New details from an upcoming book reveal that in 1971, a cash-strapped George Lucas nearly sold the rights to “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti” for only $10,000 to cover a hotel bill, and he originally intended to cast Jodie Foster as Princess Leia. This anecdote, part of Paul Fischer’s “The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema” (out February 10, 2026), underscores the precarious beginnings of three directors who would redefine cinema.
The incident occurred after Lucas screened his film “THX 1138” at the Cannes Film Festival and found himself unable to pay his hotel expenses. Desperate for funds, he met with United Artists executive David Picker and pitched several projects, including a vague space opera that would become “Star Wars.” Picker agreed to a deal for $10,000 total for both “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti,” but United Artists later dropped the projects after deeming the “Graffiti” script unsatisfactory. Years later, Picker confessed he had forgotten the transaction due to the small sum involved.
Lucas’s vision for Princess Leia initially centered on a younger character, leading him to pursue 13-year-old Jodie Foster, who had just completed “Taxi Driver.” However, Foster was already committed to Disney’s “Freaky Friday,” so Lucas also considered 14-year-old Terri Nunn before ultimately raising Leia’s age and casting 19-year-old Carrie Fisher. This casting shift was part of a broader pattern where Lucas’s original choices often evolved, as seen with Harrison Ford’s recruitment for Han Solo after a chance encounter in his carpenter guise.
The book paints a vivid picture of the early careers of Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola, filled with missteps and serendipity. For instance, Spielberg once pitched a sex comedy retelling of “Snow White” with seven men running a Chinese food factory, which Universal swiftly rejected. The casting of “Jaws” was similarly chaotic, with leads like Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss secured just days before filming began, and local Martha’s Vineyard residents ridiculing the crew’s filming techniques.
Lucas faced his own hurdles in selling “Star Wars.” He showed the script to friend and director William Friedkin, who bluntly dismissed it. Eventually, 20th Century Fox’s Alan Ladd Jr. greenlit the film despite admitting he didn’t understand it, trusting Lucas’s talent. The production was fraught with issues: special effects failed to meet expectations, the cast mocked Lucas’s direction, and he grew deeply depressed after wrapping in 1976.
Despite these challenges, Spielberg saw potential in “Star Wars” stills and offered to trade profit points with Lucas, who agreed thinking his film would flop. This deal later proved lucrative as “Star Wars” became a phenomenon. The directors collaborated again on “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” though Paramount initially resisted Spielberg due to his prior flop, “1941.”
By the end of the 1970s, Lucas and Spielberg had produced four of the top 20 highest-grossing films ever, with “Star Wars” leading the list. Lucas’s career took a different path, with no directorial work for over two decades until the “Star Wars” prequels, and he ultimately sold Lucasfilm to Disney for over $4 billion in 2012. The near-loss of “Star Wars” rights for $10,000 stands as a stark reminder of how close cinema history came to being dramatically altered.
