Iger and Chapek Livid With Lucasfilm

[the.dreamfinder]

He talked about the contention Lucas buy and how there was a lot of turmoil....

It was publicized...George wanted full creative controls without the business entanglements...

Disney new that too from what their lawyers have said.

So what was Kennedy then? The theory is a figurehead for Lucas to maintain his control...who then perhaps went into igers side to consolidate her position and lock Lucas out.

Seems fairly clear to me.

Then why wouldn’t he just keep LFL and use Disney as a distributor?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The wrath of the anti-Kennedy zealots apparently knows no bounds (she's a vapid harpy!). We now have new people popping up just to bash her.

Her record speaks for its self. Kinda was put in a position that was near impossible to screw up at all in, wasn’t she?
on a silver platter

Then why wouldn’t he just keep LFL and use Disney as a distributor?

The theory is that he wanted to not deal with financing at all...or day to day operations.

Retaining LFL would Never have allowed that and he knew it. It was 35 years of running his own media company...I don’t think he was under any illusions.

 

[UNCgolf]

Really? I couldn’t tell from this thread.

I wouldn't think so, considering this thread is an attack on Kathleen Kennedy.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

I suddenly realized what the female did. More tomorrow.

Is Kathleen Kennedy now like Voldemort to you where you can't use her name without bad things happening?

 

[SpoiledBlueMilk]

That’s a good point...and I can’t disagree

There has been a theory for along time that people in Hollywood don’t want Star Wars...

It was a minefield for Lucas 20 years ago and it’s probably worst for Disney now.

It’s thankless on so many levels...but bad material wrote that script...not vise versa

I could see Favreau as the head of LFL. He's not just a competent director, he's a competent producer and executive. I can see him in the president role more than anyone else right now. We'd be luck to have him.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I could see Favreau as the head of LFL. He's not just a competent director, he's a competent producer and executive. I can see him in the president role more than anyone else right now. We'd be luck to have him.

Yeah...

But there’s something about that jungle book and the lion king i’m Not really a fan of...

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Yeah...

But there’s something about that jungle book and the lion king i’m Not really a fan of...

Star Wars fans tend to be reactionary. No diss on Favreau, but he voices a few characters and makes one good season of The Mandalorian and suddenly he’s the premier choice for head of Lucasfilm. Remember when Force Awakens was the greatest thing ever?

 

[brianstl]

Favreau wa a B actor that has become a pretty big director and producer...I don’t think he would be “unqualified”...

But they’d probably look with someone in more of a money/administrative history.

Favreau will be running Lucasfilm within a year. He is Fiege’s boy and probably just as important is he is buddies with Brian Chapek. Bob Chapek will sell it as the need to put in place financial discipline at Lucasfilm as Disney faces an unsettled financial future post world shutdown. Probably claim something like Favreau will bring to Lucasfilm the budget discipline that he has consistently displayed in his Marvel and other Disney films to all Lucasfilm projects.

I don’t know if what is happening is all out war between Lucasfilm and Disney but there is definitely plenty of maneuvering and backstabbing going on right now. I don’t think it was a coincidence at all that Cockerell was out there making sure that Kennedy would take the blame for SWGE in it’s current form and confirming she doesn’t care about long time fans days after the strategic leak of the Headland story.

 

[Darkprime]

I will say the one thing that does continue to baffle me the most in the whole Disney Star Wars era is Lucas personally bringing on Kennedy as his right hand man. Like what made him go that's who I want as my contact on the inside? She had to have promised something at some point maybe at one point she did promise she would use his treatments but decided not to idk.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I will say the one thing that does continue to baffle me the most in the whole Disney Star Wars era is Lucas personally bringing on Kennedy as his right hand man. Like what made him go that's who I want as my contact on the inside? She had to have promised something at some point maybe at one point she did promise she would use his treatments but decided not to idk.

As I read it (some article somewhere), he tried for a long time to find someone, and when he couldn't find one, he picked her. Then convinced himself that she was the best choice even then there was no choice involved.

 

[asianway]

Favreau will be running Lucasfilm within a year. He is Fiege’s boy and probably just as important is he is buddies with Brian Chapek. Bob Chapek will sell it as the need to put in place financial discipline at Lucasfilm as Disney faces an unsettled financial future post world shutdown. Probably claim something like Favreau will bring to Lucasfilm the budget discipline that he has consistently displayed in his Marvel and other Disney films to all Lucasfilm projects.

