Lucas: Four films, a myth and a fortune
By Jean-Loup Sense
LOS ANGELES (AFP): George Lucas has directed only four films in more than 20 years but he used special effects to revolutionize science fiction and shape the evolution of Hollywood -- all while amassing a fortune.
With The Phantom Menace, which hits North American theaters on Wednesday, the 55-year-old Lucas has also proved to be a master at marketing.
For months the U.S. press has printed numerous articles and interviews about the new episode, or prequel, of Star Wars, making it one of the most anticipated movies to come out of Hollywood.
Before Phantom Menace, Lucas directed three films: THX 138 (1971), American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977). But he has also been a screenwriter and producer, notably in Indiana Jones directed by his friend Steven Spielberg.
He founded the special effects company Industrial Light and Magic and the digital sound company, THX.
At his Skywalker Ranch near San Francisco, Lucas heads up what he calls his "little kingdom." In the Phantom Menace press book, he is listed as the president of Lucas Films, Lucas Arts Entertainment, Lucas Digital, Lucas Licensing and Lucas Learning.
It all began on May 14, 1944 in Modesto, not far from San Francisco, where his family owned an office furniture business and a walnut farm. He dreamt of becoming a race car driver but a car accident at age 18 snuffed out that ambition.
His second choice was an art career and he was especially interested in cinema. A job at Warner Brothers in 1967 allowed him to meet Francis Ford Coppola and his career was launched.
Coppola persuaded Warner to produce THX 1138, which Lucas described as a "science-fiction documentary."
Two years later, he directed American Graffiti, a nostalgic look back on American teenagers during the 1960s. The film cost 780,000 to make and earned 150 times that at the box office.
Alan Ladd, vice-president of 20th Century Fox, gave the green light for Star Wars, when the movie was still just an idea in its creator's mind.
Working eight hours a day for three years, Lucas wrote the screenplay, mixing science fiction with a fairy tale. With US$10 million, he made Star Wars, which went on to take the world by storm while creating a whole new mythology.
Lucas has been also credited with creating the "event film," in which the audience is less important than the toys that the movies inspire. The hugely anticipated movies that he and Spielberg created have transformed Hollywood.
"George and Steven changed every studio's idea of what a movie should do in terms of investment versus return," Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, told the Los Angeles Times.
"It ruined the modest expectations of the movie business. Now every studio film is designed to be a blockbuster."
Lucas has described himself as a humble artist. "When I was young, I was a carpenter. So I guess that's what fascinates me -- the way a 16th century clockmaker would build a complicated clock."
Tom Pollock, the former president of Universal and now a Walt Disney executive, said he sees parallels between Disney and Lucas.
"When you look at George, what you see is another version of Walt Disney. The unique thing about Disney was that the guy who owned the place was the same guy who made the movies," Pollock said.
"And the only other guy that fits that description in Hollywood is George Lucas."