KATHLEEN KENNEDY – THE BAFTA FELLOWSHIP

PORTRAIT BY BAFTA/ BENJAMIN MCMAHON

KATHLEEN KENNEDY - THE FELLOWSHIP

WORDS BY CLARISSE LOUGHREY

KATHLEEN KENNEDY MIGHT BE HOLLYWOOD’S most powerful woman, but she’s still a little unused to the spotlight. For years, she’s served comfortably as a puppeteer – an invisible hand pulling at the strings. The producer has left her mark on many of celluloid history’s great moments, even if her contributions weren’t always so widely known. It’s Kennedy who figured out how to make the glistening, planet-sized orbs of E.T.’s eyes look so human. She’d rushed off to an ophthalmology centre and brought back trays of prosthetic eyeballs, in order to pick just the right shade and pupil size. She’s responsible, too, for making the stampede of ostrich-like Gallimimus in Jurassic Park (1993) a reality. Steven Spielberg wanted his dinosaurs to run and it was Kennedy who first proposed using groundbreaking CGI to make it happen.

Now it’s Kennedy’s moment to step out of the shadows. As the president of Lucasfilm, she’s the name and face behind a new generation of Star Wars films, television shows, books and games. “I am much more comfortable behind the camera,” she jokes. “But I like being a role model. It’s exciting to me that young women are inspired by what I’ve done.”

And how could anyone not be dazzled by her career? Her films, including those produced under Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company, have landed 119 BAFTA nominations and 27 wins. They have also earned more than £9bn at the box office. Alongside her Fellowship award, Kennedy was last year appointed Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She’s especially moved to see her work recognised in the UK, where many of her productions have been based. “I feel like this is even more than just a second home,” she says.

There’s a hint of destiny to Kennedy’s story. Even during her childhood, spent in sun-dappled California, she was the one people always turned to when there was a school talent show or an assembly to organise. She first found work in local television, before receiving a moment of clarity when, in 1977, she sat down to watch Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

“I was so transported by what Steven had done with that story and just connected to the movie on so many levels,” she says. From that day on, Kennedy knew she wanted to be in the film business.

It didn’t take long for her to land a role as Spielberg’s assistant, though the director frequently jokes that she was always too busy contributing ideas to fulfil the job requirements. “I wasn’t a good note taker and I definitely didn’t understand that I wasn’t supposed to join in the creative discussion,” Kennedy says with a smile.

Thankfully, Spielberg got the hint. She became a producer on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), kicking off a lengthy series of collaborations between the pair.

Alongside the Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park franchises, Kennedy also served as a producer on the likes of Schindler’s List (1993) and Munich (2005). In 1981, she co-founded – with Spielberg and her future spouse, Frank Marshall – Amblin Entertainment, the production company behind Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985), and the Back to the Future trilogy. She and her husband then formed The Kennedy/Marshall Company in 1992. Four of its films have earned her BAFTA nominations: The Sixth Sense (1999), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Lincoln (2012).

In 2012, George Lucas sat Kennedy down to propose that she take over Lucasfilm after he retired. “At first, I actually thought he was asking me for who I thought might come in and take over,” she says. “I didn’t realise he was actually asking me.” But she gratefully accepted the role and became president when Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney several months later – for a staggering $4bn. So far, she’s overseen five new Star Wars films; most crucially, she brought four decades of the Skywalker saga to a close with last year’s thrilling ninth episode, The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Kennedy is particularly struck by the immense sense of history and tradition that’s come to characterise the franchise, as it’s passed down from generation to generation. “That’s the amazing thing that George has created here – it’s a place that people hold near and dear,” she says. “What I think people love so much is that sense of community and the ability to share it.”

Under Kennedy, Star Wars has also allowed that community to feel more inclusive than ever. Not only is the new trilogy led by a female hero, Daisy Ridley’s Rey, but more than half of Kennedy’s own executive team at Lucasfilm are women. In her eyes, the advantage of stepping into such a powerful public position is, in a phrase she lovingly borrows from Russian Doll (2019-) co-creator Leslye Headland, the opportunity to “send the elevator back down”. And she’s found numerous ways to do so, either by mentoring young filmmakers or helping to establish the Hollywood Commission to Eliminate Sexual Harassment and Advance Equality, founded in 2017.

She’s excited by television – “I think many more voices are being allowed to participate in that space” – and the ways technology can help storytellers. She loved working with Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian (2019-), the first live-action Star Wars television show, and its brand-new ILM Stagecraft tech system, which uses virtual backdrops displayed on massive LED screens.

To Kennedy, a good producer has three main skills: communication, flexibility, and empathy. But it’s clear, even if she doesn’t say it, that her success also comes from how forward-thinking she’s remained. “I get asked a lot: ‘Are you going to write a book? Have you kept a journal?’’’ she says. “And, no – I don’t have time!”

Well, why look back when the future has so much to offer?

Clarisse Loughrey is chief film critic for The Independent