Page 42 - Star Wars Insider #188

THE GALACTIC ARCHIVIST

n March 22, 1976 in the desert I have no idea what I’m doing here, and I can’t PAUL
O of Djerba, an island just off get out. I’m trapped in these archives!’” DUNCAN’S
With years of experience writing, editing,
the coast of Tunisia, George
Lucas called “Action!” for the
and publishing books and magazines on popular
first time on his new fi lm: Star culture, in recent years Duncan has brought STAR WARS

STORY
Wars. To the cast and crew his wealth of knowledge to the German-based
“I’d just turned 13 in
toiling in the dusty North African heat, nobody publisher Taschen, creating high-end books on 1977,” Paul Duncan
could have anticipated that alongside shooting subjects as wide-ranging as James Bond, Charlie recalls, casting his
a movie, they were making cultural history. Chaplin, and the films of Pedro Almodovar. mind back to his

fi rst encounter with
The events surrounding the development and “Taschen had already been working with Disney
Star Wars. “I was
production of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) on some projects,” Duncan says, explaining having a cup of tea,
and its subsequent sequels have been discussed, the gestation behind The Star Wars Archives. and the news was
on. At the end they
dissected, debated, and written about in “When the question came up, ‘do you want to
had this feature on a
numerous books over the course of the last fi ve do something with Lucasfilm?’ it all seemed to new fi lm full of these

decades. It’s perhaps a story many of us feel happen very naturally.” geometrically shaped
we already know. However, a lavish new book While other adventurers might have packed spaceships chasing
each other, robots,
published by Taschen—The Star Wars Archives: a bullwhip and fedora to embark on a round-
and laser explosions.
1977-1983— seeks to cast new light on the the-world research voyage, Duncan grabbed I thought, ‘Wow! I’ve

production of the original Star Wars trilogy. his laptop and made the first of many trips got to see that.’ It’s
still clear as day.
between his home in the U.K. and the archives “Throughout
Finding the Story held by Lucasfilm Ltd. across various locations the summer of 1977

“I was very excited but also terrified, because I in California. His first port of call was Skywalker and into the winter,
I hunted every scrap
had no idea how I was going to find a story that Ranch in Marin County. “What’s always diffi cult

of information that I
hadn’t been told before,” admits is getting people to trust you, could fi nd about Star
writer Paul Duncan, an editor and to allow an outsider to come in Wars,” he continues.
film historian who spent two years “I never know, going and look at these very precious “It opened in in my

combing the Lucasfilm archives to in, what the story materials,” says Duncan. The home town on the
29th of January. It
research the new volume. “I spent welcome he received upon his was cold, and it was

my first year going through the is. I have to find it in arrival at Lucasfilm could not raining, and I stood
in line because I’d
archives thinking, ‘How am I going the archives, and have been more open. “At the fi rst seen on the news
to do this? I’ve got a deadline, meeting to start off the project, millions of people
that’s where the lining up to see Star
story makes itself 02 Wars in America. I
got there four hours
apparent.” beforehand and
nobody else was
there! It was the fi rst
movie I went to see
on my own.”
Was it as life-
changing as he was
expecting? “I read
‘A long time ago in
galaxy far, far away,’
and BANG! I was
in. Just completely
in. That was the
effect, and I wanted
to fi nd out exactly
how they did it,
so started reading
Starlog magazine,
and then a magazine
called Starburst came
out in the U.K. Star
Wars kickstarted
me into the life
and career I have
now. I’m interested
in all fi lm, art, and
literature, but Star
Wars set me off on
the path to become
the person that I
am today.”

42 / STAR WARS INSIDER