The reason that Star Wars was made was because George Lucas couldn't get the rights to Flash Gordon. The 1980 movie Flash Gordon was made because Dino De Laurentiis, who held the rights to the story, saw what Star Wars did and decided the time was right to make a Flash Gordon film. He didn't know what he was in for.
The production went through four directors before the project even began. Kurt Russell turned down the role of Flash, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was rejected because of his accent. Sam Jones got the role due to his looks, but he eventually walked off the set and the role was completed with a voice actor and a stand-in. The production design was entrusted to Danilo Donati, who was a genius but spoke no English. His sets were confusing and became so banged up that they were held together with duct tape. And De Laurentiis had never heard of Queen, but luckily entrusted them to do whatever they wanted to with the music.
Flash Gordon barely made back its production budget in the US, but did well enough abroad. Its neon-arty look and music clashed with the over-serious acting, but the movie has become a cult favorite in the decades that followed. Read how Flash Gordon was made at Utterly Interesting.
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