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George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film
director, producer, and screenwriter famous for his epic Star
Wars saga and his Indiana Jones films. He is one of the American
film industry's most independent, financially successful
directors and producers.
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Biography
George Walton Lucas Jr. was born in Modesto, California to
George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991) and Dorothy Ellinore
Bomberger Lucas (1913–1989). His father, who was mainly of
British and Swiss heritage, ran a stationery store and owned a
small walnut orchard. His mother was a member of a prominent
Modesto family (one of her cousins is the mother of former U.S.
Secretary of Agriculture and director of Unicef Ann Veneman) and
was mainly of German and Scots-Irish heritage.
Lucas graduated from Thomas Downey High School in 1962, where he
had been an indifferent student at best and dreamed of becoming
a professional race car driver. That early dream ended June 12,
1962, when he crashed his Bianchina. The car was broadsided
while he tried to make a left turn into his driveway. The car
rolled; the racing harness that he had installed snapped, and he
was thrown from the car. Had the harness not snapped—and Lucas
has said it shouldn't have—he would most likely have been
crushed to death by the steering column when the car smashed
into a walnut tree. (The force of the impact uprooted the tree).
During his recovery, Lucas reevaluated his life and decided to
go to college. He enrolled at Modesto Junior College, where he
earned an AA degree, then transferred to the University of
Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. USC was one
of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to film
studies. There he made a number of short films, including an
early version of THX 1138 (the complete title was "Electronic
Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB"), which later became his first
full-length feature film.
After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in film in 1966,
he tried joining the Air Force as an officer, but was turned
down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later
drafted by the Army, but tests showed he had diabetes, which
killed his paternal grandfather. Lucas was prescribed medication
for the disease and does not seem to have required insulin. In
1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film
production.
Eventually he co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with
Francis Ford Coppola whom he met during an internship at Warner
Brothers, hoping to create a liberating environment for
filmmakers to direct outside the perceived oppressive control of
the Hollywood Studio system. From the financial success of his
films American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars Episode IV: A New
Hope (1977), Lucas was able to set up his own studio, Lucasfilm,
in Marin County in his native northern California. Skywalker
Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, the sound and visual
effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become
among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games,
later renamed to LucasArts, was for many years highly regarded
in the gaming industry.
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is considered by some to be the
first "high concept" film, although others feel the first was
Steven Spielberg's Jaws, released two years prior. Lucas and
Spielberg had been good friends for some time and eventually
worked together on several films, notably the first Indiana
Jones vehicle, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981.
On
a return on investment basis, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
proved to be one of the most successful films of all time.
During the filming of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Lucas
waived his up front fee as director and negotiated to own the
licensing rights—rights which the studio thought were nearly
worthless. This decision earned him hundreds of millions of
dollars as he was able to directly profit from all the licensed
games, toys and collectibles created for the franchise. In 2004
Forbes Magazine estimated Lucas' personal wealth at $3 billion.
In 2005 Forbes.com estimated the lifetime revenue generated by
the Star Wars franchise at nearly $20 billion.
On
October 3, 1994, Lucas started to write the three Star Wars
prequels, and on November 1 that year, he left the day-to-day
operations of his filmmaking business and started a sabbatical
to finish the prequels.
The
American Film Institute awarded Lucas its Lifetime Achievement
Award for 2005. He received the award on June 9, 2005.[1] This
was awarded shortly after the release of Star Wars Episode III:
Revenge of the Sith, which he jokingly made reference to in his
acceptance speech, stating that, since he views the entire Star
Wars series as one movie, that he could be given the award now
that he had finally "gone back and finished [the] movie."
On
June 5, 2005, Lucas was named 100th "Greatest American" by the
Discovery Channel.
In
1969, Lucas married film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, who went on
to win an Oscar for her work on the original (fourth) Star Wars
film. They adopted a daughter, Amanda, in 1981, and divorced in
1983. Lucas has since adopted two more children: Katie, born in
1988, and Jett, born in 1993. All three of his children have
appeared in the prequels.
In
1999, George Lucas sued Dr. Dre for sampling THX's theme sound
in his album 2001.
In
2005, Lucas gave $1 million to help build the Martin Luther
King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington
D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr..
