George Lucas
By: Tyler Murdie
Place of Birth: - Modesto, California, USA
Date Of Birth: - May 14th, 1944
George Walton Lucas, Jr., was born on May 14, 1944,
in Modesto, California. He spent his childhood
fascinated with comic books, especially "Buck
Rogers" and "Flash Gordon." He spent his teenage years
bored with the tedium of routine school days and teachers.
Car racing was the only excitement that Lucas was
allowed.
It was his love of car racing that would
dramatically
change his life. June 12, 1962, three days before
Lucas was to graduate from high school, he was
involved in a serious accident. Lucas was gravely
injured when his Fiat Biancina was struck broadside
by another car (a fellow student at Downey High School,
Modesto, California) and was sent rolling toward a
walnut tree at 60 miles per hour. His seat belt
snapped and he was flung from the car, which a split
second later collided with such force that it moved
the tree two feet, roots and all. If the seat belt
had worked, he would have been killed instantly.
"You
can’t have that kind of experience and not feel that
there must be a reason why you’re here," Lucas has
said. "I realized I should be spending my time
trying
to figure out what that reason is and trying to
fulfill it."
Along with his high school car accident came the
decision to attend USC; the apprenticeship turned
out
to be another life-altering event. Warner Bros. was
in turmoil thanks to its recent purchase by Seven
Arts
and the resulting exodus of founding production
chief
Jack Warner. There was only one film in production
on
the entire lot: a musical starring Fred Astair and
Petula Clark entitled "Finian’s Rainbow," which was
being directed by a 27-year-old UCLA graduate,
Francis
Coppola. It was due to this that the two met and
became life-long friends despite their opposite
personalities. Lucas was physically slight, Coppola
was large and flamboyant; while Lucas might be
driven
by grand ambitions, he was financially cautious,
while
Coppola was reckless with money; where Lucas was
quiet
and reserved, Coppola revelled in the spotlight.
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Financing was secured on the strength of seven
script
ideas that smooth-talking Coppola pitched to Warner
Bros. Thus, Lucas found himself, at 26, prepping
his
"THX" for a theatrical release. Lucas’s "THX" was
the
first of the seven to go before the cameras. "THX
1138" was a dour science fiction effort in the
spirit
of "Brave New World" and "1984;" needless to say,
Warner Bros. was outraged. "THX 1138" did not
follow
the standard narrative style, instead moving the
story
along with images rather than by extensive
characters
and dialogue. The images were startling, the sound
rich, and the ideas behind it compelling, but these
were not the things that became blockbusters.
Warner
Bros. resented this, cutting scenes and dropping the
film carelessly into the market with no buildup,
setting it up for failure at the box office.
In 1973, Lucas was able to sell a script to an
enthusiastic Universal Studios, where it was shot on
a
budget of $700,000 in 28 days. This feature was one
of the most profitable films ever released by a
major
studio. It is estimated that "American Graffiti"
returned $50 for every dollar spent on production
and
distribution, a staggering ratio in the movie
business. It also marked the last time in his
career
that Lucas would be forced to stand in the shadow of
his mentor, Coppola, who directed the film. Lucas’s
artfully edited reminder of the simple joys of cars,
rock-n-roll, and small town romance made him a
millionaire before the age of 30.
Before long, Lucas wrote scripts for "The Empire
Strikes Back" (1980) and "The Return of the Jedi"
(1983), which he also executive produced. In 1980,
he
was the executive producer of "The Raiders of the
Lost
Ark," directed by Steven Spielberg, which won five
Academy Awards. He was also co-executive producer
and
creator of the story for "Indiana Jones and the
Temple
of Doom." The film, released in 1984, earned yet
another two Academy Award nominations, and won an
Oscar for its visual effects.
In my words, well what can I say? He lived through
his life to become a multi-millionaire and owning up
to 5 company making films and computer games. Yet
he
has not finished there. Oh, no. He still continues
to attract and amaze the audience with his scripts,
plots, and special effects. I can only hope that he
has a few more tricks up his sleeve to continue to
out-do himself each time. May the force of this
knowledge be with you.
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