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Kathleen Kennedy is a powerhouse movie producer. She’s been nominated for an Oscar eight times in the Best Picture category, and five of those were for films helmed by her longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg. Then in 2012, Kennedy made a pivot from producing to being the president of Lucasfilm, after George Lucas sold his studio to Disney for $4 billion. So basically, any Star Wars related content you’ve seen over the last 13 years, that project was greenlit by Kennedy. There have been hits (Andor) and misses (Solo), as well as some ideas that were never really given a fair shot (The Acolyte). Has she been perfect? Definitely no. Has every move she made been picked apart thanks to some good old fashioned misogyny? Definitely yes. So the trades started reporting in February that Kennedy was on her way out as head of Lucasfilm when her contract ends this year. Now this curious item: “sources” are saying that Kennedy is lobbying hard for Bob Iger to get an honorary Oscar this year. Her Disney business daddy. Oh, and Disney also owns ABC, the network that airs the Oscars and is renegotiating a deal to keep those rights past 2028. Hmmm…
Kathleen Kennedy, president of “Star Wars” creator Lucasfilm, certainly knows how to use the Force — specifically within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The producer-executive has been ardently lobbying members of the group to obtain an Honorary Oscar for her boss, Disney chief Bob Iger, four insiders with knowledge of the matter told Variety.
Kennedy has reached out to select players at the board level inside AMPAS, encouraging them to recommend one of the annual honors go to Iger — the man who secured Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm for Disney’s war chest of intellectual property, selling billions of dollars’ worth of movie tickets in the process. All branches of the Academy have been active in recent weeks, meeting about new membership matters, and Kennedy has used the opportunity to schmooze on Iger’s behalf.
While few in the industry would question Iger’s worthiness of the prize, some board members have been squeamish over the optics, sources said. Disney, of course, owns the Oscars’ longtime broadcast partner, ABC. Some of the members pitched feel that’s a conflict of interest.
Moreover, others noted, the Academy happens to be in the middle of negotiations with the network to renew its licensing agreement beyond 2028 (which will mark the 100th Academy Awards ceremony). Iger had no knowledge of Kennedy’s outreach and did not request she pursue the honor, according to two people familiar with the process. It is considered routine for Academy members to lobby on behalf of honorary Oscar candidates, an AMPAS insider said, though some inside the organization are curious about Kennedy’s motives.
Representatives for Kennedy and Iger had no comment. An AMPAS spokesperson declined to comment as well.
“Iger had no knowledge of Kennedy’s outreach and did not request she pursue the honor … It is considered routine for Academy members to lobby on behalf of honorary Oscar candidates…” Have I become completely jaded, or did anyone else upon reading that part, imagine a hapless third executive assistant taking down Iger’s dictation to leak those exact words to Variety? Regardless, there are undeniably major conflicts of interest at issue here, and I can’t figure out what the larger play is. Kennedy — who herself already has the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy — is possibly stepping down by the end of this year. Bob Iger is supposedly re-retiring as Disney CEO in 2026, but that date is already pushed back from the originally planned 2023 exit. And if ABC, part of The Mouse’s kingdom, wants to secure Oscar airing rights, how does lobbying hard for the Academy to give Iger an award help move things along? Why is it so crucial that Iger is bestowed an honorary Oscar this year? Are his $15 million salary plus $27 million yearly bonuses not enough? I have no answers! Just the commentary that when a house becomes so all powerful — Disney owns Lucasfilm and Marvel and Pixar and ABC — problems are bound to arise. Just ask the royal family.
Note by CB: The honorary Oscars were announced after Kismet wrote this story and Bob Iger was unsurprisingly not included.
I mean he’s no David Zaslav but yeah I think he has rewards enough in his bank account already without needing this too.