'Star Wars: Episode VII' News: Kathleen Kennedy Pushes for Female Director, New Trailer Coming Monday
The battle for women's equality continues, as Kathleen Kennedy adamantly pushes for a female director to take on a "Star Wars" film.
A few days after Jennifer Lawrence expressed anger over unequal pay and several other actresses backed her, Kennedy, who is producing "The Force Awakens," wants to see a woman direct a film in the "Star Wars" franchise, which has been dominated by men throughout its history.
During an interview with Forbes, Kennedy spoke about her future expectations for the franchise and the films planned with Disney.
She told Forbes, "Six out of eight of the people in my story group are women and I'm sure there's are a lot of people that would be surprised that we're making 'Star Wars' movies and the majority of the people involved in the development of those stories are women. It is going to happen. We are going to hire a woman who's going to direct a 'Star Wars' movie. I have no doubt."
Kennedy's assertion raises the question of which female director would take on the role. The film industry lacks a decent number of female voices, and does not boast equal gender representation. Additionally, the majority of female directors are forced to work on smaller budget productions, which is something Hollywood has yet to address.
Hollywood has a number of great female directors, including Ava Duvernay, Kathryn Bigelow and Sofia Coppola. Of the three, only Bigelow has directed a big budget film. Duvernay and Coppola were at one point slated to direct "Black Panther" and "Little Mermaid" films, but those films have not been made yet and are still in search of directors.
The current slate of directors set to direct a "Star Wars" film includes J.J. Abrams, Colin Trevorrow, and Rian Johnson. Gareth Edwards is set to direct the anthology story "Rogue One" and Phil Lord and Chris Miller are helming the young "Han Solo" movie.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is slated to open on Dec. 18, with Daisy Ridley to become the first woman protagonist in the series. Fans will get to see a new trailer on Monday and a new poster for the film is expected to be unveiled on Sunday.
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