In 1971, George Lucas took a 5-page outline of "American Graffiti" and wandered between major Hollywood studios for less than $500. 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and The film companyall rejected it. Up him. Lucas's "American Graffiti" was inspired by FeFe 's "I Vitelloni" , and he hoped that the audience would walk out of the theater in a happy mood. The screenwriter Alan Zusman was very interested in Lucas' ideas, and Lucas ' THX 1138 once left a deep impression on him. Zusman hoped that Lucas could direct "Lady Ice" . Although the film's producer offered a generous $150,000 salary and a high percentage of box office dividends, Lucas decided to shoot his own works, including one An untitled space adventure film. Lucas originally wanted to direct the new version of "Flash Gordon" , and had discussed the shooting with the publisher of the original comic book. At the same time, Lucas was still conceiving "Apocalypse Now" and "The Killer Behind the Scenes . "
In May 1971, "THX 1138" was selected to participate in the Cannes Film Festival, where Lucas met, the president of United American Corporation, who was filmed by Lucas in "American Graffiti" and science fiction films. The idea was so fascinated, he immediately handed him $10,000 to complete the script. Lucas found screenwriters Gloria Katz and Willard Heyk . The two were happy to work with Lucas, but were unable to get out because they played the role of "The Demon Savior". Lucas later found a colleague Richard Walter of the University of Southern California School of Art to write the script, but the self-righteous Walter completely violated Lucas’s intentions and completed a teenager on the East Coast in the late 1950s. story. Lucas stuck to his original idea. He gave Walter $10,000 to correct his mistakes, but unexpectedly the revised script made him even more frustrated.
Walt obviously couldn't write the script Lucas wanted, and when Walter's commission was settled, Lucas found that his funds had been exhausted, so he could only write the script himself and submit it to Peck as soon as possible. He completed the first draft of the script in only three weeks, and matched each scene with a unique background music. "American Graffiti" thus became the first film to select a large number of rock music as the soundtrack.
Lucas selected a total of 75 songs for the film (which was finally reduced to 45). To use these songs must pay a high cost. As a result, United American Corporation rejected the script of the film and no longer supports the science fiction film that Lucas is brewing ( "Star Wars" in the future ). Because of the poor response of "THX 1138", Lucas's reputation also plummeted. American International The film company stated that unless Lucas is willing to add violent scenes and advertising content, they will consider filming. The Colombian The film company thought that the use of the songs in the film required a fee of 500,000 US dollars (the actual cost was only 80,000 US dollars), so it refused to shoot.
When Universal Pictures decided to take over, the fourth draft of the "American Graffiti" script had been completed. After seeing Francis Ford Coppola , who was a blockbuster producer with "The Godfather" , Universal Pictures immediately began to prepare for the filming, but the shooting budget was only $600,000. At the same time, Lucas is still trying his best to perfect the script, but he has been unable to grasp the plot between Steve and Laurie, so he turned to the screenwriters Katz and Heyk for help. The three had a serious disagreement about the end of the film. The two screenwriters believed that the future fate of the girls in the film should be explained, but Lucas thought it was unnecessary.
