CUE ANNOUNCER : Siskel and Ebert interview take one BLOOP!
PETER CUSHING: Have we started yet?
EBERT : Yes Mr Cushing
CUSHING : Oh how lovely
SISKEL : So tell us about Star Wars.
CUSHING : Have you seen the film?
Ebert and Siskel both nod eagerly
EBERT : We both enjoyed it didn't we? (glaring at Siskel)
SISKEL : Oh yes...it was... fun...
CUSHING : Oh how lovely. I haven't seen it yet, myself but I hear it's very popular?
SISKEL : Oh yes... it's certainly that.
EBERT : I imagine it will make a few.. shillings (slightly affected chuckle).
CUSHING : That is most gratifying, my agent informs me I have yet to have received payment for my performance.
SISKEL : I can't imagine George Lucas having a problem paying that.
EBERT : So what was he like to work with?
CUSHING : Mr Lucas?
EBERT : Yeah
CUSHING : He is a very interesting and lovely person with some very unusual ideas.
SISKEL : Like?
CUSHING : One example that was quite lovely. He was insistent that the villains of the piece would be so reliant on technology that even common place activities such as walking would be mechanically assisted. "There is not any walking in space", I heard him once say. Of course my mind was drawn to the moonwalks and space walks of the previous decade but Mr Lucas was quite adamant.
EBERT : I'm pretty sure you must have walked at some point in the movie?
CUSHING : You are quite correct. Naturally the role required a certain amount of perambulation, however if you look closely all my 'walking' scenes are shot from above the waist?
Siskel looks confused.
CUSHING : In the stationary scenes I and much of my entourage wore standard knee length boots. However during the scenes where we walk, the villains all wore disco roller boots.
EBERT : Really?
CUSHING : Truely yes, the idea was to create the impression that the boots were doing the work for us by floating us on a force field or something like that. Berman's Theatrical Costumiers have looked after my professional needs for forty years and I must say this motion picture really stretched their abilities. The boots were astonishingly comfortable. Mr Prowse who plays Lord Vader in the film had a wonderful time learning to backspin and Besti squat. If I must say so, I'm rather proud of my Mohawk turn. Confidentially Sir Alec was very dismissive of the film but I think he had a bit of rollerboot envy myself. My dear friend Christopher has been taking acrobatic classes in the hope he will be cast in one of the sequels. He can flip in mid-air it's quite lovely.
SISKEL : Thanks for that exclusive Mr Cushing.
CUSHING : You are so very welcome, can I have my five pounds please?