Kathleen Kennedy | |
---|---|
Born | Berkeley, California, U.S. | June 5, 1953
Alma mater | San Diego State University |
Occupation | Film producer |
Years active | 1979–present |
Employer | Lucasfilm (2012–present) |
Title | President, Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Kathleen Kennedy (born June 5, 1953) [1] is an American film producer and president of Lucasfilm. In 1981, she co-founded the production company Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and her eventual husband Frank Marshall.
Her first film as a producer was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). A decade later, again with Spielberg, she produced the Jurassic Park franchise, the first two of which became two of the top ten highest-grossing films of the 1990s. In 1992, she co-founded The Kennedy/Marshall Company with her husband, Frank Marshall. On October 30, 2012, she became the president of Lucasfilm after The Walt Disney Company acquired the company for $4.2 billion. [2] She received the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018. [3] [4]
As the president of Lucasfilm she oversaw the development, production, and release of projects such as the Star Wars sequel trilogy including, The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), as well as the Star Wars standalone films Rogue One (2016), and Solo (2018), and the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones series, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). She has also produced various Star Wars series for Disney+ including The Mandalorian (2019–present), The Book of Boba Fett (2021), Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), and Andor (2022–present).
Kennedy earned great success as a producer of numerous films directed by Steven Spielberg which have earned over $11 billion worldwide, including five of the fifty highest-grossing movies in film history. [5] As a producer she has received eight Best Picture Academy Award nominations.
Kennedy was born in Berkeley, California, to Dione Marie "Dede" (née Dousseau), a one-time theater actress, and Donald R. Kennedy, a judge and attorney. [6] She has two sisters. Her twin sister, Connie, formerly a location manager in British Columbia, Canada, is now the executive producer of the Virtual Production company Profile Studios.[ citation needed ] Her other sister is Dana Middleton-Silberstein, a television host and anchor, and press secretary/communications director for former Governor Gary Locke (D-WA). [6]
Kennedy graduated from Shasta High School in Redding, California, in 1971. She continued her education at San Diego State University where she majored in telecommunications and film. In her final year, Kennedy gained employment at a local San Diego TV station, KCST (now KNSD), taking on various roles including camera operator, video editor, floor director and finally as KCST news production coordinator. [7]
After her employment with KCST, she produced a local talk show entitled You're On for the station for four years before moving to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, Kennedy secured her first film production job working as an assistant to John Milius, who at the time was executive producer of Spielberg's 1941 (1979). [8]
While working under Milius during the production of 1941, Kennedy caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, [9] who stated in 2015:
She was horrible at taking notes... but what she did know how to do was interrupt somebody in midsentence. We'd be pitching ideas back and forth, and Kathy—who was supposed to be writing these ideas down—suddenly put her pencil down and would say something like, "And what if he didn't get the girl, but instead he got the dog?" [10]
Spielberg asked Kennedy to become his secretary for her organization abilities, and Kennedy gradually took on larger roles in the moviemaking process. [10] Kennedy was credited as associate to Spielberg on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), then associate producer on Spielberg's production of Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982). [11]
Kennedy began receiving producer credit with Spielberg on the major box-office hit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and continued serving the role on most of his films for the next three decades. In 1982, she helped co-found and run the production company Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg and her future husband Frank Marshall. [11] She also produced Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) with George Lucas and Marshall, and appeared in the film's opening sequence as a dancer. [12] Following her work on the Indiana Jones films, she rose to become one of Hollywood's leading producers. With Amblin, she produced the Back to the Future trilogy, collaborating with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Robert Zemeckis, Barry Levinson, and Clint Eastwood. In 1991, she and Marshall formed The Kennedy/Marshall Company [13] with a deal at DreamWorks. She continued her business relationship with Spielberg and became producer for Jurassic Park (1993) and executive producer for the historical drama Schindler's List (also 1993). [11] Non Spielberg films that she produced during this time include The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Twister (1996), and The Sixth Sense (1999).
