Why one of the greatest novels of “Star Wars” ever made was written as a Greek tragedy

When it was a question of writing the romanization of Episode III of Star Wars: Revenge of the SithPlanning was all before the consequences of the possible polarizing release of the film. And by chance, the version of Matthew Stover of the events of the film ended up being one of the saving graces of the closing chapter of George Lucas in his saga, at least at the old Fanboys guard. We all know that the generation that grew up on it and the animated programs ended up kissing the manufacturer’s final contributions more Star Wars universe.

In an exclusivity with Entertainment Weekly, Stover shared his note as a new author, now added to the reissue of the 20th anniversary of the book. He discusses his unique approach to the writing of the film as a novel with the blessing and inspiration of George by George of Greek myths.

What distinguishes the film from the film is that it allowed Stover to develop the prospect of Anakin during its fall on the light side. And it’s something that made him nervous from the start. “It came to me during the panic attack that I had suffered after signing the contract to write this romanization, which had ignited because I was carefully committed to writing the key key in the arc of the Skywalker saga for the most public of my career – and the whole Star Wars-The academic hoped for an exciting space opera, despite the fact that each main point of the plot had been spoiled for decades. »»

Stover continued: “Add the challenge of writing a Romanization without ever seeing the final film, because the film was not finished and would not be released before the book went to the printer. I would only be armed with the script and the Lucasfilm collective of the knowledge of Star Wars. Which then saved my early training, “he explained, describing how the railing of classical theatrical mythology were useful for the writer.

“More than 20 years before signing this contract, I had the chance to study the history of the theater under a teacher who was an authority on the ancient Greek drama. Each of the great Greek tragedians had faced my troubles exactly – their audience knew that the story was doing some things. ”

“The more I thought of the Greek tragedy, the better it seemed to adapt. Classic tragedies were taken from Greek mythology and legend, right? Also – if I needed an additional excuse – Greek tragedies which were traditionally carried out as unique acts without intermences, as modern films, and they were generally presented in reality, not in the role, wait.

“I hoped to present the story explicitly as a tragic myth, with a more formalized and darker language and style than people generally expect it to Star Wars fiction. After all, I intended to assert that this story is special. It’s different from any other Star Wars History – Not only because it is the final film (or at least we thought at the time), but because this story is the real foundation that underlies everything else, and it should be different from the very first page. »»

In addition, his approach would be informed by the way the myth served as a model Star Wars The media to start in his extended universe (before being a decanone). “But evoking the Greek tragedies was only part of my idea, and I expected this part to be an easy elevator, for the reasons that I am sketched above. The rest, however, gnawed the holes in the lining of the stomach, because I wanted to fold the elements of the greatest Star Wars Enlarged universe (EU). »»

“I desperately needed European equipment to operate this story. Not because the EU has been part of my life since Splinter of the Eye of the SpiritAnd certainly not because it would be extremely cool to incorporate elements of these stories into this romanization … I really thought that I needed the EU so that this story works like a novel. It would give history and texture. This would allow me to touch where these people come from and where most of them will finish, and it would allow me to weave this specific story and its implications in the tidy context ” the wider of the whole galaxy far, far. “”

The best anecdote of the note was how all this work, how he had done everything possible to plan and present to George Lucas, met a surprising response when he asked the living legend how he had to stick to the script. Lucas freed him from perceiving the film’s script as a constraint. “Don’t worry about these things. As long as you do not violate the story, do what you want,” Lucas told Stover. “Do it well.”

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