The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Reviewed

Fleshing Out A Classic Tale

♦Tripwire gave its editor-in-chief JOEL MEADOWS a stolen Empire Tie Fighter and stolen entry codes so he could review Abrams’ The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, out now…

The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Writer: Josh Kushner with forewords by Doug Chiang, Neil Lamont and Gareth Edwards
Abrams

2015’s The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a very well-edited Art Of book so the bar was pretty high for this book. With Rogue One, the production team arguably had an even harder task ahead than on The Force Awakens. They had to create a world that could fit into A New Hope while bringing something new to the mix that would appeal to audiences almost forty years after the first Star Wars came out. But Doug Chiang and his huge team of very talented artists and model makers managed to do just that so The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the equal of its recent predecessor with some magnificent production and concept art from the likes of Chiang himself plus tens of other equally gifted film production artists like Glyn Dillon, Tom Tenery and Matt Allsopp. As well as the production and concept art here, The Art of Rogue One also includes a number of storyboards which varies its content a little and gives readers an extra glimpse into how certain scenes were created.

The book also gives people a real insight into how new worlds like Jedha and Scarif were brought to life through the ingenuity and lateral thinking of the production team with contributions from its director Edwards as well. It is testament to Doug Chiang and his co-production designer Neil Lamont that they were able to bring together such a disparate group of talented production artists to create an overriding feel and tone for the film. We get to learn how characters like central protagonist Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and robot K-2S0 are developed and brought to life.

Fans of the film who are intrigued to find out more about the genesis of the film should have this on their bookshelves. Writer Kushner has managed to tell the story of the production side of Rogue One with style and passion and he should be applauded. The art reproduction here is also spectacular with some of the more dramatic pieces really being given room to breathe.

The Art of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a worthy addition to the Art of Star Wars library indeed. If you are an aficionado of the world that Lucas and co have created, you won’t regret picking this up.

Art of Rogue One www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk