In his book George Lucas: A Life author Brian Jay Jones tells the story about how the famed filmmaker rose from obscurity in the small California town of Modesto to become the world-famous creator of the Stars Wars series. Lucas, an indifferent high school student, became serious about pursuing a career in film after surviving a devastating car crash.

His college student films attracted some attention, but initially only a few people recognized that he had the potential to become a great filmmaker. However, after fighting budget constraints and artistic interference his film American Graffiti was not only a runaway hit but made millions of dollars for the studio executives who to the very last thought the movie was going to be a failure.

Even then he still had a hard time throughout the …