Lucasfilm Wants Female Star Wars Director
Princess Leia may have been in charge of the Rebellion, but when will we see a female director take charge of a ‘Star Wars’ movie?
During an interview with Fortune, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy promised that they do want a female ‘Star Wars’ director… but it’s all about finding the right one.
“It is going to happen,” she said. “We are going to hire a woman who’s going to direct a Star Wars movie. I have no doubt. On the other hand, I want to make sure we put someone in that position who’s set up for success.”
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Of course, there are plenty of strong females within the ‘Star Wars’ universe… but the big argument here is that female directors simply don’t get the same opportunities to direct million-dollar franchises in the first place.
J.J Abrams, Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow all have experience directing films which have cost more than $30 million… which most female filmmakers don’t get the opportunity to make.
“It’s not just a token job to look out and try to find a woman that we could put into a position of directing Star Wars,” she added. “If we do want to bring a woman in to direct a Star Wars movie, we want to make sure that it’s somebody who’s passionate and really, really wants to do a Star Wars movie. We don’t want to talk somebody into it.”
And that seems to be another problem…
Recently, ‘Star Wars IX’ director Colin Trevorrow stirred up a bit of controversy when he spoke out about gender imbalance in Hollywood… and suggested that female directors just don’t have the same desire to make big, studio-controlled movies.
“Many of the top female directors in our industry are not interested in doing a piece of studio business for its own sake,” he said. “These filmmakers have clear voices and stories to tell that don’t necessarily involve superheroes or spaceships or dinosaurs.”
And Kathleen Kennedy seems to agree.
“It is interesting because I have a huge number of men who call me constantly and tell me how much of a Star Wars fan they are and how much they want to get involved in anything to do with Star Wars,” she explained. “I don’t have a lot of women who call and have those conversations with me.”
Either way, it’s promising that the ‘Star Wars’ franchise is on the lookout for a suitable female director… and we might soon see a woman at the helm of the galaxy far, far away.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ heads to cinemas on 17 December 2015.
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Picture Credit: Lucasfilm
