George Lucas changed the world when he created the space opera Star Wars. The filmmaker told a story of a rebellion against a galactic empire that was set in a galaxy far away and it was the highest-grossing film of all time back when it was released in 1977.
Lucas’ sci-fi franchise has been extremely influential since then and has inspired generations of filmmakers. While his directorial debut THX 1138 was a box-office bomb, the film was reportedly screened for students at his alma mater USC School of Cinematic Arts, which was attended by a young Robert Zemeckis, who would go on to make Back to the Future.
George Lucas’ Directorial Debut Was Screened At USC For A Young Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis is known for directing films such as Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and Who Frame Roger Rabbit. The filmmaker is known for his penchant for special and visual effects and has broken much ground in the realm through his films such as The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Before Zemeckis, however, it was George Lucas who was known for his groundbreaking special effects in the sci-fi film Star Wars. Released in 1977, the film became a global phenomenon and spawned a multi-billion dollar franchise that still had content coming out. Both Lucas and Zemeckis were reportedly from the same alma mater: USC School of Cinematic Arts.
In fact, when Zemeckis was still at USC, the class was reportedly shown a screening of Lucas’ directorial debut THX 1138 as an example of the kind of film that finds success. The Back to the Future director mentioned in an interview with DGA,
I remember coming into my very first production class on the first day and no teacher was at the front of the room. Everybody just assembled there, the lights went down, and they projected [George] Lucas’ THX 1138. Then the lights came up and the teacher came out and said, ‘This is one of our films; this is by a student. So this is what you guys have to do now: Make movies like this.’ They were wild times.
Lucas’ film was reportedly inspired by his student short film while he was at USC. The film was produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Productions.
Robert Zemeckis Says Back To The Future Only Has 30 VFX Shots
While Star Wars paved the way for high-concept special effects-driven films, directors such as Robert Zemeckis pioneered new ideas and processes that pushed the boundaries of where VFX would be used. He has been the director behind films such as Forrest Gump, Who Frames Roger Rabbit and helmed the latest Tom Hanks-starrer Here.
However, the filmmaker’s most noted film, Back to The Future reportedly did not use a lot of VFX, despite being a sci-fi film that explored time travel. While present-day films may use CGI and VFX for almost all elements, one of the most loved time-travel films reportedly only had 30 VFX shots. Zemeckis said to DGA,
Actually–and I’m telling you the absolute truth–there are 30 effects shots in Back to the Future, and most of them are lightning. But it’s a science fiction story, so everyone thinks it’s filled with special effects. There are only a few: the flying DeLorean at the end, some fire trail stuff, maybe ten shots of time travel effects. The rest is all lightning in the sky. ILM did the effects, but those were the days when effects were pretty rudimentary.
The filmmaker also mentioned that the only sequence that had extensive effects was the one with the time-travel portal, which had to be storyboarded.
Back to the Future is available to stream on Netflix.
