50 / STAR WARS INSIDER
FINDING YOUR FETTto be clones.” Between January and
March 1978, Johnston created a
series of character illustrations of
a white-armored trooper, and the
designs were sent to art director
Norman Reynolds.
Even though the second version
of the Empire Strikes Back script,
fi nished in April 1978, fi nally
cemented the role of the super
trooper as a single character, now
named Boba Fett, over in the
movie’s U.K. art department at
Elstree Studios, the suit was still
labelled as the ‘super trooper.’
Under Reynolds, modeler Jan
Stevens sculpted the helmet and
armor, while costume designer John
Mollo designed the soft garments.
A fi berglass helmet and vacuum-
formed plastic body shielding were
fabricated, and pattern maker Brian
Archer created the jetpack from
Reynolds’ designs. By the end of
May, the look of the white-armored
super trooper was fi nished.
The costume was fl own back to
Lucasfi lm and worn for a screen test
on June 28, 1978 by ILM assistant
fi lm editor Duwayne Dunham. As01 Joe
Johnston’s
concept
sketch for
the “super
trooper.”
02 The many
elements of
the prototype
Fett armor
laid out.
03 Johnstone
added
weathering
and dents to
Boba Fett’s
helmet.
04 Fett’s cape is
fitted for a
costume test.
05 A weaponized
gauntlet is
added.
06 The Boba Fett
costume, as
worn by ILM
assistant
film editor
Duwayne
Dunham.010203Developed in early 1978, the initial
concept for Boba Fett was to be a
new character for Star Wars public
appearances. “Boba was created
between Star Wars: A New Hope
(1977) and The Empire Strikes
Back, before we had a script. At that
time no one knew he was going
to be in Empire,” revealed Howard
Kazanjian, the then vice president
for Lucasfi lm’s non-Star Wars
productions. “He was created to go
on the road, because we felt that
we were over-exposing Darth Vader
with public appearances. George
Lucas created Boba Fett so he could
go out and do that, but none of
us knew what he would be in the
Empire script.”
The costume that eventually
became Fett’s iconic look was
originally designed to be a type
of stormtrooper super commando,
whose appearance concept artist
Ralph McQuarrie had been
working on. “I did a helmet for
a snowtrooper offi cer costume
that later emerged as Boba Fett,”
McQuarrie said of his drawings.
“George had Joe Johnston
[Industrial Light & Magic’s visual
effects art director and concept
artist] evolve the Boba Fett costume
based on the Imperial snow costume
for the offi cers. He was looking for
a character that would be sort of a
super warrior, with all these gadgets
on him.”
“Ralph and I did a bunch of
design work on Boba Fett in early
1978,” confi rmed Joe Johnston,
“[The look] was originally created
[for] an army of super troopers, and
I think maybe they were supposed
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