26 / STAR WARS INSIDER
INTERVIEW: JEREMY BULLOCHFett during fi lming. “John Morton
stepped in for me once because I
was also appearing every night in
the theater in London’s West End,
so therefore had to leave the studio
in good time every afternoon,” he
explains. “That particular day they
were running a bit late for the scene
with Darth Vader, Boba, and Lando,
so John fi lled in. Obviously, the
stunt men stepped in for the more
dangerous scenes.”
Such was the popularity of
the bounty hunter that he also
appeared in Star Wars: Return of the
Jedi (1983), with Bulloch happy to
wear the mask once more. Fondly
recalling his time on the shoot,
he reveals that it was the scenes in
Jabba’s palace that particularly stood
out for him, “because of all the
extraordinary characters that were
there. I was thrilled to be called back
for Return of the Jedi, but not so
thrilled to end up in the Sarlacc Pit,”
he laughs.
Bulloch didn’t return to reprise
the role in the Special Edition of
Return of the Jedi, with Don Bies
instead taking on the mantle of
Boba. Re-casting—and different
voices for updates—isn’t some-
thing that Bulloch lets bother him,
though. “It didn’t worry me at all.
It was Jason Wingreen who voiced
the Boba Fett character in The
Empire Strikes Back and Return of
the Jedi, after all” he says.
With various other actors having
stepped into the armor, voiced
the character, or played an earlier
incarnation of the notorious bounty
hunter over the years, there’s now
an extended Boba Fett family that
Bulloch is very happy to be a part
of. “I get thanks from Daniel Logan
for portraying the character, which
indirectly led to him playing Boba as
a young boy,” he says of Logan’s role
in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
(2002). “Temuera Morrison, likewise,
considers that his character, Jango
Fett, came about because of the
popularity of Boba. On the rare
occasions we have gotten together
at conventions, we marvel at the
fact that Boba Fett played such a
small role in the fi lms but became
so iconic.”The fi rst time
I walked
onto the set
as Boba Fett,
everyone
just stopped
what they
were doing
to gaze at
the costume.
With the small matter of Fett’s
accoutrements sorted, the time
fi nally came for Bulloch to bring
his character to life and he began
fi lming his scenes for The Empire
Strikes Back. “I remember the early
mornings, arriving at Elstree Studios
to get into the outfi t, and the fi rst
time I walked onto the set as Boba
Fett, everyone just stopped what
they were doing to gaze at the
costume,” the actor recalls.
However cool the costume
looked, however, it presented several
problems for the actor inside. “The
helmet tended to steam up, which
seriously affected my vision walking
around the set,” Bulloch says of
wearing the suit in action. “And the
backpack was very heavy. It became
quite uncomfortable after wearing
it for some time, but Boba never
complained!” It was these issues
with the practicality of the costume
which led to one of his most famous
on-screen bloopers. “I trod on Darth
Vader’s cape due to poor vision,
and we both nearly fell on the fl oor.
I think they edited that out,” he
chuckles at the memory.
The Men Behind The Mask
Despite the role being small, Bulloch
wasn’t the only person to play Boba
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