Kathleen Kennedy will forever be remembered in infamy – whether she deserves to or not. As one of the most successful producers in the business (E.T., Twister, War of the Worlds, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, Gremlins, The Goonies, Back to the Future), Kennedy’s career took a turn when she joined George Lucas as co-head of Lucasfilm in 2012. After that, Kennedy faced intense scrutiny and more than her fair share of blowback, as Star Wars transitioned into a new era under Disney’s ownership.
The turbulence really came to a head around the late 2010s when projects like Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) hit theaters. Star Wars fans had more divisive reactions to those projects than anything the franchise has ever released; behind the scenes, there were just as many issues: Last Jedi, Solo, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story all involved public clashes between the directors and Kennedy, which only aggravated fans’ disdain for her.
In a new featured interview, Kathleen Kennedy reflects on her time at Lucasfilm (she stepped down back in January of this year), and the legacy she leaves behind in the minds of the Star Wars fandom. As she explained to THR, Kennedy sees Star Wars fans as a big camp, where total satisfaction was never an option.
“Well, I think that that’s the challenge that all franchises [face], certainly something that’s been around now for 50 years. You’ve got people where this means a lot to them,” she said. “But at the same time, the challenge is to try to create something new, something original. So finding that balance is really the toughest thing.”
She acknowledged that Star Wars took some wrong turns during her tenure (for example, the flood of Star Wars Disney+ shows that diluted the franchise). “I mean, I don’t think you can do anything in terms of the movie business where every single thing is going to be a perfect hit,” Kennedy said. “I think you learn things, I always like learning things… But I’m always proud of the work that’s been done.”
When asked about the instances where she seemed to have major fallouts with directors like Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Godzilla) or Chris Miller and Phil Lord (Solo, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Kennedy seemed to downplay the issue, claiming there were higher layers of authority at the studio that made those calls: “Well, that really only happened once, thank god… I wasn’t required to do that. There are many complicated situations that develop that certainly reach a point where you have to make a difficult decision like that.”
She also leaned on her filmography as proof positive that she can work well with others: “Certainly my track record shows that I’ve worked with a lot of different directors, I’ve made many kinds of movies, and I’ve never been in a situation like that.”
Take Kennedy’s words with a large grain of salt. In the years since Solo or Rogue One, we’ve heard numerous people involved with those films echo the story of creative tensions with Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm executives. Solo director Ron Howard once spoke about taking over that film, saying, “I looked at some edited footage, and I saw what was bothering them. There was a studio that liked the script the way it was and wanted a Star Wars movie, but there was a disconnect early on tonally, and they weren’t convinced that what Phil and Chris were doing was working effectively.” In that anecdote, “the studio” would likely have Kathleen Kennedy as its representative.
But semantics aside, how do you feel about Kathleen Kennedy’s time at Star Wars, and her views on the fans and the films? Let us know in the comments!
