As President of Lucasfilm, Hollywood veteran Kathleen Kennedy has shepherded the Star Wars franchise into the Disney era, and helped define it for a new generation. A one-time assistant to Steven Spielberg who went on to co-found and run Amblin Entertainment with him, Kennedy produced such classics as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park on her way to becoming one of the most influential figures in the film industry.

During a press conference in Los Angeles to promote the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Kennedy looked back on her early career, and her chance first encounter with a young J.J. Abrams more than two decades before they worked together on 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

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Before landing her first film job as an assistant to writer/director John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian), Kennedy got her start working for San Diego television station KCST (now KNSD), which led her to working on the sidelines of NFL games.

"I think I learned that there's never a job too small," she said. "When you do that kind of work, you get involved in every single thing that's needed. That's why even when I'm standing on set today, if I see a cable that's kind of crimped, and I think people might trip or whatever, it's very instinctual for me to start dressing the cables and looking at things like that. It's kind of a part of me, and I think that was something that was instilled in me from doing that job."

Kathleen Kennedy on stage giving a speech.

As with any job in a high impact profession, there are bound to be accidents. But one of them ended up getting a young Kennedy on national television. "In addition to operating camera," she explained, "I also did what's called a parabolic microphone. At the time it was a dish that was [massive], and you were the only person, and even today, you're the only other person besides the cameraperson who can be right on the sidelines. Your job is to pick up the noise on the bench, but you also have to be watching the play on the field.

"I'd grown up watching [football games] with my dad on weekends, so I knew the game pretty well. I saw this pass play starting to materialize... so when you do this job, if you see a pass play materializing, you need to start running. I got these cables on me, I've got this huge dish and I'm running down the sideline, following this pass. But what I don't see is the Minnesota Vikings linebacker who's running full-speed towards me, and takes me out at the ankles. I'm sent flying, it's a miracle I didn't get killed. And I ended up on national television."

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Kennedy eventually left the sports world, became a major force in the film industry and became President at Lucasfilm. When it came time to make a new Star Wars film, Kennedy thought back to a young man she'd met years before. She explained, "I won't go too into the details, but I met J.J. Abrams actually along with another filmmaker named Matt Reeves when they were 15. They had won a contest for movies they had made, and I said to Steven Spielberg 'why don't we hire these two young guys to take your old home movies and clean them up and give them a break and see if we can't give them a break in the business.'

"Needless to say, Steven and I watched as J.J.'s career just took off from that point. And when George Lucas asked me to step in and take over Lucasfilm, what I didn't know was that the company would be sold [to Disney] just a few months later. And when it was sold, there was an edict that we needed to make a movie in a fairly short amount of time.

"The one thing I know about Star Wars and I know about these tentpole movies is this unique combination of needing dramatic storytelling, gravitas and a great sense of humor. I think there are few filmmakers who embody those things and also have the capability to really manage something this huge... J.J. Abrams was my first choice."

Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Matt Smith, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant. The film arrives on Dec. 20.

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