I don’t know if what is happening is all out war between Lucasfilm and Disney but there is definitely plenty of maneuvering and backstabbing going on right now. I don’t think it was a coincidence at all that Cockerell was out there making sure that Kennedy would take the blame for SWGE in it’s current form and confirming she doesn’t care about long time fans days after the strategic leak of the Headland story.

Can anyone honestly say SW:GE is more enjoyable than SWW? All they needed to do was add ROTR and use OT characters. No one wants this

 

[Darkprime]

As I read it (some article somewhere), he tried for a long time to find someone, and when he couldn't find one, he picked her. Then convinced himself that she was the best choice even then there was no choice involved.

I wonder if he considered Filoni like at all maybe he did but he knew he didn't quite have the experience yet.

 

[MisterPenguin]

George Lucas never liked her, so he hired her. Iger never liked her, so he renewed her contract. Everyone who works at LucasFilm never liked her. Every bad thing LucasFilm has done is totally on her and her alone. Every good thing LucasFilm has done is because she had absolutely zero to do with it. Successful projects like The Mandalorian were done secretly without her permission or knowledge as head of LucasFilm. She doesn't get fired because Iger's afraid a small cadre of folks at LucasFilm will say bad things about him and we know Iger would never do anything that brings criticism even though there are people at LucasFilm who want her to go so he keeps renewing her contract.... umm... where was I? Oh yeah, she was seen running from a grassy knoll in Dallas and she was in Wuhan last November forcing people to drink raw bat blood.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I will say the one thing that does continue to baffle me the most in the whole Disney Star Wars era is Lucas personally bringing on Kennedy as his right hand man. Like what made him go that's who I want as my contact on the inside? She had to have promised something at some point maybe at one point she did promise she would use his treatments but decided not to idk.

Amblin.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Favreau will be running Lucasfilm within a year. He is Fiege’s boy and probably just as important is he is buddies with Brian Chapek. Bob Chapek will sell it as the need to put in place financial discipline at Lucasfilm as Disney faces an unsettled financial future post world shutdown. Probably claim something like Favreau will bring to Lucasfilm the budget discipline that he has consistently displayed in his Marvel and other Disney films to all Lucasfilm projects.

I don’t know if what is happening is all out war between Lucasfilm and Disney but there is definitely plenty of maneuvering and backstabbing going on right now. I don’t think it was a coincidence at all that Cockerell was out there making sure that Kennedy would take the blame for SWGE in it’s current form and confirming she doesn’t care about long time fans days after the strategic leak of the Headland story.

I see a lot of subterfuge going on and I think LFL is a huge headache for the BoBs...the sequence of events could support that.

But we have no proof. It’s likely she plays out the String now or announces a retirement so the next person is installed next year.

I’d settle for public crapping on Rian the manboy at this point. Consolation.

I will say the one thing that does continue to baffle me the most in the whole Disney Star Wars era is Lucas personally bringing on Kennedy as his right hand man. Like what made him go that's who I want as my contact on the inside? She had to have promised something at some point maybe at one point she did promise she would use his treatments but decided not to idk.

Control and angling...as one story goes.

As I read it (some article somewhere), he tried for a long time to find someone, and when he couldn't find one, he picked her. Then convinced himself that she was the best choice even then there was no choice involved.

The story I think is most accurate is he installed her to get what he wanted: control as a Feige showrunner without having to stress the Details...and bob blew it up. He wanted to be catmull/Lassiter....they sniffed it out.

KK was a puppet. And that’s not a sexist stance...I’d say the same thing if it was frank marshall

Can anyone honestly say SW:GE is more enjoyable than SWW? All they needed to do was add ROTR and use OT characters. No one wants this

It’s not...but Disney chose to move away from the old fans. I totally understand the reasons why and I may have made the same decisions. But you had to understand Star Wars well enough and do it right.

It’s one thing to have JJ lens flare an ANH reboot...but you don’t just off the characters as disposable. They just never got it. Missed a huge chance and re-establishment with the old guard and a new.

As far as the lands went...they needed a land...Just couldn’t commit to the backstory in execution. It’s like “hedgeland”. Weak decision making.

