7 George Lucas Strikes Back

Chapter 7 George Lucas Strikes Back The very next day, George and Marcia went to Hawaii for their first vacation since 1969. They were joined by friends, including Steven Spielberg. George and Steven built a sand castle and talked about George's new idea for a film about an archeologist who did "all kinds of neat stuff." George named him Indiana Smith, after his dog Indiana. The two men vowed to make

the movie together. Although Star Wars had consumed George's life for over a year, the rest of the world had just discovered it. And they couldn't get enough. Star Wars won five Academy Awards, including one for its editor, Marcia. It also won awards for art direction, costume design, musical score, and special effects. George's father was stunned. Suddenly the deal George made with the studio

to retain the sequel rights and most of the merchandising rights seemed like genius.

George could have let the studio pay for the sequel they now wanted so badly. But studio money meant studio control. He decided to fund The Empire Strikes Back himself. Even with all his money, this was a huge risk. "It has to be the biggest-grossing sequel of all time for me to break even," he said, but he did it anyway. When executives at Twentieth Century Fox demanded to know who would write, star, and direct Empire, George answered, "None of your business." If the movie succeeded, George hoped to build the kind of creative retreat for filmmakers that he and Coppola had dreamed about for American Zoetrope.

George decided not to direct Empire himself. That job went to Irwin Kershner. George wrote a rough draft of the screenplay, then passed it on to Lawrence Kasdan to polish it. Instead of the hot deserts of Tunisia, the crew shot in snowy Finse, Norway. There were new gadgets and creatures to struggle with. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, joked that all his scenes

were with robots and puppets. Even though he wasn't directing the movie, George was working long hours. He and Marcia hoped to start a family soon, but right now, he didn't have much time to spend at home. Sometimes it seemed as if Marcia was always waiting for George.