Via Moviefone.com:
George Lucas didn’t just create the “Star Wars” universe. The filmmaker, who turns 71 on May 14, pretty much created the cinematic universe we live in now, the ones whose cornerstones include the THX sound system at your multiplex, the Pixar movies that have dominated animation for the past 20 years, and the Industrial Light & Magic special-effects house, whose aesthetic has ruled the Hollywood blockbuster for nearly four decades. He’s the pioneer of the effects-driven action spectacle and the conversion from celluloid to digital, the two trends that, for better and worse, have defined Hollywood’s output for nearly 20 years.
As ubiquitous as Lucas and his creations loom in our cinematic dreamscapes, there’s still a lot that most people don’t know about him, from how he got his start to the famous folks who mentored him or were mentored by him, from the size of his fortune to what he plans to do now that he’s all but out of the “Star Wars” business.
Here are 25 pieces of little-known Lucas lore, Enjoy, and May the 14th be with you.
1. George Lucas’s full name is George Walton Lucas Jr.
2. Like Luke Skywalker, Lucas was a speed demon as a youth. In fact, he dreamed of being a race car driver until, as a teen, he was involved in a near-fatal crash. Nonetheless, his interest in racing persisted, but only as a subject for films, from some of his student shorts to the drag race at the climax of “American Graffiti” to the pod race in “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.”
3. Lucas transferred from Modesto Junior College in his California hometown to the University of Southern California’s film school. His roommate there was future “Grease” director Randal Kleiser. His classmates included future “Apocalypse Now” and “Red Dawn” screenwriter John Milius and future editor and sound designer Walter Murch, who would one day be best known for his work on “Apocalypse Now,” and who also would co-wrote Lucas’s first studio feature, dystopian sci-fi drama “THX 1138,” as well as creating its innovative soundscape.
4. After graduation, Lucas, again like Luke Skywalker, sought to become a pilot. He tried to join the Air Force, but he was turned down because of all his speeding tickets. The Army drafted him to fight in Vietnam, but then it rejected him because he was found to be diabetic. So he re-enrolled at USC as a graduate student.
Click below to read the full article.