Innovator
Besides his directorial and production work on movies, Lucas is
the most significant contemporary contributor to modern movie
technology. In 1975 Lucas established Industrial Light and Magic
(ILM) in Van Nuys, CA, which was responsible for the invention
of the special computer assisted camera crane "Dykstraflex"
(named after special effects innovator, John Dykstra) that was
used for most of the space fight sequences used in the Star Wars
movies (technology which was later adopted by most other visual
effects production units, such as those responsible for
Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: The Next Generation).
Through ILM, Lucas spurred the further development of computer
graphics, film laser scanners and the earliest use of 3D
computer character animation in a film, Young Sherlock Holmes.
Lucas sold his early computer development unit to Steve Jobs in
1986, which was renamed Pixar.
Lucas is also responsible for the modern sound systems found in
many movie theaters. Although Lucas didn't invent THX, he is
responsible for its development. The acronym ostensibly stands
for "Tomlinson Holman eXperiment" after its chief engineer,
however, it is obviously a reference to Lucas' first film THX
1138.
Now
Lucas is spearheading digital cinematography for movies. Though
personal digital photography is now mainstream, most movie
studios still use traditional cameras and film for movie
production. Lucas departed from this model by filming Star Wars
Episode II: Attack of the Clones almost completely digitally. He
showed the result to a select audience of the Hollywood elite,
before the movie's general release. For the presentation, Lucas
used a special digital projection system. The attendees said the
movie had the clearest and sharpest presentation they had ever
seen.
Despite the successful demonstration of the technology, movie
studios are slow to move to this new model, in part because of
the high price of the digital equipment.
Lucas' interest in education also led to the creation of The
George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) in 1991. The
multi-faceted foundation produces a magazine, web site and short
films that highlight the stories and people driving innovation
in education.
Filmography
Most notable films
THX
1138 (1970) (director, writer)
American Graffiti (1973) (director, writer)
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (1977) (director, producer,
writer)
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (executive
producer, co-writer, uncredited co-director)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (co-writer, executive producer,
uncredited second unit director)
Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (1983) (executive
producer, co-writer, uncredited co-director)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (co-writer,
executive producer)
Labyrinth (1986) (executive producer)
Willow (1988) (writer, executive producer)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) (executive producer)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) (co-writer, executive
producer)
The
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992 - 1996) (story, executive
producer)
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) (director,
writer, executive producer)
Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002) (director,
co-writer, executive producer)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (director,
writer, executive producer)
Red
Tails (2007)
Indiana Jones 4 (2008) (story, executive producer)
Student and short
films
Look at Life (1965)
Herbie (1966)
1:42:08 (1966)
The
Emperor (1967)
Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138:4EB (1967)
Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town (1967)
6-18-67 (1967)
Filmaker (1968)
Other films
More American Graffiti (1979) (executive producer)
Kagemusha also known as The Shadow Warrior (1980) (Executive
Producer of International Edition)
Body Heat (1981) (uncredited executive producer)
Twice Upon a Time (1982) (executive producer)
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) (executive
producer, story)
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) (executive producer, story)
Mishima (1985) (executive producer)
Howard the Duck (1986) (executive producer)
Captain Eo (1986) (producer, screenplay)
Powaqqatsi (1988) (executive producer)
The
Land Before Time (1988) (executive producer)
Hook (1991) (cameo as "man kissing on bridge")
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) (cameo as "Disappointed Man")
Radioland Murders (1994) (story)
Trivia
George Lucas cameos in a video with Jamie Kennedy, Stu Stone and
Bob Saget, a song "Rollin' With Saget" from the MTV show Blowin'
Up.[1]
George was parodied as "Randall Curtis" on The Simpsons
A
noted fan of Mel Brooks, he gave permission to Mel Brooks to
film Spaceballs (a parody of many aspects of Star Wars and the
science fiction genre in general) after reading a copy of the
script Brooks had given him.
Made a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the
Sith at the insistence of his daughter.
In
1976, Lucas published a novelization of A New Hope, which was
initially (like the film) titled just Star Wars. Although Lucas
was credited as author of the book, it was later revealed that
the book was actually ghost written by Alan Dean Foster, who
would also write Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the first original
Star Wars novel and, in many respects, the first Star Wars
sequel.
As
a tribute to his first film, THX-1138, it is said that each of
his films (most notably the Star Wars saga) contains the number
1138 hidden as an Easter egg, and each of his movies are also
made with the sound company, THX. It is also rumored that while
growing up in California, the last seven digits of his home
telephone number were 849-1138, where the 849 corresponds with
the letters THX on a standard telephone.
