The Lucasfilm head explains why it's hard to hire a female 'Star Wars' director

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is less than a month away, which means Disney/Lucasfilm are close to releasing the first ever feature-length spin-off of the "Star Wars" saga. 

But Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is looking beyond that. According to Variety, she's made it a priority to hire a female director to take on an upcoming "Star Wars" movie.

But there's a challenge — she hasn't found one yet who can take on the enormity of the franchise. 

“We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do 'Star Wars,' they’re set up for success,” Kennedy said. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”

According to Variety, Kennedy and her team are in the midst of identifying female directors who are currently in the early stages of their careers.

“We want to really start to focus in on people we would love to work with and see what kinds of things they’re doing to progress up that ladder now, and then pull them in when the time is right,” she said.

The argument could be made that there are very qualified female directors who are ready for the heavy load that is making a "Star Wars" movie right now. 

Patty Jenkins is directing the much-anticipated "Wonder Woman" movie, which could have more at stake than any "Star Wars" movie, since it's being touted as the project that can "save" the DC Comics movie studio. Though previous DC titles have made huge box-office coin, both critics and fans have been negative about how movies like "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Suicide Squad" were handled.

Ava DuVernay has moved from her success making "Selma" to currently directing Disney's "A Wrinkle in Time." 

Those are examples of directors who will be locked into projects for years. But there are some who could be ready to be nabbed now.

Over the summer, Indiewire pointed out filmmakers like Lake Bell ("In a World..."), Amy Seimetz (Starz' "The Girlfriend Experience"), and Lynn Shelton (Fox's "New Girl," ABC's "Fresh Off the Boat") as a few of the female directors who have said they are up for the challenge.

Hopefully they will be getting a call from Kennedy.

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