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Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. Today’s Behind the Scenes Pics are in honor of Irvin Kershner.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes pic… or pics in this case!
This is the second day in a row the evil movie gods have taken a geek icon from us and the second day in a row I’ve altered the course of the BTS column in order to pay tribute to a lost master.
It saddened me to wake up and find Irvin Kershner had passed. I missed out on seeing him speak at UT a good 6 or 7 years ago and I always hoped I’d get another chance. From all I’ve heard, Kershner was full of good humor and just a sweet-heart of a guy.
So, I’ve pulled together some of my remaining Empire Strikes Back Behind the Scenes pics, featuring Mr. Kershner, as my way of paying tribute to the man.
Hope you guys enjoy the pics!
If you have a pic you think should be included email me. I’m looking for the iconic, the rare or the just plain cool behind the scenes shots to feature here.
Tomorrow I’ll bring up the cult movie pic I promised yesterday, barring another sudden, sad death of a geek icon.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Previous Behind the Scenes pics:
- Alien
- Big Trouble In Little China
- Clash of the Titans
- Dr. Strangelove
- Sesame Street
- The Birds
- The Dark Knight
- Batman (1989)
- Batman: The TV Series
- Stephen King’s IT
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Superman
- The French Connection
- Tron
- The Road Warrior
- Ghostbusters
- King Kong (’33)
- The Empire Strikes Back (Luke with Slate)
- Rebel Without A Cause
- Taxi Driver
- Metropolis
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Tommy Chong Meets The Blues Brothers
- The Empire Strikes Back (Filming the Crawl)
- John Carpenter’s The Thing
- Jaws
- Die Hard
- Aliens
- Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
- The Howling
- Revenge of the Creature
- The Empire Strikes Back (Vader & Luke Duel)
- The Godfather
- Rambo III
- Vertigo
- Planet of the Apes
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- Labyrinth
- RoboCop
- The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Marathon Man
- Young Frankenstein
- Viva Las Vegas
- The Empire Strikes Back (Han driving a snow cat)
- Rio Bravo
- Giant
- Back to the Future
- The Time Machine
- War of the Worlds (1953)
- Alien (Chestburster)
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
- Dr. No
- The Twilight Zone
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- The Empire Strikes Back (Luke in Wampa Cave)
- Edward Scissorhands
- The Warriors
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Requiem for a Dream
- The Princess Bride
- Hard Boiled
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- They Live
- The Empire Strikes Back (Tippet with Wampa)
- Dirty Harry
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Blade Runner
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Periscope Ride)
- 1941
- The Godfather (Coppola & Brando)
- The Lady Eve
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
- Godzilla
- The Empire Strikes Back (Bald Vader)
- Mary Poppins
- Alien 3
- Total Recall
- The Pink Panther
- Fawlty Towers
- The Trouble With Harry
- Beetlejuice
- The Shining
- Thriller
- An American Werewolf In London
- The Gate
- The Fly (1958)
- Halloween
- Army of Darkness
- Frankenstein
- Seed of Chucky
- Psycho
- John Carpenter’s The Thing (Bottin)
- Creature From the Black Lagoon
- Friday the 13th (1980)
- A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
- Creepshow
- Night of the Living Dead (’68)
- Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
- Silence of the Lambs- The Exorcist
- Alien (crouching alien)
- Alfred Hitchcock being awesome
- Son of Frankenstein
- The Mummy (1932)
- Re-Animator
- Nosferatu (1979)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- War of the Worlds
- Vincent (Tim Burton)
- Evil Dead II
- The Evil Dead
- The Shining (Kubrick Self Portrait)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- Casablanca
- Sahara (1943)
- Pumpkinhead
- Back to the Future
- Inception
- MacBeth (1948)
- Superman
- Twilight Zone (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet)
- The Public Enemy
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Barbarella
- Ghostbusters II
- The Thin Man
- Faust
- Batman TV Show
- The Adventures of Superman
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- The Gold Rush
- Empire of the Sun
- Sunset Blvd.
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- The Seven Year Itch
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
- Dr. No
- Forbidden Planet
Readers Talkback
comments powered by Disqus-
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with my tongue
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RIP Mr. Kershner
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the "In Memorium" segment of next year's Oscars. <p> Also... "Kissing Vadar"...Good band name. <p> RIP Irvin.
