The year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back continues as TodayShow.com presents a lengthy article on the sequel along with numerous fan picture submissions. Check out the excerpt below and then make sure to click here for the full read.


"The concern, largely, was that sequels don?t work. But in the case of ?Empire,? Roffman and others learned that sometimes they do.

?It blew people away,? Roffman said. ?It had this great integrity as a film and moved the story forward in a meaningful way. That was the birth of Yoda, the one where you realize Darth Vadar was Luke?s father, and (the film) looked like this simple black-and-white fantasy, and gave these layers of meaning and complexity.?

After directing ?Star Wars? himself, Lucas put the budding franchise in the hands of Irvin Kershner, who nearly turned down the opportunity to direct ?Empire.?

?I said I was not interested in this project,? Kershner said. ?I responded that he had already done it, and I didn?t see what I could contribute. I also didn?t want to do it because none of us knew if a follow up to ?Star Wars? would work. It was a lot of pressure.?

Ultimately, Lucas persuaded Kershner to direct ?Empire? by saying he?d put his own money into it, and would let Kershner have creative control. ?George said, ?This will be your picture, you?ll be on your own, and I won?t be looking over your shoulder,?? Kershner said. ?That?s when I finally said, ?OK, I?ll do it.? And George kept his word.?


UPDATE: Just noticed that the Today Show site continues the Star Wars tributes through two more articles; one on collecting and the other on Star Wars parenting. Enjoy!