Reply to Topic
Director IRVIN KERSHNER Dead, Age 87
Irvin Kershner, the director best known for helming the first Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980), has died at his home in Paris. He was eighty-seven.
He started his filmmaking career in documentaries, and after some TV work in the 1960s moved into feature films. His first efforts, including A Fine Madness (1966) starring Sean Connery and The Flim-Flam Man (1967) starring George C. Scott, were not exactly what anybody would call hits, very moderate successes at best. But they kept him working. He was paired with some stars of the day in the 1970s, including Barbara Streisand in Up the Sandbox (1971), Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould's MASH follow-up S*P*Y*S (1974), Faye Dunaway in the supernatural thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), and the Emmy-winning television project "Raid on Entebbe" with Charles Bronson, Peter Finch, Martin Balsam and Yaphet Kotto.
You wouldn't have guessed from his filmography to that point that soon he would be involved with one of the most successful films of all time. George Lucas, who had directed Star Wars (1977), was looking to delegate that duty for the sequels. Choosing Kershner, who was reluctant to accept the assignment, was definitely out-of-the-box thinking by Lucas...and it sure payed off. All of the FX spectacle and adventure was of course well represented, but it was the deeper handling of the characters that makes it so enduring and, for many fans, their favorite of all the Star Wars films.
The script by veteran scribe Leigh Brackett and newcomer Lawrence Kasdan was a terrific blueprint, but credit must be given to Kershner's direction and handling of the actors. One of the best moments in the whole franchise, the exchange between Han Solo and Princess Leia just before he is going to be encased in Carbonite and given to bounty hunter Boba Fett, was an ad lib on the set by Harrison Ford. Leia admits, "I love you" to which Solo replies in nonchalant style, "I know". That in the midst of the expensive machinations and intense expectations, Kershner ran the kind of set that could still allow for and encourage actors to come up with such a moment, is part of his behind-the-scenes legacy.
Post-Empire, Kershner only directed two more features before a self-imposed retirement: the last appearance of Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983) and the disappointing sequel RoboCop 2 (1990). He also dabbled in television in the '80s, including the made-for-HBO piece "The Traveling Man" (1989) starring John Lithgow, before hanging it up. He did show up as an actor a few times, with small roles in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and the Steven Seagal dud On Deadly Ground (1993).
.
.
R.I.P., IRVIN
Irvin Kershner, the director best known for helming the first Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980), has died at his home in Paris. He was eighty-seven.
He started his filmmaking career in documentaries, and after some TV work in the 1960s moved into feature films. His first efforts, including A Fine Madness (1966) starring Sean Connery and The Flim-Flam Man (1967) starring George C. Scott, were not exactly what anybody would call hits, very moderate successes at best. But they kept him working. He was paired with some stars of the day in the 1970s, including Barbara Streisand in Up the Sandbox (1971), Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould's MASH follow-up S*P*Y*S (1974), Faye Dunaway in the supernatural thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), and the Emmy-winning television project "Raid on Entebbe" with Charles Bronson, Peter Finch, Martin Balsam and Yaphet Kotto.
You wouldn't have guessed from his filmography to that point that soon he would be involved with one of the most successful films of all time. George Lucas, who had directed Star Wars (1977), was looking to delegate that duty for the sequels. Choosing Kershner, who was reluctant to accept the assignment, was definitely out-of-the-box thinking by Lucas...and it sure payed off. All of the FX spectacle and adventure was of course well represented, but it was the deeper handling of the characters that makes it so enduring and, for many fans, their favorite of all the Star Wars films.
The script by veteran scribe Leigh Brackett and newcomer Lawrence Kasdan was a terrific blueprint, but credit must be given to Kershner's direction and handling of the actors. One of the best moments in the whole franchise, the exchange between Han Solo and Princess Leia just before he is going to be encased in Carbonite and given to bounty hunter Boba Fett, was an ad lib on the set by Harrison Ford. Leia admits, "I love you" to which Solo replies in nonchalant style, "I know". That in the midst of the expensive machinations and intense expectations, Kershner ran the kind of set that could still allow for and encourage actors to come up with such a moment, is part of his behind-the-scenes legacy.
Post-Empire, Kershner only directed two more features before a self-imposed retirement: the last appearance of Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983) and the disappointing sequel RoboCop 2 (1990). He also dabbled in television in the '80s, including the made-for-HBO piece "The Traveling Man" (1989) starring John Lithgow, before hanging it up. He did show up as an actor a few times, with small roles in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and the Steven Seagal dud On Deadly Ground (1993).
.
.
R.I.P., IRVIN
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 11-29-10 at 01:26 PM.
