STAR WARS MYTHMAKING: BEHIND THE SCENES OF ATTACK OF THE CLONES

By: Chris Wyatt
Review Date: Monday, November 25, 2002

Jody Duncan, who has long specialized in behind-the-scenes books like THE MAKING OF X-FILES THE MOVIE and STAR WARS: THE MAKING OF EPISODE I, presents an all access look at ATTACK OF THE CLONES. Both a hardcover and a cheaper trade paperback of MYTHMAKING are now on shelves, presumably timed to roughly coincide with the DVD release of ATTACK.

Duncan follows the creation of the film chronologically, placing appropriate emphasis on each phase of the pre-production, production and post-production processes. The main body of the book, obviously, centers on physical production and those chapters are divided by locations as they appear in the film (i.e. Coruscant, Naboo, Tatooine, etc...). During these chapters the book follows the chronology from the story of the film (as opposed to the chronology of the shooting schedule) which creates a strong, understandable structure.

As thorough as Duncan's research obviously is, it's that very thoroughness that sometimes bogs her down in tedium. Unnecessary facts, so trivial that they would strike even the most passionate fan as useless, crop up in the book from time to time. Who could possibly be interested in the fact that ATTACK producer Rick McCallum "travel[ed] ninety thousand air miles" during fall 1999?

Still, for every pointless piece of trivia in the book there are at least five interesting facts. For example, Duncan reports that the Lars homestead, as seen in the Tatooine scenes in ATTACK, was the actual building used in the original STAR WARS. It was decades later, but the producers went out to check on the original location, and sure enough, it was still standing. The desert had preserved it perfectly. Duncan further reports that George Lucas and C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels considered it an emotional highlight of ATTACK'S filming to be able to work on that same set again.

See, that's much more interesting than the account work on McCallum's frequent flier card.

Duncan's writing is also uneven. At times the stories she relates are expressed with excitement and passion, and other times they are reported with only unenthusiastic, joyless indifference. It's almost like a reader can tell which sections of the book actually interested the author, and which she found banal.

But the element of the book that cannot be criticized is the illustration. MYTHMAKING presents literally hundreds of images, many of which are rare. But more than just page after page of art, the book's layout designer has incorporated the images into the text in a way that makes reading through the book seem dynamic and exciting. Also, it's often in the photo captions that the more interesting pieces of STAR WARS trivia are presented.


All-in-all the book is solid. It can be unhesitatingly recommended to viewers who enjoyed ATTACK OF THE CLONES, as well as to STAR WARS fans in general. Though, more general film fans are advised to flip through it first before buying it, just to make sure its not a little on the tedious side for them.

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