Not long ago, in this very galaxy, Joe Nussbaum was a lot like the dozens of other recent graduates of the film program at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. He’d parlayed a college internship into an executive assistant position at Beacon Pictures, Santa Monica. Later, he began producing TV promos for features such as The Rescuers, out of 3-OH!-5 Creative Advertising, North Hollywood … but, well, big deal.
Then came George Lucas in Love, a short film Nussbaum co-wrote and directed, which parodied Shakespeare in Love while exploring the Star Wars director’s days as a USC student circa 1967. If the idea were to cause a stir in Hollywood, mission accomplished.
The eight-minute film, which began making the rounds among agents and studio heads in the spring of ’99, follows Lucas as he struggles with writer’s block. Throughout it we meet characters that obviously inspired such Star Wars cast members as Yoda, Darth Vader and C-3PO. Meanwhile, young Lucas finds his muse in a girl with hair like Princess Leia’s.
In addition to racking up numerous awards on the festival circuitaincluding best short at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen, Colo., and, most recently, the Canal Plus short film award at the Deauville Festival of American Cinema, Deauville, FranceaGeorge Lucas in Love generated press in the trades and the mainstream media, and, for Nussbaum, meetings around Hollywood. Even George Lucas dropped the director a note to say he liked the film.
"The way it came together is what I always think about," says Nussbaum. "All you can do is try to get the pieces right. But I was so lucky to have such talented people involved. Creatively, no one dropped any balls."
