When it came to punish the novelization of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the SithPlanning came everyone before the wake of the film’s possible polarizing release. And by chance, Matthew Stovers’s version of the events in the film ended up becoming one of the rescuing grains in George Lucas’ closing chapter in his saga, at least to the old guard of Fanboys. We all know that the generation that grew up on it and the animated shows ended up becoming more embrace of the producer’s final contribution to Star Wars universe.
In an exclusive with Entertainment Weekly shared, Stover Stover Stover’s New Author’s Note, now added to the book’s 20th anniversary. In it, he discusses his unique approach to writing the film as a novel with George’s Lucas’ blessing and inspiration from Greek myths.
What separates the book from the film is that it allowed it to stand to expand Anakin’s perspective during his fall from the light side. And that’s something that made him nervous from the start. “It had come to me during the panic attack, I had a little after signing the contract to write this novel, which had ignited because I had foolly committed to writing Keystone in the arch of the Skywalker saga for the greatest audience in my career – and the whole Star Wars-Loving Universe would hope for an exciting space opera, despite the clear fact that each main point point had been spoiled for decades. “
Stover continued, ”add the challenge of writing a novelization without ever watching the last movie because the movie wasn’t done and wouldn’t be out before the book went to the printer. I would only be armed with the manuscript and the collective Lucas movie – Star Wars. What saved me then was my early training, ”he explained, describing how the protective frames of classic theater mythology came along well with the author.
“More than 20 years before signing this contract, I had been the luck of studying theater history under a professor who was an authority on the ancient Greek drama. Every one of the great Greek tragedies had been exposed to exactly my problems – their audience knew the story to go in – and they had some tricks they would draw to make their play.
“The more I thought of Greek tragedy, the better it seemed to fit. The classic tragedies were drawn from Greek mythology and legend, right? Also – if I needed further apology – traditionally, any further apology was made – without kidders, wait for it.
“I hoped to present the story explicitly as a tragic myth, with language and style more formalized and darker in tone than people generally expect from Star Wars Fiction. After all, I intended to claim that this story is special. It’s different from any other Star Wars History – not only because it is the last movie (or so we thought at the time), but because this story is the true foundation that underlies the rest and it should feel different from the very first side. “
In addition, his approach would be informed about how myths acted as a template for so much Star Wars Media to begin with within its extended universe (before they were deanonized). “But to evoke the Greek tragedies was only part of my idea, and I expected the part to be a light lift, for the reasons I outlined above. The rest were gnawing holes in my stomach lining because I would fold elements of the larger Star Wars Extended universe (EU). “
“I desperately needed EU material to make this story work. Not because the EU had been a part of my life ever since Splinter of the mind’s eyeAnd certainly not because it would be extremely cool to incorporate elements of these stories into this novel … I really thought I needed the EU to make this story act as a novel. It would give the story heft and texture. It would let me touch where these people are coming from and where most of them will end, and it would let me weave this specific narrative and its consequences in the broader ‘historical’ context of the whole galaxy far, far away. ‘
The best anecdote of the note was how all this work, how he had gone out of his way of planning and beating George Lucas, was greeted with a surprising answer when he asked the living legend how much he should stick to the manuscript. Lucas freed him from perceiving the film script as a limitation. “Don’t be afraid of it. As long as you don’t violate the story, you have to do whatever you want,” Lucas said to stand. “Just doing well.”
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