During a press conference today at Lucasfilm’s San Francisco campus, the cast and crew of Rogue One answered questions about the upcoming film. During the Q&A, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy was asked about her earlier remarks about female directors — and pushed back on the idea that the company was excluding female directors.
“We have every intention of giving someone an opportunity,” Kennedy said, arguing that her original remarks were taken out of context. The company’s requirements, she said, are only that a filmmaker show an interest in the Star Wars property, and that they have some degree of experience directing bigger-budgeted movies. When asked at the press conference, she noted that while she had spoken to a number of female directors working in the industry, none have been brought onboard yet.
Thus far, Lucasfilm’s directing roster has reflected that, with the company hiring a number of filmmakers with mid-to-big budget credits, such as Gareth Edwards (Godzilla), Rian Johnson (Looper), Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie), and Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World). The lone exception to that was filmmaker Joshua Trank, who had been signed to direct a Star Wars spinoff film while still working on his first large-scale feature Fantastic Four. Trank and Lucasfilm parted ways in 2015, however, with reports alleging at the time that Trank’s struggles during the Fantastic Four shoot played a role in the decision.
Kennedy’s original comments had caused controversy because they had been widely read to mean that the producer thought female filmmakers with the necessary experience didn’t exist, a sentiment that’s sorely out of step when directors like Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) are Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones) are regularly lauded for their filmmaking chops. But signing onto a major franchise such as Star Wars or Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe are enormous commitments that not every director is willing to sign on to, something that Selma’s Ava Duvernay cited as one of the reasons she decided to pass on Marvel’s Black Panther last year.
But while Lucasfilm may be operating with specific criteria on its part, the same cannot be said for other studio and production companies, who have been regularly snapping up male independent filmmakers and giving them an opportunity to direct larger films, even while female directors argue the same opportunities aren’t being offered to them. Trevorrow, for example, had nothing but the indie Safety Not Guaranteed to his name before he was handed the keys to the Jurassic Park franchise.
Given the scope and scale of films like Rogue One and The Force Awakens, it’s easy to understand why Lucasfilm is being cautious. Blockbusters are complicated beasts, and it’s obvious why a company would want to make sure a director can manage that kind of undertaking before putting them behind the camera.
But it also signals that Lucasfilm is practically waiting on other studios to help shape the careers of female directors, or directors of color, before handing over the keys to the Star Wars toy box. For example, Kennedy said that Gareth Edwards proved he could handle Rogue One with his work on the 2014 Godzilla reboot.
Legendary Pictures gave Edwards the opportunity to direct that film — which was reportedly budgeted at $160 million — after directing a movie called Monsters that cost just $500,000.
Bryan Bishop contributed to this report.
Comments
Just hire good ones. If they are female, male, non binary, vegan, gay, straight or identify as a lampost no one will care if the film they direct is good.
By Narom on 12.04.16 4:49pm
Which is what they’re doing, these articles are just trying to make an issue up.
By Frenz on 12.04.16 5:43pm
umm.. I beg them to hire female for their next movie right away.
Honestly just like you I don’t mind or care and I am very ok if the whole movie industrial stop hiring male and only hire female director or AI or potato just so we can living in peace.
ps. I think many of us getting sick and tired of this stuff. – _-’
By Mr.Mulderfox on 12.05.16 3:04am
I have no problem with female hires, but don’t hire a woman for the sake of being a woman. Hire the best that you believe would prove above and beyond what we expect of the star wars franchise.
By VIIIXXIX on 12.04.16 4:55pm
Yes exactly. You start forcing something like that and that’s when it becomes complete crap.
By Hifi74 on 12.04.16 10:02pm
Great!
By DrunkHeart on 12.04.16 5:12pm
The Wachowskis?
By jonathanleewilson on 12.04.16 5:15pm
That’s what I keep thinking. I wonder if it would give them enough room for their own ideas though? It feels like the joy for them is fleshing things out and creating a new angle. There’s not a lot of that left to do in Star Wars.
Also, they haven’t exactly been cashing huge returns for studios lately.
Still, maybe some constraints to go with the new big ideas are exactly what both sides need.
By z_ on 12.04.16 7:16pm
Give em a stand alone or spin off movie from the Star Wars universe. Say an Obi Wan movie or Boba Fett/Bounty Hunter movie. Then they can flesh out what they want quite a bit without being overtly disruptive to set timelines or lore.
By Hifi74 on 12.04.16 10:00pm
To be fair, they’re waiting on other studios to help shape the careers of male directors too. Why should they give a female director the job without the same experience that they’re requiring from a male director?
By mattcoz on 12.05.16 1:14am
To be actually fair, the point of the article is that even with the Star Wars franchise trying to be fair, other groups aren’t very fair, and so at the end of the day, white male directors are getting more chances than female directors and directors of colour.
I actually know someone who tried getting into directing in Hollywood. A straight white guy, pretty talented. He said it was such a boys club, so many people got denied access simply because they didn’t know the right people. And when the "right people" are overwhelmingly white due to historical reasons, and they keep giving so many chances to men that they don’t give to women, these conditions will prevail.
By samoanbiscuit on 12.05.16 4:52am
So, according to her, the problem is that other studios won’t give experience to female directors so that she could hire them? That’s so dumb, give them experience yourself!
By acido44 on 12.05.16 9:46am
She’s commenting on a $3 billion property, not the studio as a whole. Same reason a fortune 100 company is likely not going to roll the dice on a small time CEO and going to look for someone coming from comparable scale.
By mrc0mments on 12.05.16 1:20pm
@verge @AndrewLiptak what’s it mean when this post / story is "supported by Gillette" in the header?
By Alex Curtis on 12.05.16 12:38pm