Kathleen Kennedy

Kathleen Kennedy

Kathleen KennedyCBE is the President ofLucasfilm and a film producer since the 1980s. She succeeded Lucasfilm's founder,George Lucas, in2012, having been a President of theProducers Guild of America. Kennedy served as executive producer for all three films of theStar Warssequel trilogy as well as otherStar Wars standalone films and television series. Kennedy,Frank Marshall, andSteven Spielberg also co-foundedAmblin Entertainment, a film production company behind many of the over seventy films that were produced or executive produced by Kennedy. The producer is a recipient of numerous film production awards and has been nominated eight times for anAcademy Award, and she also sits on numerous boards, including chairing theAmerican Film Institute's board of trustees.^[2]

Biography

When Kathleen Kennedy became President ofLucasfilm^[4] in2012, she aimed to rejuvenateStar Wars with a new era of films after fans felt underwhelmed from theprequel trilogy.^[5] Her position has her overseeing Lucasfilm,Industrial Light & Magic, andSkywalker Sound. Kennedy was the producer ofStar Wars: Episode VIIThe Force Awakens, the first film in the newsequel trilogy. She also producedRogue One: A Star Wars Story,Star Wars: Episode VIIIThe Last Jedi,Solo: A Star Wars Story, andStar Wars: Episode IXThe Rise of Skywalker.^[4]

By2018,Lucasfilm had begun developing a television series set beforeRogue One which starredCassian Andor andK-2SO.^[6] Kennedy sent^[7] the script^[6] for one of the pilots to directorTony Gilroy and asked for his opinion.^[7] Gilroy then wrote a forensic manifesto^[6] for Kennedy^[7] explaining why the idea would not work and what Lucasfilm should do instead.^[6]

In early2019, months before the release ofThe Rise of Skywalker, Kennedy announced that Lucasfilm would take a hiatus to regroup and rethink. Lucasfilm recognized that they needed to work together to create the architecture of the next chapter of the company. They learned thatStar Wars needs filmmakers with a professional devotion.Disney wanted something as big as the films for the release ofDisney+, so Kennedy first turned to filmmakerJon Favreau who said he had an idea. After their meeting at Kennedy's office, Favreau started writing without a contract. His idea was about aMandalorian, but Kennedy realizedDave Filoni'sStar Wars: The Clone Wars series already focused on Mandalorians. She arranged a meeting between Favreau and Filoni inLos Angeles where they both combined their ideas for a Mandalorian show.^[5] Kennedy was an executive producer forThe Mandalorian.^[4]

In October, 2019, Kennedy was made an honoraryCommander of the Order of the British Empire byQueenElizabeth II for her contributions to theUnited Kingdom's film industry.^[1] Kennedy worked as an executive producer forThe Book of Boba Fett and theObi-Wan Kenobi television series.^[4] InJanuary,2020, she announced that an overhaul for the latter series was in order. She temporarily shut down production and hired writerJoby Harold to take over fromHossein Amini.^[8]Moses Ingram, the actor who played theThird Sister, receivedher lightsaber as a gift from Kennedy.^[9] Kennedy and the crew often talked about a possible extension because "everybody came together and had such an incredible time." She said they'd have to question why before making any extensions to the show.^[8]

Kennedy, Gilroy,Sanne Wohlenberg,Diego Luna, andMichelle Rejwan served as executive producers for theAndor television series. Kennedy and the crew felt fortunate to have Luna reprise his role as Cassian Andor in the show. They all felt it was important to show how Andor's background defined his character.^[4] Kennedy and Gilroy gave composerNicholas Britell "total freedom" to imagine a unique soundscape for the series.^[10] When Gilroy first heard Britell play his theme for the series, he called Kennedy and told her they had a theme. Kennedy was impressed by how production designerLuke Hull was able to make theFerrix set look real and grounded as well as feel likeStar Wars.^[4] She was excited for the audience to discover howStar Wars can be different genres. InSeptember,2022, Kennedy attended theAndor launch event inHollywood,California.^[11]

Works

Filmography

Bibliography

Sources

Notes and references

External links

• Kathleen Kennedy onLucasfilm'sofficial website(backup link)
• Kathleen Kennedy onWikipedia
• Kathleen Kennedy at theInternet Movie Database