8 Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 8 Beginnings and Endings While George was making Empire, a script was written for the movie that George and Steven Spielberg had talked about while on vacation in Hawaii: Raiders of the Lost Ark. It would star Harrison Ford. Famous for his role of Han Solo in Star Wars, Ford would play the archeologist- adventurer now called Indiana Jones. Just as Star Wars was based on the Flash Gordon serials George loved as a kid, Raiders was based on the adventure serials made at the same time. Spielberg would direct the movie, and ILM would create the special effects. As

executive producer, George oversaw the production and was sometimes called in to solve problems. One day Spielberg showed George a model of a German airplane he needed in one scene. It had two engines on each side. "The plane is going to cost a million dollars to build," one of the other producers said. "It's too much. What can we do?"

George picked up the model. He broke one engine off each side. Problem solved. Raiders was another amazing hit. Everyone loved "the man in the hat": whip-cracking, wisecracking Dr. Indiana Jones. The success of Raiders gave George the freedom to start planning his creative headquarters, which he would call Skywalker Ranch. He'd bought 1,700 acres of land in Lucas Valley, California. (The valley was named for an early California settler who was no relation to George.) George spun a history for the ranch, starting with an imaginary

railroad tycoon in the nineteenth century who built a Victorian-style house, then added stables and a library. He gave the story to the architects to inspire their plans for the buildings. It was a lot like the environments he imagined and built as a kid back in Modesto. IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY GEORGE'S MOVIES OFTEN CONTAIN VISUAL CLUES AND REFERENCES TO HIS OTHER MOVIES AND HIS FRIENDS. AMERICAN GRAFFITI JOHN MILNER'S CAR LICENSE PLATE READS THX 138. A MOVIE THEATER MARQUEE ADVERTISES

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA'S DEMENTIA 13. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK THE REGISTRATION CODE ON JOCK LINDSEY'S AIRPLANE IS OBCPO. R2-D2 AND C-3PO APPEAR AS HIEROGLYPHS IN THE WELL OF SOULS. DURING A CLIMACTIC STANDOFF, INDY STOOD AT THE SAME SPOT IN TUNISIA WHERE R2-D2 WAS CAPTURED BY JAWAS IN STAR WARS. THE AREA WAS SUBSEQUENTLY RENAMED STAR WARS CANYON. INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM A NIGHTCLUB INDY VISITS IN SHANGHAI, CHINA, IS CALLED CLUB OBI WAN. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE INDY AND HIS FATHER COME ACROSS A PICTURE OF THE LOST ARK OF THE COVENANT FROM RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL INDY SAYS, "I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS," JUST LIKE HAN SOLO IN STAR WARS. INSIDE THE TEMPLE OF AKATOR, C-3PO AND R2D2 CAN BE SEEN AS GOLDEN IDOL FACES. STAR WARS: EPISODE I—THE PHANTOM MENACE THREE REPRESENTATIVES IN THE GALACTIC SENATE RESEMBLE STEVEN SPIELBERG'S ALIEN E.T. (IN THAT MOVIE, E.T. MEETS A CHILD DRESSED AS

YODA AND TRIES TO EAT A TOY BOBA FETT.) While contractors were working hard to build their ranch, Marcia had hoped to take a vacation with George and Amanda. But George had to start work on the final movie of the Star Wars trilogy, Revenge of the Jedi. Although he had hired a new director, Richard Marquand, and Lawrence Kasdan had agreed to cowrite the screenplay, George still spent almost every day on the movie set. The movie was released on May 25, 1983, exactly six years after Star Wars. After movie posters had already been printed, George decided to change the title from Revenge of the Jedi to Return of the Jedi, because the honorable Jedi Knights would never seek revenge. (The original Revenge posters are now collector's items.) Jedi was even more successful than Empire, earning over $309 million in the United States alone. The original Star Wars trilogy was not the