For nearly 14 years, longtime producer Kathleen Kennedy served as the head of Lucasfilm, where she oversaw the development, production, and release of all the Star Warsprojects since the Walt Disney Company acquired the company from George Lucas.
As Kennedy now exits the company, she admitted just one regret, and it comes from one movie and one casting decision.
Kennedy’s One Regret
During a recent interview with Deadline following her departure from the company, Kennedy was asked if there was anything she “could have done better with more time” or something that she wishes she had done that she didn’t.
Kennedy initially indicated that she had no regrets, but then she quickly came up with one: Solo: A Star Wars Story.
“No, I don’t really have any regrets. Well, maybe a bit of regret about Solo: A Star Wars Story. I brought Larry Kasdan in on, and we were so excited about that idea. And then when you’re into something and you realize fundamentally, conceptually, you cannot replace Han Solo, at least right now,” Kennedy told Deadline.
Kennedy made it clear that her regret was nothing against Alden Ehrenreich, who played young Han Solo in the movie, or even the film that they made. She thinks that it was simply too soon to cast someone else to play such an iconic role.
“As wonderful as Alden Ehrenreich was, and he really was good, and is a wonderful actor, we put him in an impossible situation,” Kennedy told Deadline. “And once you’re in it and once you’re committed, you’ve got to carry on. I think I have a bit of regret about that, but not about the moviemaking and filmmaking. I don’t have regrets about that. I just think that conceptually, we did it too soon.”
Kennedy is Done For Good
As Kennedy now steps away from her time at Lucasfilm, she made it clear that her departure is permanent, even when Deadline pointed out that Disney CEO Bob Iger retired, was replaced, and then came back.
“That is not happening here. I told everybody I would stick around a bit longer than I had intended, but I am so ready to go off and have the chance to make lots of movies. I want to do more movies, and I want the opportunity to get back to a kind of eclectic group of movies the way I used to,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to working with Frank again on some stuff. He has been doing lots of documentaries and having a ball. I’m also really interested in the new technology, I have to say.”
It sounds like it truly is a new era for Lucasfilm.
