Don't write checks your mouth can't cash.
There’s nothing wrong with getting the best person for the job regardless of their skin or gender. However, if you repeatedly state that employing more people of color and more women are goals in producing your films, moviegoers and journalists will hold you to that. Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm, had made promises in order to win the early public relations battles during the press tours of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“There’s nothing we’d like more than to find a female director for Star Wars,” said Kennedy in 2015.
A year later, during promotion for Rogue One, Kennedy gave a similar answer, “We have every intention of giving someone an opportunity.”
Five films have been released by Lucasfilm since Disney purchased the company back in 2012. The credited writers and directors of these five films are J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, Rian Johnson, Ron Howard, Jonathan Kasdan, Chris Terrio, Derek Connolly, and Colin Trevorrow. Also, Kathleen Kennedy hired and fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as well as Josh Trank. All of these writers/directors are white males and there is nothing inherently wrong with that as long as Kathleen Kennedy believes that she got the best people for the job with the best possible vision for their prospective films.
“There’s nothing we’d like more than to find a female director for Star Wars,” said Kennedy in 2015.
A year later, during promotion for Rogue One, Kennedy gave a similar answer, “We have every intention of giving someone an opportunity.”
Five films have been released by Lucasfilm since Disney purchased the company back in 2012. The credited writers and directors of these five films are J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, Rian Johnson, Ron Howard, Jonathan Kasdan, Chris Terrio, Derek Connolly, and Colin Trevorrow. Also, Kathleen Kennedy hired and fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as well as Josh Trank. All of these writers/directors are white males and there is nothing inherently wrong with that as long as Kathleen Kennedy believes that she got the best people for the job with the best possible vision for their prospective films.
Add this to the hiring of Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to develop a new Star Wars trilogy, and you wonder why Kathleen Kennedy made that original promise in 2015. It’s clear that Kathleen Kennedy wants to virtue signal in order to get good press. Making things even worse for Kennedy was the promise of a same-sex relationship in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. What followed was (maybe) a 3-second “scene” of a very minor character kissing her lover which was then removed from some international releases due to some countries’ condemnation of same-sex relationships. Kennedy wants to have her cake and eat it too.
Lately, Lucasfilm has gotten progressively worse press attention due to these unfulfilled promises. Has it had a material impact on the financial performance of the Star Wars films? Probably not, but it has impacted the Kennedy’s profile as the head of Lucasfilm. Her contract expires in 2021 and will probably not be renewed. This is mostly due to her production troubles when hiring and firing directors due to “creative differences”. Three of the five films released by Lucasfilm since the Disney purchase have gone through serious overhauls during production. The alleged Boba Fett film from Josh Trank was cancelled and Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, announced a hiatus for Star Wars films. Simply put, Kathleen Kennedy is not doing a good job with the most profitable property in film history.
Kennedy should’ve just taken a page out of Kevin Feige’s book and just said that she wants the best storytellers. Feige frequently notes storytelling ability because a lot of low-budget/independent filmmakers helm big-budget Marvel projects.
Kathleen Kennedy is a Hollywood trailblazer and has produced legendary films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, but unfortunately, her tenure at Lucasfilm has been bumpy at best.