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droid who once fought in the clone wars. Seems pretty heavily modified to me considering he doesn't look remotely like a battle droid.
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Cool I don't remember him in knoxville
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That pic and one of the other ones give a really pleasant vibe of being on set in scenes that required a lot of people.
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Thanks Quint!
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Seems like a very nice man in the photos. Thanks for the memories!
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Nov. 29, 2010, 7:20 p.m. CST
Apparently, they filmed a shot where Carrie had to slap Billy De
by Fa_Tass_DinoMolester
and she kept hitting him REALLY hard, and he had to get Irv to jump in and referee so Carrie didn't hurt him...from the old "Making of ESB" book. Bet Irv loved shooting THAT scene... <p> In Carrie's defense, she was probably stoned off her ass at the time. <p> Anyhoo, nice pics. BTW, Irv looks a bit like Yoda...
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He happens to be close friends with Ray Bradbury, and Bradbury, in turn, is good friends with Kershner. They had dinner together multiple times from what I understand. He posted a picture of the two of them together on facebook. Couldn't say enough nice things about him, how generous and sweet and funny he was. I'm proud enough to be "six degrees of seperation" from Mr Kersher through my teacher. I, like many, have been kinda bummed out about this all day. And so, I'm off to watch The Empire Strikes Back. Rest well Irvin.
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Thanks Quint.
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it's a great one
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Thanks for the great pics. My Making of ESB book is on its way, a Christmas gift to myself I bought upon hearing of Kersh's death. I really love that film and the heart this director put into it.
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So long man. Now the two directors who actually made good star wars films, are gone. Not to wish death on anyone, but idk if ill feel this sad when lucas goes. Why? Idk, then maby the star wars franchise can be put in capable hands once again. Note how all the good star wars films, even the tv series, is not directly in lucas's hands? and Dam eather Kershner was tiny in real life or darth vader has a huge fucking head!
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I live in Knoxville and he did come here about 3 years ago to AdventureCon. I got to meet him and he was a true gentleman.
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Despite that, I still enjoy it!
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You are sorely missed. You were our only chance of having 7 8 and 9 directed by someone who knew what they were doing! RIP to one of the greatest!
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Irvin really knew how to surround himself with great company!
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George should've let him make Jedi as well.
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The Empire Strikes Back makes Irvin Kershner very special. Everything in that movies holds up better than all the other Star Wars films. What a great accomplishment. RIP Kersh... you've earned your peaceful sleep.
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Nov. 29, 2010, 7:52 p.m. CST
Lando's mug ... <P>... is pretty ugly! hahahahahahahaahahahahaha
by Tigger Tales
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They can phone up their agent so fast it'll make your head spin. And when a wookie says he wants his cappucino extra hot, you better make sure it shows up extra hot.
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by the end of the shoot. If I recall correctly, Carrie and Richard Dreyfuss ended up in the same rehab clinic.
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That's an awesome shot! My five year old liked the one with the bounty hunters. Go figure. I always loved Boba Fett, et al when I was growing up.
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He has that wizard look down pat.
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I'd never seen any of these before. IK really did seem like the a true gent, and all around great guy. His commentary for ESB was a lot of fun. I remember the part with R2 in the rain in dagobah looking in Yoda's window and he just starts shouting "tippy toes! tippy toes! I was obsessed with trying to get R2 to stand on his tippy toes, drove the prop guys mad and nobody thought it was essential but me!" or something like that, and he was completely right, its one of those little touches that just worked so well, like ever other inch of that movie. I wish Kershner and Nicholas Meyer could of colaborated on something, they seem like they'd have similar attitudes, and both made some of the best and most heartfelt scifi films of all time.
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For real, I checked Facebook and he's the only one. There are a lot of Kevin Kershners, though.
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that was worth a shit. Lucas, Ben Burtt and Rick McCallum fucking suck. Kershner's TESB commentary was, like the film itself, the best.
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Is Facebook the one source for checking everyone's names? I'm not on there, but I also have the same name as a pro quarterback, so it really doesn't matter. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to steal his identity yet and cash some of those checks.
