This isn’t really breaking news, but it’s something not a lot of geeks know about; and I thought I would share. As I’m packing up my apartment to move to another one, I noticed, whilst packing my posters, my Return of the Jedi poster. It’s a poster that I’ve had since 1997, when they re-released all the Star Wars movies in the theaters to showcase the Special Editions. Since I was only 2, and my parents were not Star Wars fans in the least, I never got to see the iconic film in the theater. Well, at 16, I was beyond pumped to finally see my favorite of the ‘Holy Trilogy’ on the big screen. To commemorate that day, I had bought a ROTJ poster, one that was drawn by Drew Struzan.
Since that time, I have bought other pieces of Struzan’s work, but at 16 and being the HUGE Star Wars fan, my ROTJ poster remains my favorite.
Below is a documentary being made on the Struzan called ‘Drew: The Man Behind the Poster.’ It’s being directed by Erik P. Sharkey and currently has no release date; which is a damn shame in my eyes. There’s interviews with Spielberg, Carpenter, Lucas, Del Toro, and even Michael J. Fox chimes in on Struzan’s amazing ‘Back to the Future‘ artwork. The man is a legend with a paintbrush, and I hope we all get to see this film see the light of day soon enough.
If you’d like to see more of Drew Struzan’s artwork before the documentary, pick yourself up a copy of his book, Oeuvre, on Amazon. I know you won’t be disappointed.
~Chaz
Hey Chaz, thanks for writing about Drew – he’s the best and I can’t wait to see the documentary about him. Some people also don’t know that Drew made an instructional DVD shot in his studio that teaches you all of his incredible painting techniques – it’s a real art lesson from the Master. “Conceiving and Creating the Hellboy Movie Poster Art” is a step by step, over the shoulder look at how Drew created all of his famous movie poster art. It’s awesome, thanks for keeping us posted on Drew news.
Julie, I had no idea that there was another DVD on Drew! I will have to see if I can get it on Amazon. Thanks for the heads up! His ‘Better off Dead’ has been my computer desktop since I wrote the article!