In depth interview with Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy: Secret J.J. Abrams meeting and more!

Depending on how STAR WARS: EPISODE VII turns out, producer Kahtleen Kennedy could turn out to be the hero or the villain in this saga. Back in October she was appointed head of Lucasfilms and executive producer of the new STAR WARS sequels. Although Kathleen Kennedy has helped produce high profile and profitable films (particularly with Steven Spielberg) STAR WARS is a different beast.

THR has her as the cover story and in it she talks about a secret meeting with J.J. Abrams on December 19th, being Spielberg’s assistant, and how originally she wanted to be a nurse.

On that meeting with J.J. Abrams and how she convinced him to take on the directing duties (because I know that’s the one thing that truly made you click on this article):

Kennedy had to do what she does so well: put one of the industry’s most prominent directors at ease. And she’s known Abrams since he was 14, when Spielberg had read an article about him winning a Super 8 movie making contest and hired the future director to restore his own childhood Super 8 videos. “We spent a lot of time talking about how meaningful Star Wars is and the depth of the mythology that George has created and how we carry that into the next chapter,” she says. Finally, after a day of furious negotiation, the deal closed the afternoon of Jan. 25. To the bitter end, Abrams was telling associates that he still wasn’t fully committed to directing the project. But Kennedy is confident that he will be in the chair when the cameras roll.

What I think we can take away from this is that Kathleen Kennedy somehow changed J.J. Abrams‘ mind, and that’s a good thing. Something Kathleen Kennedy said or did convinced J.J. Abrams that STAR WARS is heading in the right direction, and he decided he DID want to be a part of that after all. For that alone, Kathleen Kennedy should get a round of applause. The interview has a ton of good nuggets of information on a producer that is sure to get attention for every STAR WARS related decision, and I highly recommend reading it.