Chicago Is Getting A Life-Size Siskel And Ebert Sculpture Giving ‘Two Thumbs Up’

DOWNTOWN — A life-size bronze sculpture of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert is coming to Chicago, and a local producer is a driving force behind the effort. Pam Kasper, who has been working on a Siskel and Ebert documentary with director Michael Bonfiglio for the past two years, wanted to come up with a way to honor the two famed film critics in Chicago. She said she was inspired after seeing a statue of Ebert outside the Virginia Theatre in Champaign. “I realized that we have so many tributes in Chicago to people who have had such an influence — athletes, politicians. But there wasn’t anything about Roger and Gene,” Kasper said. “Despite how popular and influential they became, they never left Chicago. They were on the air for 25 years nationally, and they could have left.” Alongside burgeoning careers and appearing on talk shows like Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show, Siskel worked as the Chicago Tribune’s primary film critic for 30 years until his death in 1999, and E