George Lucas: Biography

Lucas found himself, at 26, prepping his THX for a theatrical release. 

It was to be a haven for artists and experimental filmmakers; its financing was secured on the strength of seven script ideas that smooth-talking Coppola pitched to Warner Bros. Thus, Lucas found himself, at 26, prepping his THX for a theatrical release. Lucas’ THX was the first of the seven to go before the cameras.

THX 1138 was a dour science fiction effort in the spirit of Brave New World and 1984, needless to say Warner Bros. was outraged. THX 1138 did not follow the standard narrative style, instead moving the story along with mages 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 became blockbusters. Warner Bros. resented this, cutting scenes and dropping the film carelessly into the market with no buildup, setting it up for failure at the box office.

In order to survive, Coppola and Lucas split apart

Warner Bros. tactic worked, thought it received some good reviews THX1138 was considered a box-office failure. At the same time, Coppola’s undercapitalized American Zeotrope began to fall apart. Financing for the studio was pulled, leaving Lucas embittered and Coppola personally responsible for a large debt of nearly $300,000 to Warner Bros. debt of nearly $300,000 to Warner Bros. In order to survive, Coppola and Lucas split apart, but only for a short time. Coppola accepted a directing job at Paramount, which involved adapting and updating and unpublished gangster melodrama called The Godfather, to the screen. During adapting and updating and unpublished gangster melodrama called The Godfather, to the screen. During this period, Lucas refused to give up on his dream of making movies. Lucas spent two years developing his next project very carefully, with an emphasis on quality and entertainment.

His idea was to make a film about one night in the lives of several archetypal American youths. He called on help from USC classmate Willard Huyck and his wife Gloria Katz, to help him write a good script. The Huycks revised Lucas’ original draft, bringing out the humor and the pathos in the initial design; then Lucas fine-tuned  the revisions. This process continued for several months, as Lucas patiently created a foundation for a film that could not possibly fail to entertain, named American Graffiti. It was during this process that upon publication of The Godfather, Coppola’s small directing job took a turn for the better. The book became a runaway bestseller, even as the movie adaptation, thanks to Coppola, was termed a masterpiece.