Farewell to Leslie Nielsen and Irvin Kershner

Some sad news these past few days.  On Sunday, Leslie Nielsen passed away at the age of 84.

Here’s a nice tribute to Mr. Nielsen, written by Drew over at Hitfix.  Months ago I had decided to include Airplane! as the final film in the movie marathon I’m holding with my friends next week (I’ll be writing more about this on the site next week), and that choice now has an unexpected poignancy.  But I’m looking forward to revisiting one of his greatest roles.  I’ll need to find some time to re-watch The Naked Gun some-time soon…

Then, on Monday, the news broke that Irvin Kershner had passed away at the age of 87.

Among his many other achievements, Mr. Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, which just might be my favorite film of all time, and certainly ranks among the movies I’ve seen the most often.  I give Mr. Kershner enormous credit, along with screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, with crafting the dark, mature epic that we know Empire to be.  There’s a wonderful tribute to him over at aintitcoolnews, and I also suggest you check out this installment of Quint’s series of Behind the Scenes Pics in honor of the great Kersh.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.