George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. was born on the 14th of May 1944 in Modesto, California. He grew up as the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas Sr. His family attended Disneyland during its opening week in July 1955. This early experience sparked a lifelong enthusiasm for the park that never faded. Before he ever held a camera, Lucas yearned to be a race car driver. He spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds. He also hung out at garages with other enthusiasts.
On the 12th of June 1962, just days before his high school graduation, disaster struck. Lucas was driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina when another driver broadsided him. The impact flipped his car several times before it crashed into a tree. His seatbelt had snapped, which ejected him from the vehicle and thereby saved his life. However, his lungs were bruised from severe hemorrhaging. He required emergency medical treatment immediately after the crash.
This incident caused him to lose interest in racing as a career forever. It also inspired him to pursue his other interests instead. He began shooting with an 8 mm camera while attending Modesto Junior College. He filmed car races and studied anthropology, sociology, and literature. At this time, Lucas became interested in Canyon Cinema screenings of underground film makers like Jordan Belson. He saw classic European films such as Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless and Federico Fellini's 8½. That is when George really started exploring new artistic paths.
Lucas moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969. He co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola. They hoped to create a liberating environment for filmmakers outside the Hollywood system. His first feature film THX 1138 was produced by American Zoetrope but was not a success financially. Lucas then created his own company called Lucasfilm Ltd. on the 12th of September 1977.
He set his sights on adapting Flash Gordon but could not obtain the rights. He decided to write an original space adventure that would eventually become Star Wars. All but one studio turned Star Wars down initially. Alan Ladd Jr. at 20th Century Fox liked American Graffiti enough to force through a production deal. This restored Fox to financial stability after a number of flops. The film quickly became the highest-grossing film of all time until displaced five years later by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
After the success of American Graffiti, Lucas was encouraged to renegotiate for a higher fee. He declined to do so instead. He negotiated for advantage in unspecified parts of his contract with Fox. These included ownership of licensing and merchandising rights for novelizations, clothing, and toys. Lucasfilm has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from licensed games and collectibles created for the franchise. This strategic decision proved far more lucrative than any director fee ever could be.
Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic in 1975. He wanted his 1977 film Star Wars to include visual effects never seen before. After discovering that the in-house effects department at 20th Century Fox was no longer operational, he approached Douglas Trumbull. Trumbull declined as he was already committed to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He suggested his assistant John Dykstra to Lucas instead.
Dykstra brought together a small team of college students, artists, and engineers. They set them up in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California. Lucas named the group Industrial Light and Magic after seeing the map for the location zoned as light industrial. Alongside Dykstra, other leading members included Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Robert Blalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, Lorne Peterson, and Paul Huston. These individuals formed the core of what would become a revolution in cinema.
In 1983, Lucas and Tomlinson Holman founded the audio company THX. The company contained equipment for stereo, digital, and theatrical sound for films. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic became the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm. In 1979, Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group within Lucasfilm. Steve Jobs purchased the group in 1986 for $5 million. This sale reflected Lucas's desire to stop cash flow losses from seven-year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools.
By 1993, it was announced that Lucas would be making the prequels. He began penning more to the story indicating the series would be tragic. It examined Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. At first, they were supposed to be filling-in history tangential to the originals. Now he saw that they could form the beginning of one long story starting with Anakin's childhood. This was the final step towards turning the film series into a Saga.
In 1994, Lucas began work on the screenplay of the first prequel titled Episode I: The Beginning. The first Star Wars prequel finished and released in 1999 as Episode I , The Phantom Menace. It was the first film Lucas had directed in over two decades. Following its release, he announced he would also direct the next two films. He began working on Episode II immediately after.
The first draft of Episode II was completed just weeks before principal photography started. Lucas hired Jonathan Hales, a writer from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, to polish it. It was completed and released in 2002 as Attack of the Clones. The final prequel, Episode III , Revenge of the Sith, began production in 2002 and was released in 2005. Numerous older fans and critics at the time considered the prequels more mixed compared to the original trilogy.
In January 2012, Lucas announced his retirement from producing large blockbuster films. He re-focused his career on smaller independently budgeted features instead. In June 2012, producer Kathleen Kennedy was appointed co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. She worked alongside Lucas who remained chief executive for at least one year. After that period she succeeded him as the company's sole leader.
It was reported that Kennedy would work alongside Lucas until the sale closed. With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, Lucas became Disney's second-largest single shareholder after Steve Jobs' estate. He worked as a creative consultant on The Force Awakens which opened on the 18th of December 2015. His involvement included attending early story meetings where he offered advice on plot points.
Lucas described the previous six Star Wars films as his children while defending his vision for them. He criticized The Force Awakens for having a retro feel saying it lacked new planets or spaceships. He also drew criticism for likening Disney to white slavers before apologizing for the remark. In October 2016, Lucas announced his decision not to be involved in the story of the fifth Indiana Jones film though he remained credited as an executive producer.
In 1991, The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded as a nonprofit operating foundation. It aimed to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. The foundation's content is available under the brand Edutopia via documentary films. Lucas was one of the leading proponents of the E-Rate program enacted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On the 24th of June 2008, Lucas testified before the United States House of Representatives subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.
In 2012, Lucas sold Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company for a reported sum of $4.05 billion. A spokesperson said Lucas intended to donate the majority of proceeds from the sale to charity. For 41 years the majority of his time and money had been put into the company. As he started a new chapter in life it was gratifying that he could devote more resources to philanthropy.
By June 2013, Lucas was considering establishing a museum called the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum. He offered to pay the estimated $300 million cost of constructing the museum. After being unable to reach an agreement with The Presidio Trust in San Francisco, he turned to Chicago. By June 2014, Chicago had been selected pending approval of the Chicago Plan Commission. On the 17th of January 2017, Lucas announced an eleven-acre campus would be constructed over what was a parking lot in Exposition Park Los Angeles.
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Common questions
When and where was George Lucas born?
George Walton Lucas Jr. was born on the 14th of May 1944 in Modesto, California.
What car accident changed George Lucas career plans?
On the 12th of June 1962, a severe car crash involving his Autobianchi Bianchina caused him to lose interest in racing as a career forever.
How did George Lucas make money from Star Wars instead of directing fees?
Lucas negotiated for ownership of licensing and merchandising rights for novelizations, clothing, and toys which earned hundreds of millions of dollars from licensed games and collectibles created for the franchise.
Who helped George Lucas create Industrial Light and Magic?
John Dykstra brought together a small team including Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Robert Blalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, Lorne Peterson, and Paul Huston to work in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California.
Why did George Lucas sell Lucasfilm to Disney?
In 2012, Lucas sold Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion because he intended to donate the majority of proceeds from the sale to charity.