Documentary about Drew Struzan, the graphic artist who designed the legendary posters for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, as well as many iconic eighties movie posters.
The film tells Struzan's life story chronologically, starting off with his unhappy childhood, his first years as a professional artist (drawing mainly record sleeves), his success in Hollywood and, finally, his retirement. We go from A to B to C and so on, with many celebrities providing sound bites, from George Lucas and Spielberg to fans and film makers Frank Darabont and Guillermo del Toro (who payed Struzan out of his own pocket to make posters for the Hellboy-movie, even though Del Toro knew the studio wouldn't use them).
This doesn't go very deep. We get to know the man behind the poster just a little.The stories he tells stay well within Struzan's own comfort zone. You never get the impression the film makers try to get more out of him. So, it's a little about the man, a little about his process as an artist and a lot about his legacy. But do we really need a documentary to tell us that every Star Wars fan has Struzan's images burned in his or her brain? It helps that Struzan is a very nice person, who's not afraid to talk about his loveless parents and all the times he got cheated business wise. But all in all, the feeling remains that the film makers were too easily content with what they had. As for the form, it's quite uninteresting, with lots of talking heads and prosaic shots in Struzan's studio and house.
The film tells Struzan's life story chronologically, starting off with his unhappy childhood, his first years as a professional artist (drawing mainly record sleeves), his success in Hollywood and, finally, his retirement. We go from A to B to C and so on, with many celebrities providing sound bites, from George Lucas and Spielberg to fans and film makers Frank Darabont and Guillermo del Toro (who payed Struzan out of his own pocket to make posters for the Hellboy-movie, even though Del Toro knew the studio wouldn't use them).
This doesn't go very deep. We get to know the man behind the poster just a little.The stories he tells stay well within Struzan's own comfort zone. You never get the impression the film makers try to get more out of him. So, it's a little about the man, a little about his process as an artist and a lot about his legacy. But do we really need a documentary to tell us that every Star Wars fan has Struzan's images burned in his or her brain? It helps that Struzan is a very nice person, who's not afraid to talk about his loveless parents and all the times he got cheated business wise. But all in all, the feeling remains that the film makers were too easily content with what they had. As for the form, it's quite uninteresting, with lots of talking heads and prosaic shots in Struzan's studio and house.