Luke getting instruction on Dagobah
Here we show one of the hidden heroes of the original trilogy, Irvin Kershner. While only having directed The Empire Strikes Back, Kershner’s influence could be seen in the films that would follow.
Here we see him directing Mark Hammill (Luke Skywalker) on the Dagobah set right before the introduction of Yoda. Kershner always valued personally interacting with his stars and writers to make sure everyone had an understanding of the scene’s direction. He grew up in Philadelphia and was a very astute student of the arts, especially music. He even went to art school after high school. He learned painting, writing, and eventually directing. The latter of which he discovered he had a knack for.
He began his career by directing a small television documentary that established him in the directing scene. He would then move onto directing a few smaller films before being offered the chance to direct Empire. Lucas himself had originally directed A New Hope, but found himself being distracted by his many other roles. Therefore, he passed on this monumental task to this up and coming film maker. Many people regard Empire as the best of the Star Wars films, but Irvin didn’t want to continue. He left to pursue his other film projects instead of directing Return of the Jedi.
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