Kennedy was a producer on Spielberg's films: War of the Worlds and Munich (both 2005), the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Marshall and Kennedy were producers for the US versions of two Studio Ghibli animated features Ponyo (2009) and The Secret World of Arrietty (2012). [14] [15] She also produced Spielberg's Lincoln (2012), which was nominated for seven Golden Globes and twelve Academy Awards. [16] [17]
In May 2012, she stepped down from Kennedy/Marshall, leaving Marshall as sole principal of their film company. [18] [19] In the following month, Kennedy became co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. alongside George Lucas. [20] [21] On October 30, 2012, when Lucas sold his company to Disney, Kennedy was promoted to president. [22] In 2018, Kennedy's contract to remain president of Lucasfilm was extended another three years, through October 30, 2021. [23]
Executive producer
Producer
Associate producer
Co-executive producer
Co-producer
Producer
Executive producer
She has received eight Academy Award for Best Picture nominations as a producer. Five of the nominations are for Spielberg directed projects such as E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), The Color Purple (1985), Munich (2005), War Horse (2011), and Lincoln (2012). As a producer, she is third behind Kevin Feige and Spielberg in domestic box office receipts, with over $7.5 billion as of 2020 [update] . [24] In 2019 she received the Irving J. Thalberg Award alongside her husband Frank Marshall. That same year Kennedy was appointed an honorary commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to film production in the United Kingdom. [25] In that same year, it was announced that she would receive the BAFTA Fellowship in 2020. [26]
During the 1980s and 1990s, Kennedy served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute and in 1991 was a "Grimmy Award" recipient in recognition for her outstanding support of student film making. Kennedy was also an Honorary Chairperson of the institute. [27] [28] In 1995, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry. [29] In 1996, she and Frank Marshall received the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award. [30] For the 2001–02 period, she was co-president (with Tim Gibbons) of the Producers Guild of America. [31] In 2007, Kennedy was the first recipient of Women in Film's Paltrow Mentorship Award, for showing extraordinary commitment to mentoring and supporting the next generation of filmmakers and executives. [32]
George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. Lucas created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm, before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Lucas is one of history's most financially successful filmmakers and has been nominated for four Academy Awards. Lucas personally directed or conceived ten of the 100 highest-grossing movies at the North American box office, adjusted for ticket-price inflation. Lucas is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker away from Hollywood for most of his career.
Steven Allan Spielberg is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director in history. He is the recipient of many accolades, including three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and four Directors Guild of America Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971 in San Rafael, California, though most of the company's operations were moved to San Francisco in 2005. It has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios since 2012 and is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound, and computer animation for films.
John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history. He has a very distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music with complex orchestration. He is best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has received numerous accolades including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category, at 91 years old.
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began production on the original Star Wars, now the fourth episode of the Skywalker Saga.
Amblin' Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are located in Bungalow 477 of the Universal Studios backlot in Universal City, California. It distributes all of the films from Amblin Partners under the Amblin Entertainment banner.
Frank Wilton Marshall is an American film producer and director. He often collaborates with his wife, film producer Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he founded the production company Amblin Entertainment, along with Steven Spielberg. In 1991, he founded, with Kennedy, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, a film production company. Since May 2012, with Kennedy taking on the role of President of Lucasfilm, Marshall has been Kennedy/Marshall's sole principal.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp, based on a story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson. It is the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones film series and a sequel to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Set in 1957, it pits Indiana Jones against Soviet KGB agents led by Irina Spalko searching for a telepathic crystal skull located in Peru. Jones is aided by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood, and their son, Mutt Williams. Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent are also part of the supporting cast.
Dennis Muren, A.S.C is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Best Visual Effects and a Technical Achievement Academy Award. The Visual Effects Society has called him "a perpetual student, teacher, innovator, and mentor."
Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer and writer. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as one of the most popular directors and producers in film history. He is also one of the co-founders of Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation.
Joe Johnston is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989); The Rocketeer (1991); Jumanji (1995); Jurassic Park III (2001); The Wolfman (2010); and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
Gary Roger Rydstrom is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for 20 Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, and has won 7.
Robert Watts is a British retired film producer who is best known for his involvement with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series.
The Kennedy/Marshall Company(K/M) is an American film and television production company, based in Santa Monica, California, founded in 1992 by spouses Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.
Indiana Jones is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology.
Arrietty, titled Arrietty the Borrower in Japan and The Secret World of Arrietty in North America, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi as his feature film debut as a director, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and Wild Bunch. The screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, was based on the 1952 novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, an English author of children's books, about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive. The film stars the voices of Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Shinobu Otake, Keiko Takeshita, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Tomokazu Miura, and Kirin Kiki, and tells the story of a young Borrower (Shida) befriending a human boy (Kamiki), while trying to avoid being detected by the other humans.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a 2023 American action adventure film directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote it with David Koepp and the writing team of Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. It is the fifth and final installment in the Indiana Jones film series and the sequel to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). It stars Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies, and Karen Allen reprising their roles as Indiana Jones, Sallah, and Marion Ravenwood, respectively, while new cast members include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen. Set in 1969, the film follows Indy and his estranged goddaughter, Helena, who are trying to locate a powerful artifact before Dr. Jürgen Voller, a Nazi-turned-NASA scientist, who plans to use it to alter the outcome of World War II.
Michelle Rejwan is an American film producer and the Senior Vice-president of Live Action Development and Production for Lucasfilm. She produced the Star Wars film The Rise of Skywalker, alongside Kathleen Kennedy and J. J. Abrams.