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And people spelling Vader with two a's? Am I on aintitcool or some yahoo site for 12 year old girls? Anyway, it's not everyday that someone who directed a perfect movie passes away. Rest in peace Mr Kershner.
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How can you not be on Facebook? Get in the game, man!
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I just told my girlfriend that the director of the Empire Strikes Back died today. She looked at me, really confused and said: "Leslie Neilson directed the Empire Strikes Back?!"
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Works every time.
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although I got a good laugh out of "R2-D2's penis"
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Hell IG-88 is even in the newest "Star Wars" ABC's book I just got for my 4 year old daughter.<BR><BR> RIP Irven Kirshner, you're the only appropriate letter 'I' entry in the Star wars ABC book for me.
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Nov. 29, 2010, 9:06 p.m. CST
Star Wars is something special that will never happen again
by DioxholsterImperium
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I got his 12 inch action figure for Christmas in 1980. Flippin' sweet!
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Probably figured ol' Harrison was already bangin' the princess in the coat room between takes anyway.
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are the ones who truly elevated Star Wars to another level. After Ep. IV; the more Lucas put his hands on the franchise, the more it sucked. BTW... I'm going to have to go back and see if Robocop 2 is as good as I remember. Haven't seen it since it was in theaters.
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he does his own thing. i remember trying to destroy the hell out of him in that 1996 game shadows of the empire.
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im not on it either. coz i aint a whore.
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RIP Mr.Kershner! (One thing I don't get with a lot of modern "BTS" pics is that they're in black and white. Color film has been around for over 100 years. I'm sure there's some f*ck'd up geeky reason for it but IMO it doesn't do justice in documenting the historic and often unseen sides of incredible works-in-progress.) Soapbox power: DE-ACTIVATE!
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His model type "Assassin droid" is seen in both incarnations of the animated "Clone Wars" series. In the "cartoon" (before ROTS) a squad of them on speeder bikes backed up the bounty hunter "Durge" in a fight against Obi-Wan and in the current CGI series, they've been seen alongside Cad Bane and attacking Anakin & Ashoka on board that scavenger ship while they searched for R2.
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And one of the best and most candid in this series so far. RIP.
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What a terrible week for cinema greats. Neilsen and Kirshner were big parts of my growing up to be the geek I am. I never knew them, but I'll miss them.
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Is a low, despicable thing to do 8n an obit. Why does every topic eventually come around to bashing on gl? Disrespectful to say the least. Sorry about these jerks kersh.
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My favorite is the one with Vader and The Bounty Hunters. Also, I know Leslie Nielsen has passed on, equally bummed about that, but there seems to have been more press coverage on him than Kershner. WTF?!?! Media People!!! Anyways, lots of props to you guys for giving more recognition than other outlets.
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Nov. 30, 2010, 12:06 a.m. CST
I was 6 (almost 7), and 'Empire' was a religious experience.
by highfunctioningsociopath
Sadly, it was all downhill from there. Jedi was dissasisfying, and the prequels just induced nausea. May The Force be with you, Irvin Kershner.
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i actually find it quite decent, thanks to kershner too
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Love the last one. Thank you so much for posting these, Quint. RIP Irvin Kershner.
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do not exist in Kershner's Dojo. The Kenner figure from 1980 called him IG-88 and he didn't need some dumb 'Clone Wars' backstory to make him cool.
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Godspeed my friend. You made the best Star Wars film that will ever be. You are legend, now and always.
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I wish I still could do some Q&A with Kershner about his ROBOCOP movie...<p>I tip my hat at you, sir!
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Nov. 30, 2010, 3:13 a.m. CST
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree Credible Hulk
by Righteous Brother
Leigh Bracketts draft of TESB is truly dreadful. Worse than the prequels. Lawrence Kasdan was the man that made that script zing along with help from Kersh.
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Well, newish. I have a strong memory of being in the 3rd grade and some idiot spoiling the end of Empire when I was just about to watch it on video at my birthday party that weekend. I can still see his stupid face!
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a winter of discontent. Very sad news. RIP.
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IG-89: I'm just like IG-88 but with that extra something. Great pics, btw
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Looks like a much more friendly and warm atmosphere at the TESB production than ANH. I mean ... would George have allowed such a great mug to be used by Lando or would he have insisted on a more appropriate copyrighted logo officially sanctioned cup be used? That mug is something my mum used in the 1970s ... which is just achingly cool.
