by Kirk Navarro
In an interview done on the late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, film producer and president of Lucasfilm Katheleen Kennedy announced her plans for developing her new original film, currently under the working title Project: Forward. When asked for a brief description of what the premise of the movie will be, Kennedy explained that it was to be a film that “demonstrates the duality of femininity in today’s world and how such duality will affect womankind’s journey towards toppling down the pillars which hold up patriarchy in America.”
According to the interview, there were two things that gave Kennedy the inspiration for starting this passion project: 1) the response to her involvement in both Star Wars: Episode VII and Episode VIII and the reveal of a new Terminator back in May of last year. She also explained why, to her, other all-female movies had failed in the past and why Project: Forward will succeed.
“After being accused of turning the Star Wars franchise into ‘feminist propaganda’ by the movies’ man-children fans,” said Kennedy, “I realized why the all-female reboots of the Ghostbusters and Ocean’s franchise failed: we [the movie industry] were trying to make drastic changes to already established franchises with already established characters, whether through the characters’ sex, sexual orientation, or skin color. In hindsight, it’s no wonder those crybabies reacted they way they did to those films.”
Kennedy was then questioned on how the release of the new Terminator film kickstarted her drive to start a new all-female movie. “Because it’ll fail,” she answered. “The Terminator franchise’s fans are predominately male, so when online journals are praising the film for not having any men in it, that’s an immediate red flag that the new film will be boycotted and tank at the box office. I understand why this trend of all-female reboots is going on in Hollywood. I know they’re being made with good intentions, but it won’t amount to anything if they fail. So my new film aims to garner an all-female fanbase that won’t cry out against the themes of feminism or racial equality in movies.”
Finally, Kennedy was asked how exactly Project: Forward was going to revolutionize the role of women in films, to which she replied, “The film will not only have a cast of entirely female actors, but will also have an all-female crew behind it; camerawomen, interns, producers, directors, consultants, extras, sound designers, you name it.” Kennedy also went on to say that she plans to cast largely unknown actresses while disregarding conventional beauty standards. Her decision was based off her desire to portray the “real women of America” in her film, in the hopes that it will both give aspiring actresses the chance to make it big in Hollywood and to demonstrate to the world that her movie’s message of femininity doesn’t need to be given across by a pretty face. Kennedy says she’s even got Whoopi Goldberg to play as the sexy love interest in her project.
Finding the funding for Project: Forward, however, has not been easy, according to Kennedy, as the numerous movie studios she has since gone to for financial backing have not shared her enthusiasm in her project’s success. “It’s clear that this hesitation is due to an inherent misogyny that exists in Hollywood. I’ll have to get funding by other means, but I hope with this interview, my film will gain enough support from women all over the country and even the world to make my vision known.”
When asked if she wanted to say anything else about her movie, Kennedy ended with the following:
“It’s my hope that my film will show the men of America that all-female movies can be successful and will put down the misogynist mansplainers who claim such films are hurting the quality of today’s movies.”
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