The Complete Making of Indiana Jones

The Complete Making of Indiana Jones: The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films (2008)
Laurent Bouzereau and J. W. Rinzler
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])

A treasure trove for Indiana Jones fans! First off, the "credits": new interviews by Laurent Bouzereau; written by J.W. Rinzler; foreword by Steven Spielberg; preface by George Lucas. This book goes takes you from the earliest discussions between Lucas and Spielberg while vacationing in Hawaii--at the same time Star Wars was opening in theaters in the U.S.--in 1977 about this notion Lucas had for a series of movies about an "adventurer-archaeologist" in the style of the old 1930s/40s "B-movies", through the four year development and production (pre-production, shooting, and post-production) of the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and onwards through the making of the following three sequels. In addition to newly conducted interviews with all of the principal figures, much of the information gathered here is from film shooting logs, meeting transcript, and media publications of the time. And there is a wealth of beautiful color and black and white photographs direct from the Lucasfilm archives. I can not recommend this book enough to fans of the series. Buy this book! (Or, at least, try to check it out from your local library and give it a serious skimming through, taking in all of the gorgeous photos and picking out your own favorite moments to read about.) (Finished reading 8/15/09.)