As a cinematography student at the University of Southern California in the 1970s, George Lucas aspired to make documentaries or serious independent films along the lines of Fellini, Godard, Kurosawa and William Wyler, a cinematographer famous for his inability to relate to actors--a charge that would later be leveled against Lucas. His first student film established him as a wunderkind in this vein: Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138-4EB won the National Student Film Festival and brought him into contact with other avant-garde filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola. Lucas's dogged pursuit of independence resulted in two of pop culture's most iconic franchises--Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Yet the rebel who shunned the Hollywood studio system became a victim of his own filmic excesses, growing so enamored with "his way" that he emerged as his own brand of studio mogul.
In a sweeping and engaging biography that should delight Lucas fans and film history buffs alike, Brian Jay Jones (Jim Henson: The Biography) reveals exhaustive details behind the filming of the Star Wars franchise--how the project appeared destined for disaster, with never-ending prop malfunctions, budget overruns and intense script and concept battles with studio executives. He covers Lucas's early influences, his friendship with Steven Spielberg, his love/hate relationship with Coppola and the Modesto roots that shaped his filmography--to which he paid homage in American Graffiti. George Lucas: A Life is the fascinating portrait of a onetime Hollywood outsider and obstinate control freak whose identity is linked deeply to his art, and whose sheer force of will rewrote film history. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant