Good Behind the Scenes Books

[Just a Bill]

Yeah, I'm not really sure who all the actual people are who kept George from doing dumb stuff in the beginning, other than that Marcia worked some real magic in the editing bay and got George to add some stuff to the film's climax to make it work. I just had the impression that Coppola was one of them, but I could easily be wrong.

Oh, and regarding that romance I mentioned: I used to work for a Star Wars licensee, and our CEO sometimes got stories from Lucasfilm VP of Licensing Howard Roffman. The boss shared this one with some of us:

Reportedly, while Lucas was writing Episode I, he came into the office one morning and as he walked past Roffman's desk he said something to the effect of "I figured it out, this movie's going to be a love story." Then he went into his office, closed the door, and wrote all day.

The next morning, as he walked past Roffman's desk, it was "I don't know how to write a love story. I'm just gonna put in more spaceships and explosions."

 

[Set Harth]

Reportedly, while Lucas was writing Episode I, he came into the office one morning and as he walked past Roffman's desk he said something to the effect of "I figured it out, this movie's going to be a love story."

 

[Ceridwen]

I don't mean to devalue Marcia Lucas' contribution to the film, but to be clear, she was very much part of a team of award-winning editors that included Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew, and George himself (who went uncredited in the role).