- Born
- Birth nameGeorge Walton Lucas Jr.
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar driver. However, a terrible car accident just after his high school graduation ended that dream permanently. The accident changed his views on life.
He decided to attend Modesto Junior College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film school. As a film student, he made several short films including Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967) which won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. In 1967, he was awarded a scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe the making of Finian's Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas and Coppola became good friends and formed American Zoetrope in 1969. The company's first project was Lucas' full-length version of THX 1138 (1971). In 1971, Coppola went into production for The Godfather (1972), and Lucas formed his own company, Lucasfilm Ltd.
In 1973, he wrote and directed the semiautobiographical American Graffiti (1973) which won the Golden Globe and garnered five Academy Award nominations. This gave him the clout he needed for his next daring venture. From 1973 to 1974, he began writing the screenplay which became Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). He was inspired to make this movie from Flash Gordon and the Planet of the Apes films. In 1975, he established ILM. (Industrial Light & Magic) to produce the visual effects needed for the movie. Another company called Sprocket Systems was established to edit and mix Star Wars and later becomes known as Skywalker Sound. His movie was turned down by several studios until 20th Century Fox gave him a chance. Lucas agreed to forego his directing salary in exchange for 40% of the film's box-office take and all merchandising rights. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned seven Academy Awards. It redefined the term "blockbuster" and the rest is history.
Lucas made the other Star Wars films and along with Steven Spielberg created the Indiana Jones series which made box office records of their own. From 1980 to 1985, Lucas was busy with the construction of Skywalker Ranch, built to accommodate the creative, technical, and administrative needs of Lucasfilm. Lucas also revolutionized movie theaters with the THX system which was created to maintain the highest quality standards in motion picture viewing.
He went on to produce several more movies that have introduced major innovations in filmmaking technology. He is chairman of the board of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. In 1992, George Lucas was honored with the Irving G. Thalberg Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement.
He reentered the directing chair with the production of the highly-anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy beginning with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) . The films have been polarizing for fans and critics alike, but were commercially successful and have become a part of culture. The animated spin-off series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) was supervised by Lucas. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma <sujit_varma@hotmail.com> & Travis Brainerd - George Walton Lucas, Jr. (Modesto, California, May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker, creator of the film sagas of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and former president of Lucasfilm Limited, LucasArts Entertainment Company, Lucas Digital Ltd, Lucas Licensing, LucasBooks and Lucas Learning Ltd. It was considered, for two consecutive years, the fourth most powerful person in the entertainment industry, behind the owners of Time Warner, Turner and Steven Spielberg.
Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with his fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas wrote and directed THX 1138 (1971), based on his student short Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB, which was a critical success, but a financial failure. His next job as a screenwriter-director was the movie American Graffiti (1973), inspired by his adolescence in the 1960s in Modesto, California, and produced through the newly created Lucasfilm. The film was a critical and commercial success, and received five nominations to the Academy Award, including Best Picture.
The next film by Lucas, an epic space opera entitled Star Wars (1977), went through a problematic production process; however, it was a surprise blow, becoming the highest grossing film at that time, as well as winning six Academy Awards and a cultural phenomenon. After the first Star Wars movie, Lucas produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983). Together with Steven Spielberg, Lucas co-created and helped collaborate with the stories of the Indiana Jones movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Lucas also produced and wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1997, Lucas relaunched the original trilogy of Star Wars as part of a special edition, where he made several modifications to the films; The local press releases with the most changes were published in 2004 and 2011. He also re-directed the Star Wars prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2002). 2005). Later he collaborated as executive producer of the war movie Red Tails (2012) and wrote the CGI movie Strange Magic (2015).
Lucas is one of the most financially successful filmmakers in the American film industry and has been personally nominated for four Academy Awards. Some of his films are among the 100 highest-grossing films in the box office of North America, adjusted for the inflation of ticket prices.
George Lucas, along with Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Dennis Hopper and Brian De Palma, is considered one of the most important and influential filmmakers of the New Hollywood era, a period that is considered one of the most important phases of cinema from the artistic point of view. He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, making co-chair Kathleen Kennedy president. He has attended the premieres of new Star Wars films and been generally supportive of them.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Deis Morici Santiago, santideis@gmail.com
- SpousesMellody Hobson(June 22, 2013 - present) (1 child)Marcia Lucas(February 22, 1969 - 1983) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenEverest Hobson Lucas
- ParentsGeorge Walton Lucas Sr.Dorothy Ellinore Bomberger
- Letters/numbers THX-1138 (name of his first "real" movie) appears in many films: The licence plate number on Milner's deuce coupe in American Graffiti (1973) was THX 138. A battle droid who captures Jar Jar Binks and the Gungans has the number 1138 written on his back. In Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Luke Skywalker said (with reference to Chewbacca) "Prisoner transfer from cell block 1138." In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), General Rieekan says, "Send Rogues ten and eleven (11) to station three-eight (38)."
- His films usually feature a battle scene which takes place around a large shaft or pit.
- Characters he has created often have "a bad feeling about this" (as in all of the Star Wars movies and in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008))
- Stunning visual effects sequences, provided by Lucas's own special effects company, ILM (Industrial Light & Magic).
- Abstract and innovative sound design (THX 1138 (1971), Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977))
- Sold Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics Division to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs, and it later became Pixar Animation Studio.
- He based the character of Han Solo on his friend Francis Ford Coppola.
- Conceived Indiana Jones while on vacation with his friend Steven Spielberg in Hawaii. Lucas decided to produce while Spielberg would direct.
- He was inspired to create his iconic villain Darth Vader by Marvel Comics villain, and archenemy of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom.
- His script for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was turned down by every major Hollywood studio, the reason being that no one would want to see it. In a last ditch attempt, Lucas approached 20th Century Fox who decided to go ahead with the script even though they were convinced it would flop. Star Wars ended up becoming the highest grossing movie ever released at that time.
- A special effect is a tool, a means of telling a story. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.
- The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie.
- The script is what you've dreamed up-this is what it should be. The film is what you end up with.
- I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God's bidding.
- [on the making of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)] When you're directing, you have to get up at four thirty [A.M], have breakfast at five, leave the hotel at six, drive an hour to location, start shooting at eight, and finish shooting around six. Then you wrap, go to your office, and set up the next day's work. You get back to the hotel about eight or nine, hopefully get a bite to eat, then you go to your room and figure out your homework, how you're going to shoot the next day's scenes, then you go to sleep. The next morning it starts all over again.
- Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) - $400,000,000
- Body Heat (1981) - $250,000 + 5% of profits
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - $2,500,000 + net profits
- Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - $200,000 + 40% of the net profits
- American Graffiti (1973) - $50,000 + 15% of gross
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