Empire Strikes Back Director Irvin Kershner Dies at 87

bigredradio writes "Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner died at his home in Paris after suffering from illness, his goddaughter Adriana Santini confirmed to the AFP Monday. He was 87."

Sad day

[Bobnova]

A sad day, that was the best movie of the series IMO. Too bad he didn't do more of them.

I hope that this experience

[Haedrian]

Will make him more powerful than ever.

Re:Sad day

[ultranova]

The sequel was harder, though, like most sequels, and was directed by someone who wasn't the overall visionary - someone who hadn't thought up the movie for his entire life beforehand.

Which is precisely why Empire Strikes Back ended up better: it's far easier to see and correct the flaws in someone else's vision than your own. That's why editors exist.

Re:Sad day

[mcgrew]

You should submiut that as a /. front page story. Far more relevant than Nielson's death.

Re:Sad day

[MightyMartian]

Episode V was the best because Lucas was as far from the process as possible. Lucas may be a visionary, but he also has the extraordinary tendency to poison that vision.

I can only imagine how good Episode III would have been if someone like Kirshner had been driving the car.

Re:Sad day

[gustgr]

You, sir, have gone too far. You take that back, and take it now.

Re:Sad day

[catbutt]

As much as I wince at some of the worst scenes throughout the prequels, it always saddens me to see people slam on Lucas so much. Kirschner did a fine job directing ESB, but come on....Lucas is the visionary behind the whole thing and deserves a lot of credit for the amazingly rich world he built.

Sad news?

[Burning1]

Sad news that today Sir Maurice Wilkes passed away, aged 97

We're talking about a pioneer who accomplished a lot in his life, and lived to the age of 97, right? While I'm sure no one's happy to see him go, I can't possibly imagine how this is sad news.

Sounds like he lived life the way it was meant to be lived. Celebrate that.

Re:Read below

[h4rm0ny]

The actors SURELY could have acted better. Why couldn't any of the newbies pull an Alec Guinnes or Harrison Ford?

I'm going to take issue with you on just this one point. There was some very good talent in those films, in particular Ewan McGregor who clearly put a fair amount of work into making his performance consistent with Alec Guinness's. Natalie Portman has never set me ablaze with awe with a role, but she's certainly a more than competent actress. I'm even willing to believe that Hayden Christensen would be decent with competent directing. And as to Ian McDiarmid - well, what more could be said? But how much can you do with a line like: "I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar."

Once you have a reasonable amount of experience acting, you've well-learned how much effect the director has. You can take it from one of my own recent experiences, that when the director is against you, it can be almost impossible to put in a credible performance. In those prequels, you could practically see the director throttling their performances. The difference between "Noooooo!" working and being a joke, is only partly the performance of the actor himself, and far more in the build up, the scene setting, the pacing, credibility and interaction with those around him.