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75% of praise (with 25% of it for American Graffitti and THX1138 specifically), 10% of respect but no praise, 15% of "good riddance!"
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Rather than acting like some blowhard who was a personal friend of the man.
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And having him by the fireplace, drinking cocoa and telling stories about ESB and Robocop 2.
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But surely Gary Kurtz should be getting a lot of credit for the way Empire turned out? After all, the films really turned to shite once he stopped being involved.
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Although I'm the only one who knew about Monicelli
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speaks for itself.
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I bet Lando is drinking pure funk out of that mug.
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Straight from his old school crunk cup.
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Straight from his old school crunk cup.
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...you can tell he's thinking "Jesus Carrie, could you give it a rest with the sexual inuendos?! We get the irony that you're not really a Princess because you like coke and fucking too much!"
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"Luminous beings are we" when I heard Yoda say that I thought he meant 'all of us'. A lovely, deep sentiment about humanity and life.<p> Turns out in Prequel 3 he was only referring to that throwaway bollocks at the end of the film "Qui Gonn has invented a way to return from the dead he has! So now us three Jedi can go glowy! It's very complicated and I won't bother explaining it but just you wait till I die in movie 6 - you'll see - glow I will."<p> I preferred it Kersh's way best.
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IG-88 stick a metal skull on his head and you've got the T-800. Pimp that droid!
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for Adventure Con. Cool guy.
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Someone show George Lucas these photos. Apparently, you actually CAN speak to your actors during filming!
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Really. Every single line of Yoda in the trainning part of the movie is magical. The metaphors are sublime and the way he explains the Force it's just philosophical. I think it was the lack of this kind of writing that made the prequels so generic.
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from this era were still the norm. Don't know why, except maybe tradition and the fact that most pros still preferred to shoot in B&W in those days.
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Nov. 30, 2010, 9:34 a.m. CST
Kershner looks like Nosferatu in that pic with Chewie
by THAT_SAID_THE_CHOPPAH
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The robot and Vader both look kind of silly in that picture but Boba Fett still looks business. I bet he's got an epic mullet stuffed up in that helmet.
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It's cheaper and easier to shoot and print in B&W. There is also something about B&W that just makes things so much better. Turd_Has_Risen_From_The_Gravy you're an idiot.
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not just because of the philosophical explorations but also because of the subtle touches he brought to the characters. He took Lucas' archetypes and deepened them as living breathing characters. RIP Kersh.
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great man - RIP
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...Irvin giving direction to Chewbacca.<p> There should be a caption: "I'd be careful if I were you. Wookies don't like getting notes on their line delivery."
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He looks so fucking sinister in the bounty hunter briefing scene, even though he didn't move.<p> He'd probably look really shitty if he was shown in motion, of course. Sigh...
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Like, did he know Boba Fett was a clone of the Clone Army's progenitor?
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...movie ever made The Empire Strikes Back. Kersh- you are responsible for some of the greatest memories of my life. This film means so much to me and you were a big part of it. One thing I would like to mention that Kersh's visuals, use of light and shadow and effects and the performances inspired John Williams to also create one of the best soundtracks of all time. Imagain what Kersh could have done with Revenge of the Sith...RIP big guy. Legend.
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When Lucas left Directing to Directors and writing to writers... and Special Effects were special. RIP Kersh, you gave us the best of what could've been a great saga.
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Nov. 30, 2010, 3:22 p.m. CST
Great pics, all of them, too bad it was due to Kersh's death
by JT Kirk
Man was a brilliant director on ESB, and his face in shots with actors just explains perfectly what differentiates him from Lucas' style.
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I love the last picture. And was he a short guy, or the dudes who played the characters in the first photo, Vader and Bob Fett, were giants?
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The dude who took the black and white photos of the production of the movie is a one hell of a photographer.
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I though the same thing! Fancy that! Man, i'm loving everything you are posting. Keep it up, friend.
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Fair enough. He was a Sith after all.
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Theres a short story about him in the Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology which I'd recommend if you're interested. Quite chilling and will make you look at the finale of ROTJ in a whole new way...<p><p><p>Of course, your mileage may vary.
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