R Douglas Norby

The short, wiry beard is beginning to be flecked with gray. But George Lucas, in a sweater and jeans, continues to look very much like the same reserved and intense young man he was as a USC student 20 years ago, when he was already marked as a film maker to keep an eye on. Lucas, who is now 44, had caught the industry's attention with a dazzlingly imaginative student film called "THX-1138-XEB," about one man's escape from a city in a grim totalitarian future.

If there's a flurry over George Lucas' "Willow" in Hollywood, he's also generating a stiff breeze in quiet Marin County with his plan to expand his Skywalker Ranch. At issue: Whether Lucas should be able to bring his Industrial Light & Magic to the Lucas Valley. And the issue has brought ferocious press coverage--pro and con. For example, a cartoon in the Coastal Post showed a massive spaceship--named "Lord Lucas"--blasting away at a much smaller ship named "Countywide Plan."

If there's a flurry over George Lucas' "Willow" in Hollywood, he's also generating a stiff breeze in quiet Marin County with his plan to expand his Skywalker Ranch. At issue: Whether Lucas should be able to bring his Industrial Light & Magic to the Lucas Valley. And the issue has brought ferocious press coverage--pro and con. For example, a cartoon in the Coastal Post showed a massive spaceship--named "Lord Lucas"--blasting away at a much smaller ship named "Countywide Plan."

The short, wiry beard is beginning to be flecked with gray. But George Lucas, in a sweater and jeans, continues to look very much like the same reserved and intense young man he was as a USC student 20 years ago, when he was already marked as a film maker to keep an eye on. Lucas, who is now 44, had caught the industry's attention with a dazzlingly imaginative student film called "THX-1138-XEB," about one man's escape from a city in a grim totalitarian future.

Lucasfilm Ltd., the entertainment/high-technology company founded by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, has drawn a new president and chief operating officer from the financial corridors of Silicon Valley. R. Douglas Norby will arrive Feb. 1 at the San Rafael, Calif.-based film company to fill a spot that has been vacant for more than a year, said Sidney Ganis, senior vice president for marketing and publicity at Lucasfilm.