An interview with George Lucas from an alternate timeline

In another reality, Warner Bros. released THX 1138 in March 1971, a subversive science fiction film directed by a 27-year-old film student. The movie was a financial flop that earned mixed reviews and vanished from public consciousness, and its director, George Lucas, was effectively banished from Hollywood after taking the film reel and refusing studio changes.

He hadn’t given an interview since 1971—until he agreed to talk on one condition. Lucas asked me to drive five hours from Los Angeles to his office in Modesto, where he runs the back of L.M. Morris Stationery Store. The walls are covered with old movie posters and his desk is cluttered with handmade toys, small spaceships and furry aliens.

He pointed to a toy man in white holding a blue sword and said, "That's Luke Starkiller...He's the chosen one!" Then he began to ramble about distant galaxies, a "jeh-die," and Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. "I had to create a futuristic world without special effects and without sets," he told me.

george lucas, thx 1138, warner bros, modesto, l.m. morris, luke starkiller, joseph campbell, hero's journey, science fiction, hollywood