In Memoriam: Irvin Kershner

This blog entry is effectively dedicated to Irvin Kershner. Known far and wide as the director of The Empire Strikes Back, one of the greatest works of science fiction put on screen and the best installment of the epic Star Wars saga, Kershner died today, November 29, 2010, after struggling for years against an unknown illness.

In Kershner's hands, the Star Wars series surpassed even the level of quality of A New Hope; a revolutionary film, it established the old cliche that sequels must be darker and edgier than their predecessor, but unlike others, this actually improved it, allowing the series to feel like a more mature, serious work of fiction than the admittedly flighty adventure romp that was Hope (NOTE: I am not criticizing the original film, fanboys; it is without a doubt one of the greatest films ever made, I am just noting that it is lighter than the second film). 

There's something just really beautiful that Kershner was able to do with Empire; it's hard to describe, but the damp, underlit sequences boasting the ever-presence of smoke, mist, and fog, just breathes a level of fear and terror. Even in the scenes on Hoth, Kershner made the lush, absolutely breathtaking image of the snowy landscapes and bright white aesthetic make you feel cold (sorry), unable to guess what was about the happen. It's the marks of a thriller being used on a space opera; it's genius.

Scary shit.

It was almost unprecedented. Kershner showed just such a knack for crafting a superbly effective genre film backed with professionalism and craft, but nothing he had done before had ever been particularly well-known or even close to the level of iconic/blockbuster status of the multi-billion dollar Star Wars franchise. Indeed, when Kershner as attached to the direct the sequel to the then-highest grossing film of all time Star Wars, he was surprised and asked creator George Lucas "Of all the younger guys around, all the hot-shots, why me?"; Lucas's response was, "Well, because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you're not Hollywood."

^^ Not Hollywood.

Kershner brought a new level of depth, and being a master of character development, he was able to reestablish and mature the preexisting (and already awesome) characters, breathing new life to them with flawless timing and stage direction. This, of course, couldn't have been possible without the help of co-screenwriters Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, but like any great director, Kershner was able to take the script and find new levels of brilliance to add to it and the film.

 

Kershner knew that the focus of the film had to be the characters, and so he found the simplest ways to allow them to drive the emotionality of their scenes. He noted once, "I like to fill up the frame with the characters' faces. There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face." When Kershner made Empire, he was able to find the fear and terror of scenes not only through mere visuals, but also through the way he toyed with the characters. When the famous plot twist occurs, revealing Darth Vader to be Luke's father, Kershner focuses the direction of the scene not on the characters' surroundings, but on the characters themselves. There's a sense of shock and horror, combined, found merely by showing one man's horrified reaction.

Irvin Kershner shall always be remembered as a master director, and even though it's been 30 years since The Empire Strikes Back graced the movie theater (and our heart's) his handprint on the film shall always remain. Empire shall always be remembered as one of cinema's greatest achievements, and Kershner shall always be remembered as the one who made it what it was. R.I.P. Mr. Kershner. To say you'll be missed would be saying too little.