Lucas never like her. Iger never liked her. Everyone who works at LucasFilm never liked her. Every bad thing LucasFilm has done is totally on her and her alone. Every good thing LucasFilm has done is because she had absolutely zero to do with it. Successful projects like The Mandalorian were done secretly without her permission or knowledge as head of LucasFilm. She doesn't get fired because Iger's afraid a small cadre of folks at LucasFilm will say bad things about him and we know Iger would never do anything that brings criticism even though there are people at LucasFilm who want her to go so he keeps renewing her contract.... umm... where was I? Oh yeah, she was seen running from a grassy knoll in Dallas and she was in Wuhan last November forcing people to drink raw bat blood.

I’m gonna send over some herbal tea to calm you down.

I do agree that this is all spitballing.

Where I’ll never agree is that things have gone well with Kennedy and abrams. It’s very hard to come to that conclusion now.

Amblin.

That was Stevie and frank marshall too...

I liked the Kennedy choice at the time. But I don’t think she knows a damn thing about why Star Wars was popular. It’s either that or Disney quietly pushes bad decisions because they had no clue.

And George had an agenda too...methinks.

 

[Darkprime]

This tidbit from Igers book is quite telling. Early development of the sequel trilogy sounds like it was a disaster and essentially destroyed any relationship Disney had with Lucas. One of their early meetings with George organized by Kennedy no less makes It sound like they ambushed him. They had already decided what they didn't want his ideas before they even spoke to him. And the meeting was only a formality. The last line is interesting. Iger says George felt betrayed. But by who I wonder. Kennedy or Iger? hmm. I feel like Iger is throwing out a lot of hints here.

Early on, Kathy brought J.J. and Michael Arndt up to Northern California to meet with George at his ranch and talk about their ideas for the film. George immediately got upset as they began to describe the plot and it dawned on him that we weren’t using one of the stories he submitted during the negotiations. The truth was, Kathy, J.J., Alan, and I had discussed the direction in which the saga should go, and we all agreed that it wasn’t what George had outlined. George knew we weren’t contractually bound to anything, but he thought that our buying the story treatments was a tacit promise that we’d follow them, and he was disappointed that his story was being discarded. I’d been so careful since our first conversation not to mislead him in any way, and I didn’t think I had now, but I could have handled it better. I should have prepared him for the meeting with J.J. and Michael and told him about our conversations, that we felt it was better to go in another direction. I could have talked through this with him and possibly avoided angering him by not surprising him. Now, in the first meeting with him about the future of Star Wars, George felt betrayed, and while this whole process would never have been easy for him, we’d gotten off to an unnecessarily rocky start.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I’ll do it one better...

This interview from the SGA is the Rosetta Stone to decipher what happened with Disney and Star Wars...it’s there.

Michael Arndt Reveals Rejected Plots From âStar Wars: The Force Awakensâ & A Much Larger Role For [Redacted]

Michael Arndt Reveals Rejected Plots From ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ & A Much Larger Role For [Redacted]

www.google.com

 

[flynnibus]

I will say the one thing that does continue to baffle me the most in the whole Disney Star Wars era is Lucas personally bringing on Kennedy as his right hand man. Like what made him go that's who I want as my contact on the inside? She had to have promised something at some point maybe at one point she did promise she would use his treatments but decided not to idk.

ehh.. have you not looked at her background? She's been associated through speilberg with just about every iconic movie/property since the early 80s. She pretty much has been in the wheelhouse for the entire generation that grew up with Star Wars and film of this era. And she came into Lucasfilm before the sale to Disney. Lucas had already put everything motion to hand the company off to KK - the sale to Disney was to ensure LF would have resources and to free Lucas up and cash out.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

@WDW Pro, is that you under that helmet?

 

[Darkprime]

ehh.. have you not looked at her background? She's been associated through speilberg with just about every iconic movie/property since the early 80s. She pretty much has been in the wheelhouse for the entire generation that grew up with Star Wars and film of this era. And she came into Lucasfilm before the sale to Disney. Lucas had already put everything motion to hand the company off to KK - the sale to Disney was to ensure LF would have resources and to free Lucas up and cash out.

Shes a good producer sure but I dont think producing science fiction was ever really her expertise.