“I have a strong feeling about interesting kids in space exploration. “The reason I’m making Star Wars is that I want to give young people some sort of faraway exotic environment for their imaginations to run around in,” Lucas said in an interview during the production of the film. Eventually the film grossed over half-a-billion dollars despite a final reported budget of a mere $11 million. In 1976 he finally both finished the final draft of the script and began filming a few months later. Star Wars was reportedly not considered a winner by many in Hollywood at the start.

Lucas with Francis Ford Coppola in Paris, 1988ĭespite this enormous success, Lucas’ next project was far from a guaranteed sensation. It is still considered an all-time classic and regularly finds itself on lists of the best films of all time. It went on to earn just over $115 million in addition to critical accolades including five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Lucas. This was none other than Steven Spielberg, who would later team up to make the Indiana Jones franchise with Lucas.Ī partnership with Coppola resulted in the underwhelming film THX 1138, followed by his directing a relatively low budget film loosely based on his youth in Modesto, called American Graffiti.

His time at USC was pivotal to his career, and during that period he met not only his idol and future mentor in Francis Ford Coppola, but also another young filmmaker who was garnering a reputation as someone to watch. His family owned a stationery store, but Lucas had bigger aspirations, and followed an interest in filmmaking to a spot in USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. George Lucas was born in 1944 in Modesto, California.

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