totalfilm:

The Story Behind Star Wars

Star Wars starts with George Lucas, the boy from Modesto (the nearest thing they have to Tatooine in California) who grew up to be the bearded billionaire king of blockbusters.

Born in May 1944 to a stationary store-owning father, George grew up watching Buck Rogers serials and racing cars. He studied anthropology at college (“How society works, how people put themselves together and make things work, has always been a big interest. [It’s] where mythology comes from, where religion comes from”) before heading off to USC to enrol in the university’s new film course…