Alan Arnold (1)

I had no idea this journal existed until I happened across it in a yard sale. This is a pretty amazing find. Alan Arnold was on set the whole time during the making of this movie, beginning in Norway and then in London and California. His daily journal captures the activities of the film crew, interviews with the crew and the cast, and general observations about the movie-making art. It's a kind of bonus that Arnold was not swept up in Star Wars fandom. While he appreciated the technical show more prowess that made the first movie, he wasn't caught up in the fantasy. This makes him a more objective observer of the second's production. To begin with he sounds distant from his subject, but then gradually he warms to it.

Arnold was in his fifties when he was on this 1979 set, and he did not live much longer, dying in 1987 at age 64. He was an old hand in film journalism, and had a great deal of admiration and respect for Old Hollywood. In this journal he shows appreciation for anything reminiscent of Hollywood's yesteryear in the Star Wars production. On the other hand, sometimes his built up cynicism gets in his way. He invites Kershner to do an interview, and instead of appreciating the busy director's ready response he cites it as "confirmation that no matter where we are, no matter in what conditions, movie people like to talk about themselves." His interview subjects all sound remarkably alike in their tone and language, suggesting that Arnold did a lot of what's called "editing for clarity", so the words of Hamill, Ford, Fisher, Kershner etc. presented here should not be taken verbatim. This does, however, improve in the latter half and, as Arnold writes, it could be a product of his subjects becoming more comfortable with him.

Fascinating details pop up along the way, which long-time fans may or may not know. I didn't know the production team brought several crates of fake snow to the Norway shoot, not knowing the region would be hit with its worst snowstorm in years. A fire at Elstree Studios that damaged a set for The Shining consequently created setbacks for Empire's shooting subsequent schedule, and the largest studio on the lot was built by Lucas to house the sets for the Hoth base and Dagobah. Arnold records shooting details for scenes that didn't made it into the movie, such as the wampa bursting into the Rebellion's hidden base. The original use of the phrase "May the Fourth Be With You" is mentioned when it appears in print by the British press, as recorded on May 4, 1979. The death of second unit director John Barry is a shock to the crew, after he collapses at the beginning of June on set and dies that night of meningitis. Production was halted for a day so that everyone who wished could attend the funeral.

The centrepiece of this journal is Arnold's transcript from the filming of the carbon freezing scene. With microphones he captured Kershner and Ford debating Solo's lines, Fisher's frustrations with script changes, and her actual slapping of Billy Dee Williams because she didn't know what telegraphing was. It's almost unimaginable now that the lines spoken in the carbon chamber scene could have been any different, and I always credited the screenwriters. It's amazing to read how the actual lines were hashed out on the very day of filming among the director and his actors.

On August 3, 1979, George Lucas told Arnold that his original Star Wars draft had featured the story of Luke's father, and then he wrote another story that was centered on Luke which became his first movie. On August 23, Lucas further told him that the original story had been about Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. Then Lucas said that he originally wrote Obi-Wan as Luke's father, before changing him to be the friend of Luke's father. A perceptive interviewer might then have asked, what can we conclude?

There is a lot of value in finding this description of events as they occurred, versus all the "making of" videos and books produced subsequently that you can find with interviews that only took place long after the fact. Here we have the ugly side mixed in, with the arguments and pettiness that nobody admits to having happened later. There's also a different atmosphere to it: an enormous confidence on set that the movie will be a hit, but with an unknown future laying ahead of them there is still always the shadow of a doubt, like the dark cave beneath the Dagobah tree. show less

My favorite quote from the book (as I've memorized it): "While shooting the scenes that take place on Degobah, Mark Hamill was surprised to find a snake crawling up the inside leg of his pants. After the snake handler came to retrieve the wayward snake, he cheerfully told Mark that it was a harmless snake of course and Mark shouldn't worry. Mark responded with 'I don't keep snakes there.'" As a fourteen year old, I found this beyond hilarious.

On his first murder case, a brilliant schoolboy is swept into a perilous adventure!
When his friend the professor mysteriously dies, sixteen year old Holmes suspects foul play. The eager detective drags his new friend Watson through London's dark alleys and over the rooftops, braving disaster -- and even death -- to capture a tricky, powerful foe!

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