Grand Moff Tarkin detonated Alderaan in boots that didn’t fit

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It’s arguable that few characters in fiction have as much blood on their hands as Grand Moff Tarkin, a man who casually destroys an entire planet, for target practise. Something he did whilst the actor playing him was rocking a pair of oversized carpet slippers. 

To explain, the actor who played Tarkin, Peter Cushing was a pretty tall guy, standing just shy of 6 feet tall with, by his own admission, massive fuck off feet that themselves were over a foot long. Something that understandably made it quite difficult for the actor to get boots that fit.

Anyway Cushing’s massive kangaroo-sized feet reportedly made it exceedingly difficult for the actor to wear shoes that weren’t custom-made specifically for him. A fact which immediately caused issues on the set of Star Wars when Cushing realised that the costume department either hadn’t gotten the memo about his big-ass canoe feet or hadn’t linked the loud slapping noises they’d heard to him walking around yet.

Whatever the reason, Cushing was forced to wear a pair of standard boots for his first few days on set, which reportedly caused him to end each filming day in agonising pain. Something that prompted the actor to simply ask George Lucas if he could be filmed from the waist up as much as possible, a request the director actually granted, letting Cushing walk around in a pair of fuzzy slippers instead of boots for the rest of production. Which in addition to being adorable, makes behind the scenes shots of Cushing in character look hilarious and kind of ridiculous.

Why ridiculous? Well believe it or not, this story ended up influencing actual Star Wars canon. Specifically in the novel Tarkin (which is canon) there’s a line about the character wearing ill-fitting boots, a seeming nod to Cushing’s complaints on set several decades ago.

But here’s the thing, as we’ve explained before, according to extended universe material, the Empire cut so many corners when making Darth Vader’s prosthetic limbs and armour that they somehow built him boots that didn’t fit on the artificial feet they made for himMeaning that it is Star Wars canon that Grand Moff Tarkin destroyed Alderaan wearing boots that didn’t fit stood across from a guy whose shoes also didn’t fit and lets be honest, all their bluster about the Empire being superior kind of ring hollow when it’s canon that neither of them could even get shoes that fit.