DATALOG


1. A NEW HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL by Mark A. Altman
“You don’t need to see his identification.”

2. A GREAT DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE by Edward Gross
“Rebellions are built on hope.”

Part One
A STAR (WARS) IS BORN


3. LAUNCH BAY ’77
“You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought”

4. BY GEORGE: I AM YOUR FATHER
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”


Part Two
THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
1977 - 1983

5. HOPE & GLORY: STAR WARS
“Never tell me the odds”

6. LIGHT & MAGIC: THE VISUAL EFFECTS
“That’s no moon, it’s a space station”

7. EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: SELLING STAR WARS
“It’s the story of boy, a girl and a universe…”

8. TO BEA OR NOT TO BEA: THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL
“We have to get Chewie home for Life Day”

9. ICE, ICE, BABY: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

10. CELEBRATE THE LOVE: RETURN OF THE JEDI
“I’ll never turn to the dark side. You’ve failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.”

11. ISN’T THAT SPECIAL? WARS AFTER JEDI
“Prince Xizor. Who knew?”

Part Three
THE PREQUELS
1999 - 2005

12. DUEL OF THE FATES: THE PHANTOM MENACE
“And you, Young Skywalker, we will watch your career with great interest”

13. SEND IN THE CLONES: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
“Begun, The Clone Wars have…”

14: SITH HAPPENS: REVENGE OF THE SITH
“I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. At last, the Jedi are no more.”\


Part Four
THE SEQUELS
(A.G. - AFTER GEORGE)
2012 -
15. FORCE FED: THE FORCE AWAKENS
"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?"

16. REY OF HOPE: THE LAST JEDI
“This is not going to go the way you think.”

17. THE SKYWALKER’S THE LIMIT: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
“I have died before. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural.”

18. THIS IS THE WAY: STAR WARS ON TELEVISION
“I will help you. I have spoken.”

ACKNOWLGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Editorial Reviews

"A trove for hardcore fans. If you’re obsessive about the films, there’s no end to the fun." —Kirkus Reviews

"In an engrossing oral history, creatives from the Star Wars franchise discuss their experiences in bringing the groundbreaking saga to the screen." —Shelf Awareness

"The definitive origin story." —New York Daily News

“Secrets of the Force is meticulous, detailed and utterly fascinating.” —The Nerd Daily Review

“...you cannot call yourself a Star Wars fan and not own Secrets of the Force. Secrets of the Force is a must-own for your Star Wars Collection!” —Solzy at the Movies

From the Publisher

2021-04-28
Everything you ever wanted to know—and then some—about the Star Wars film franchise.

Having teamed up for an oral history of both the Star Trek and James Bond film series, among other projects, Altman and Gross head back to the Hollywood well to discuss how George Lucas’ culture-transforming Star Wars and its sequels came into being. It wasn’t an easy victory: Lucas had failed terribly with his first effort at science fiction, the “experimental” THX 1138, and though he redeemed himself with “the massive smash that was American Graffiti,” Universal Pictures still wouldn’t bankroll his Joseph Campbell–inspired tale of a boy and his father battling through deep space. Alan Ladd Jr., the head of production for 20th Century Fox, saw something in the premise, and “almost five decades later, Star Wars continues to dominate the pop culture landscape.” Some of those films are cinematic gold, including the first. Some are much despised, especially the turgid Phantom Menace. Altman and Gross consult with some of the principal players, from first to last, and if the business side of the enterprise occupies too much space, the best parts of the book are when the actors and writers reflect on their work. Adam Driver, the Kylo Ren of the most recent epic film, reveals his struggle to make his on-paper evil character more morally complex, “because that to me…seemed more dangerous and more unpredictable,” while writer and filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan pegs it more succinctly: “He hasn’t got his shit all together.” Mark Hamill recalls asking the distinguished actor Alec Guinness why he would deign to appear in “a movie like this” and in a role that Lucas had originally slated for Toshiro Mifune. A bonus: Hayden Christensen, who played the petulant, pouty, pre-aqualung Darth Vader, reveals just why he was so whiny.

A trove for hardcore fans. If you’re obsessive about the films, there’s no end to the fun.

Kirkus Reviews