George Lucas
Image taken from afi.com
He has been called the re-inventor of the science-fiction genre. His accomplishment in film making has become a staple in popular culture and our every-day lives. George Lucas could easily be called one of the most important persons of the 20th century. His story of a young farm boy caught up with the Jedi in a galaxy far, far away has touched the hearts of millions of viewers and still does today. But the road to get to the top of the film industry was a very difficult one for Lucas.
Lucas was born to a couple in Modesto, California. From an early age, Lucas was fascinated with race cars. During the test ride with one of his vehicles he nearly lost his life. This event turned Lucas away from his ambition of becoming a professional race-car driver. Instead, he became fascinated with the art of film. This eventually led him to becoming a student at the University of Southern California. While there, Lucas showed tremendous potential as a filmmaker. His student short film THX-1138 eventually became his first feature film.
Under the guidance of director Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas filmed his unorthodox science fiction drama. The film did very poorly at the box office and was a disaster among studio executives. Lucas instead turned his fascination with cars into his first box-office success called American Graffiti. The film was tremendously successful and garnered Lucas a Best Picture nomination. With the success of this film, Lucas began writing a script which would eventually become Star Wars. Over the course of three years, Lucas wrote tons of drafts before he settled on his final story which is the one we know today.
