50 Years Ago: The First Day of Filming ‘Star Wars’ Doesn’t Go Very Well

George Lucas could be forgiven if he felt triumphant on March 22, 1976. That was the day cameras started rolling on Star Wars, his epic movie project that had already been underway for two years. Despite the success of his previous film, the coming-of-age story American Graffiti, the director struggled to secure studio support for his new movie, and he even considered quitting the business before studio Fox decided to back him. “I really wanted to hold on to my own integrity,” he told Rolling Stone later. “So, I was going to try to write a very interesting project. Right...