George Lucas’ Biography and Filmography
George Lucas’ Biography and Filmography
You wouldn't think he'd become what he now is from his early days. He was fascinated in comic books, especially "Buck Rogers" and "Flash Gordon." And though this might allude to the Star Wars movies he still didn't know what to do with his life by the time he became a teenager. Bored with the tedium and out-of-date teaching methods, he was a poor student and found excitement in car racing. Only a hint of this past is found in his movie's fast pace and constant energy as well as the use of jumpsuits (X-wing fighter uniforms).
Lucas's hobby of car racing abruptly came to a halt when he was rammed broadside by another car off the race track. The other car was going so fast it plowed itself and George's car into a tree at 60 miles an hour. By a fortunate quirk of fate, his seatbelt was defective and he flew free of the car. Though he was injurred, if he had remained in the car the impact would have killed him. Instead of being able to attend his own high school graduation he lay in the hospital. It was at this time he came to the realization that he had to find a purpose in his life and fulfill it.
Education and THX 1138
He attended the University of Southern California, majoring in film. He mistakenly enrolled in the university, thinking "film" meant "photography," but once he began to work in motion pictures he knew this was what he loved. He proved to be so good at it that he won a scholarship from Warner Brothers to study film making at the studio. He was where he met Francis Ford Coppola and became good friends despite their opposite personalities.
Idealistic about creating new types of movies than the conventional studios were permitting, they founded American Zoetrope. This new type of studio encouraged young film makers and funded experimental films with the support of Warner Brothers. Unfortunately rough times were ahead for Lucas and Zoetrope. When Lucas released his first film, THX 1138, Warner Brothers 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 become blockbusters. Warner Brothers resented...