Tuesday 30 November 2010

Star Wars director passes on and RIP Leslie Nielsen

Personally I've always though the Star Wars films are overrated but there is no denying their cultural significance and out of all the movies, most seem to agree that The Empire Strikes Back is the best - The Archive was saddened to hear that the film's director,  Irvin Kershner died Saturday just gone aged 87. Kershner also directed Sean Connery's Bond comeback, Never Say Never Again.

"When I finally accepted the assignment, I knew that it was going to be a dark film, with more depth to the characters than in the first film," Irvin Kershner on The Empire Strikes Back.

Kershner directed a number of noted features in the 1960s and 1970s, including "A Fine Madness" with Sean Connery, Joanne Woodward and Jean Seberg; "Loving" with George Segal and Eva Marie Saint; and "The Eyes of Laura Mars" with Faye Dunaway. His big-budget work also included 1983's "Never Say Never Again" with Connery and "Robocop 2" in 1990.
In recent years, Kershner taught screenwriting at the University of Southern California while continuing to produce, write and take still photographs, Guttman said. At the time of his death, he was working on a musical as well as a documentary about writer Ray Bradbury.

We are also sad at the news that comic genius Leslie Nielsen has died at the age of 84 -  Nielsen
was a serious actor until he struck comedy gold at 54 as the hapless doctor in Airplane!
"Surely you can't be serious," an airline passenger says to Nielsen's character in the 1980 hit disaster movie send-up.
"I am serious - and don't call me Shirley," came the deadpan reply.
He went on to achieve further fame with the Police Squad TV shows and the Naked Gun films.
The son of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, he enjoyed a career of more than 60 years in television and cinema, appearing in more than 100 films - including his role as the ship's captain in The Poseidon Adventure in 1972.

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