By George Bate
The 33rd annual Producers Guild Awards (also known as the PGA) were held on Saturday evening in an event that gathered some of the most famous creators in the history of cinema, including Steven Spielberg, George Francis Ford Coppola, and more. At the event, George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy were presented the Milestone Award for their contributions to film and television with their roles at Lucasfilm.
Lucasfilm was created by George Lucas in 1971, and it’s here that the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises were born. Lucas worked for years as the head of the company before handing over the reigns to Kathleen Kennedy, with whom he had worked with for many years on films like Indiana Jones and more. Kennedy herself is no stranger to iconic titles having been involved with many of Steven Spielberg’s most famous and beloved projects.
Spielberg was in attendance Saturday to present the award to the pair and highlighted the important role that producers such as Lucas and Kennedy play:
“We need to define what producers do. Producers do whatever the hell it takes. Courage and imagination and utter lack of intimidation, the producer needs to know everybody’s jobs, and not how to do them, but how they are done well, which is what makes George and Kathy so deserving of this recognition.”
Spielberg went on to praise the two personally:
“These two titans are still just like kids playing in a sandbox. So it is one plus one equals 175. That’s the number of projects they have together and apart: 175. Because their singular talents combined are all in the pursuit of creating new stories. New stories that have enriched the art form, driven our culture forward and inspired new generations to tell their own stories. They are and always will be the force to be reckoned with.”
Kennedy talked about sharing the award with Lucas:
“There’s no one that I would rather share this moment with more than my friend, my mentor and the greatest master Jedi of them all: George.”
Lucas himself is known to be relatively quiet and humble in interviews, and this continued here. The creator of a galaxy far, far away noted the group effort it takes to create any project:
“A producer never works alone. One, you have to have a great crew. I’ve always had the best crews. I couldn’t have done it without them. And so I think my job also is to gather them all together and inspire them to be the best they can be.”
Images courtesy of Disney, Lucasfilm, and the PGA