Ирвин Кершнер: Американдық режиссердің өмір жолы мен шығармашылығы

American film director (1923–2010)

Irvin Kershner (born Isadore Kershner; April 29, 1923November 27, 2010) was an American director for film and television. Early in his career as a filmmaker he directed quirky, independent drama films, while working as a lecturer at the University of Southern California. Later, he transitioned to high budget blockbusters such as The Empire Strikes Back, the James Bond adaptation Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2. Through the course of his career, he received numerous accolades, including being nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Palme d'Or.

Irvin Kershner was born in Philadelphia, to Russian Jewish parents. They were born in Talne, Russian Empire. His artistic and cultural background was a mixture of music and art. The study of music (violin, viola and composition) was the most important activity of his early years. He attended Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Later, he went to New York and Provincetown to study with the famous painting teacher Hans Hofmann. He then moved to Los Angeles where he studied photography at the Art Center College of Design. During World War II, Kershner served three years with the U. S. Eighth Air Force as a flight engineer. He then moved on to feature films, including: The Hoodlum Priest (which starred Don Murray); The Luck of Ginger Coffey (with Robert Shaw and Mary Ure); A Fine Madness (with Sean Connery, Joanne Woodward, and Jean Seberg); The Flim Flam Man (starring Michael Sarrazin, George C. Scott and Sue Lyon); Loving (with George Segal and Eva Marie Saint); Up the Sandbox (with Barbra Streisand); The Return of a Man Called Horse (starring Richard Harris); the critically acclaimed TV movie Raid on Entebbe (a true life drama which was nominated for nine Emmys, including Best Direction); and the supernatural thriller Eyes of Laura Mars (starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones). Kershner was the son of Jewish immigrants. He considered himself an internationalist, saying: "I've been a student of Christianity. I've been interested in the historical basis of the Muslim religion. I studied Buddhism. I don't think of myself as a Jew except by birth, as I don't follow the customs. I'm a Jew because other people consider me so. My pride is in being international."

Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the sequel of the 1977 hit film Star Wars. Writer producer George Lucas knew Kershner as a teacher in the film program at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Kershner was a surprising choice in directing the film. According to Kershner himself, he once asked Lucas: "Of all the younger guys around, all the hot shots, why me?" Lucas replied: "Well, because you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you're not Hollywood." Kershner, who was an appealing directorial candidate to Lucas because of his concern for character development, was at first reluctant to direct the film. When asked by Lucas to work on the project over lunch, Kershner refused. Kershner's agent was told about the meeting and encouraged him to take the job. Kershner later discussed his motivations: "I was grabbed by the fairytale which Lucas invented and wanted to be part of keeping it alive." Of his cinematic style, Kershner has said: "I like to fill up the frame with the characters' faces. There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face". Kershner turned down a chance to direct Return of the Jedi (1983), having spent almost three years of work on The Empire Strikes Back. Richard Marquand was eventually chosen to direct the third film in the original trilogy. Kershner stated, in retrospect, that he would have accepted an offer to direct one of the films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy had they been produced sooner, as Lucas originally estimated the first of them to be ready for release in 1988 rather than in 1999. Later, he was initially hired by producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to direct an adaptation of Eric Van Lustbader's novel The Ninja from scripts by W. D. Richter and Tom Cole, but the project was cancelled following months of pre production. After Empire Strikes Back, Kershner directed Never Say Never Again (Sean Connery's return to the role of James Bond), the HBO film Traveling Man (starring John Lithgow and Jonathan Silverman, this film earned Kershner an ACE Award nomination), and RoboCop 2. He also directed the pilot of the television series seaQuest DSV, and he made his debut as an actor in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), in which he played Zebedee, the father of the apostles James and John. He played a film director in Steven Seagal's On Deadly Ground. He was a faculty member at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. In 2000, he was a member of the jury at the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival. In fall 2002, spring 2003, fall 2004, and spring 2004, Kershner served as a Visiting Professor and Research Associate at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also provided cinematography training. He and the founding director Martha Nell Smith remained close and he served as her advisor until the end of his life.

Kershner died on November 27, 2010, at his home in Los Angeles, after a 3 1/2 year battle with lung cancer. He was looked after by his two sons, David and Dana.

Year Title Role Director Notes1988The Last Temptation of ChristZebedeeMartin Scorsese1990RoboCop 2GerberHimselfUncredited1994On Deadly GroundWaltersSteven Seagal1995AngusMr. StoffPatrick Read Johnson2003ManhoodGentlemanBobby Roth2005BerkeleyStatistics Professor(final film role)