A sultry femme fatale with murder on her mind. Heroic rebels struggling against an overwhelming Empire. An archaeology professor moonlighting as a great adventurer. And often, ordinary people who turn out to be quite extraordinary.

If Lawrence Kasdan didn’t invent them, he perfected them. His work has dominated the cinemas for over three decades, and though widely known for big budget blockbusters, he time and again reveals he is adept at every genre. If The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark thrilled a generation, The Big Chill defined one. When Hollywood declared the Western dead, Kasdan brought it back to life by writing and directing Silverado.

As a writer-director, he would strip the Western of its mythos with Wyatt Earp; garner Oscar nominations for his adaptation of Ann Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist; return to humanistic whimsy with Mumford; tale on sci-fi horror with his adaptation of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher; and examine the human condition in Grand Canyon and Darling Companion (both of which he co-wrote with his wife, Meg).

Kasdan shows us comedy in tragedy, and vice versa. With him, there can be wonder in the mundane, and earthiness in the fantastic. A true maverick, his career and his interests will not be categorized. But his films do all have one thing in common.

In all of his movies, no matter the genre, his characters live and breathe as real people. We know them. We wish we were as clever as some of them – okay, maybe not Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. We often aspire to be as strong – whether they are facing Darth Vader or the grand canyon of life.

Is it any wonder that movie fans cheered when Disney announced they were bringing Kasdan back to write not one but two new Star Wars films? He is the right man to awaken the Force. The generation that grew up on his movies will feel that thrill again, and a new generation will get drawn into new chapters of the defining epic of our time.

That’s Lawrence Kasdan. He knows and has written about all the seasons of our lives – and he still has more to show us.

Please join Cinequest for this incredibly entertaining and insightful conversation with Mr. Kasdan, where we will present him with the Maverick Spirit Award.

--Derek McCaw