10 Famous Directors Who Completely Changed Style For One Movie

Space: It's the final frontier of George Lucas' career, and the only thing most people will remember him for 50 years from now.

Granted, Lucas offers up a relatively small sample size for such a famous director, but considering that his only other work in the director's chair is THX 1138 and four Star Wars films, American Graffiti certainly qualifies as a significant outlier.

This film hints at an alternate reality where Lucas never pursued science-fiction, and instead focused his talents on coming-of-age dramedies. It's the only thing in his filmography that obviously culls from his own real life experiences, centering on the rock and roll culture of the baby boomer generation.

The production values are slight, with an almost documentary aesthetic that belies the outrageous special effects obsession he gained later in his career. But despite its modest style, American Graffiti became a huge box office smash and afforded Lucas the money and clout needed to make his dream project, a space opera about a farmhand who goes on to become a Jedi Master.