In late 2016, in anticipation of the debut of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy spoke with Variety about the company’s efforts to diversify its director ranks in the same way the franchise had cast women as the leads on screen.
“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do ‘Star Wars,’ they’re set up for success,” Kennedy said. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”
Kennedy wasn’t exactly wrong: At the time, there was a tiny handful of women — Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Kathryn Bigelow, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Mimi Leder — who had been hired to direct massive tentpole movies with blockbuster budgets. But her reasoning made little sense given the litany of male directors who’ve been handed the keys to the Hollywood kingdom after making a few — or just one,...
“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do ‘Star Wars,’ they’re set up for success,” Kennedy said. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”
Kennedy wasn’t exactly wrong: At the time, there was a tiny handful of women — Patty Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Kathryn Bigelow, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Mimi Leder — who had been hired to direct massive tentpole movies with blockbuster budgets. But her reasoning made little sense given the litany of male directors who’ve been handed the keys to the Hollywood kingdom after making a few — or just one,...
- 12/10/2019
- by Adam B. Vary
- Variety Film + TV
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