Stood as a financial guarantor on his friend Willard Huyck's
film adaptation of the Howard the Duck comics and was credited
as 'Executive Producer' for the service despite having no
involvement in the film's production and never visiting the set.
The film is often referred to as a Lucas 'bomb' despite his lack
of tangible involvement, although he has made attempts to
distance himself from the film.
Lucas credits his friend John Milius with introducing him to the
films of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, whose works
(particularly Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress) inspired
the Star Wars films. For example, The Hidden Fortress includes
two ubiquitous and sometimes humorous infantry soldiers who are
said to have inspired R2-D2 and C-3PO; an aging master samurai
on a quest to deliver a princess back to her people, said to be
the inspiration for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia in Episode
IV; and the hidden fortress itself, belonging to the princess's
people, which the dominant clan is trying to find and destroy,
said to inspire the rebel base on Yavin and the Empire's quest
to find and destroy it in Episode IV. He would later repay the
favor by signing on (along with Francis Ford Coppola) as
executive producer for Kurosawa's film Kagemusha.
inspired by buddhist monk Bhante Dharmawara and created yoda in
his image.
Lucas also based his Star Wars films on the scholarship of
Joseph Campbell, particularly Campbell's 1949 text, The Hero
with a Thousand Faces, which deals with the idea of common
elements across hero mythologies in many or all human cultures.
These include, for example, the hero being called on a quest,
the hero initially being reluctant to go but then receiving new
motivation by unfolding events, the hero being guided by a wise
elder who cannot remain to help the hero, and the hero wielding
a magic or shining sword; all elements incorporated into the
story of Luke Skywalker in Episode IV. Campbell's publisher
returned the favor by depicting an image of Mark Hamill as Luke
Skywalker alongside mythological heroes such as Gilgamesh and
Odysseus on the cover of a later edition of The Hero with a
Thousand Faces [2]. Lucas was also involved in the creation of
the 1988 documentary which explored the works of Joseph
Campbell, The Power of Myth. The series of 6 one hour interviews
between Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers, was filmed at
Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. In the first episode, Moyers discusses
Campbell's friendship with Lucas and the impact of his
scholarship on Lucas' Star Wars films (episodes IV,V, and VI)
[3]. Twelve years later, in 1999, Lucas and Moyers reunited to
make the documentary Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas &
Bill Moyers[4] in which they discussed their memories of
Campbell and his influence. In addition, the National Air and
Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution sponsored an exhibit
during the late 1990s called Star Wars: The Magic of Myth which
discussed the ways in which Campbell's work shaped the Star Wars
films [5]. A companion guide of the same name was published in
1997.
Lucas was raised as a Methodist but now states that he is
"Spiritual" [6]
In
his spare time, Lucas enjoys playing Star Wars video games with
his children. He has also been known to read some of the Star
Wars comic books, including Dark Empire. At one point, Lucas
even said that he liked the story presented in the Star Wars:
Shadows of the Empire multimedia project so much, that if he had
had the story in the 80's, he might have produced a film based
on the events in it.
Friend Steven Spielberg called Lucas a pure independent
filmmaker, as Lucas is very ensconced in Northern California in
Marin County and the San Francisco area, and actively rejects
the institutions of Hollywood.
He
based the character of Han Solo on his friend Francis Ford
Coppola.
The
characters of Indiana Jones and Chewbacca the Wookie were
inspired by his ex-wife's dog, an Alaskan Malamute named
Indiana.
His
nickname in high school was Luke. This later became the name of
the hero of his original Star Wars trilogy, Luke Skywalker.
Sold Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics Division (by then named Pixar)
to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs. It eventually became
Pixar Animation Studios.
Appeared as himself in a cameo in an episode of the O.C. ("The
O.Sea", aired May 12, 2005).
Appeared in a cameo in Beverly Hills Cop III.
Made as an action figure in 2002 with the name "Jorg Sacul." In
2006, a toy based on his appearance in Revenge of the Sith was
created, as well as a mail-away special figure of George Lucas
in Stormtrooper disguise.
Never attended his high school prom.
The
producers of Superman offered Lucas the chance to direct but
declined saying he didn`t think he could do a good job with the
material.
References
^
2005 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to George Lucas on
USA Network
Quotes
"If
somebody gave me a hundred feet of film, I made a movie out of
it."
"My
first 6 years in the business were hopeless. A lot of times I'd
say, 'Why am I doing this?'"
****
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URL of Original Article:
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Date Article Copied:
August 4, 2006
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