Despite featuring for literally seconds in The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett has captivated
fans ever since…
It’s isn’t difficult to see why the mysterious bounty hunter of few words is such a hit – he
features one of the coolest costumes in cinematic history, not to mention brandishing an assortment
of awesome weaponry , and his enigmatic persona has driven much speculation
As usual, we will take a look at the characters backstory, the actors who played him, as well
as other interesting facts, so let’s begin….
1.
HE WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO BE DARTH VADER When initially designing Vader, George Lucas
imagined him as an ‘intergalactic bounty hunter’ before taking the turn of making
him a fallen Jedi Knight.
But Lucas still liked the idea of a menacing mercenary, so he recycled the concept to create
a brand-new villain in The Empire Strikes Back.
Star Wars in general is well known for recycling props, costumes and character designs… for
example did you know that IG-88, a fellow bounty hunter, was built from spare parts
used in the cantina scene?
2.
He originally wore white armour The first Boba Fett concept that Lucas and
his artists explored was having Boba kitted out in ancient Stormtrooper armor, which were
originally described as “Imperial Shocktroopers, warriors from the olden time”.
But as the design progressed, it was decided that he should stand out from the rest of
his Imperial buddies, so a few splashes of colour were thrown in, to place him visually
between the white-armored ‘rank-and-file’ Imperial Stormtroopers and the black-cloaked
Vader, and also to convey the grey morality of his character.
3.
HE’S THE FIRST EXPANDED UNIVERSE CHARACTER Even before the assortment of novels and comics
would be officially aggregated under the Expanded Universe, Lucasfilm was already using its
licensed products to introduce Boba Fett leading up to the release of The Empire Strikes Back.
The rollout officially began with the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired on
CBS in November 1978.
The plot focused around Han Solo and Chewbacca visiting the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk
to celebrate “Life Day,” but a number of other segments were also featured.
One was an animated short that showed the Rebels pairing up with Boba Fett, to help
defend against the Imperials – only to find out that he was working for Vader the whole
time…
Lucasfilm wasted no time in following up the bounty hunter’s introduction with a whole
slew of other appearances in comics and magazines.
By the time Empire was released in May 1980, audiences had already been exposed to Boba
Fett for well over a year…
4.
MORE PEOPLE HAVE PORTRAYED HIM THAN ANY OTHER STAR WARS CHARACTER
You may think that this record belongs to Vader, but you’d be wrong.
A whopping eight performers have helped to bring Boba Fett to life since The Empire Strikes
Back, granting him a Star Wars record that has yet to be broken to this day.
In the original trilogy, the main actor to wear the Mandalorian armor is Jeremy Bulloch,
but one day when he called in sick, stuntman John Morton had to fill in.
It’s Morton whose under the helmet in the infamous “He’s no good to me dead” scene.
Providing the trademark voice originally was Jason Wingreen, though George Lucas replaced
him with Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison for the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the films.
When it came time to adding a few last-minute scenes featuring Boba for the 1997 Special
Editions, it was decided that flying Jeremy Bulloch in was too costly; so various employees
of Industrial Light and Magic were recruited to wear the armor: Mark Austin, a creature
animator; Don Bies, a model maker; and Nelson Hall, the assistant manager of the model shop.
Many of the actors who’ve helped to portray Boba Fett, have also starred in second roles
as different characters within the star wars universe.
That’s another record….
5.
CLINT EASTWOOD WAS A PRIMARY INFLUENCE Jeremy Bullock may have been a seasoned actor
by the time he played Boba Fett, but the role was given to him in part because the armor
fit him so well…
With not much backstory to the character, Bullock was given a lot of creative freedom
to come up with ideas . He claims that his first influence was the Mandalorian armor
itself, which was inherently menacing in its design; and the second influence was Clint
Eastwood’s legendary character in A Fistful of Dollars, the Man with No Name, who is calm
and collected no matter what the situation.
It is the latter that provided most, if not all, of Boba’s body language, from the tilt
of his head to the way he carries his blaster.
6.
He was going to be Vader’s brother George Lucas is a legend, but he has fallen
victim to many bad ideas…
During the development process of the prequel trilogy, you know those ones with Jar Jar
binks…
Lucas considered depicting Boba Fett and Vader as brothers!... but ultimately decided that
it was too hokey… phew Well, at least he didn’t try and get a monkey
to play him…
7.
His action figure was going to feature a rocket launcher
...but it was quickly redesigned over concerns that kids would gouge out their eyes with
it.
In the place of the "Rocket Firing Back Pack" image, they placed a crude sticker describing
Boba Fett as..
A Fearsome interplanetary bounty hunter.
A threat to the Rebel Alliance, especially Han Solo!
A New Character in Star Wars sequel.
If you have a spare 150k lying around, the original figure is up for auction on eBay.
8.
HIS DEATH WAS – AND STILL IS – VERY CONTROVERSIAL When Boba Fett is killed off early in Return
of the Jedi, Lucas and Kasdan meant it as just one of several ways to wrap up various
loose threads in the original trilogy.
But fans were shocked with the underwhelming manner the Mandalorian warrior died in….
As it transpires, Jeremy Bulloch was similarly underwhelmed by the development.
Since the actor never worked from a script, and was pretty much told what to do on the
day of filming, he didn’t realize that Return of the Jedi would mark the end of Fett; and
stated that the “weak” death made him “very upset.”
Even Lucas has said in various interviews that, had he realized just how popular the
bounty hunter was going to be, he would’ve made his death “more exciting”.
Something involving a monkey no doubt….just kidding…I’ll leave it now
9.
He’s probably not dead
Given the outrage over Boba’s death post Return of the Jedi, it wasn’t long before
writers and editors tried to bring him back in various tie-in materials, or at least insinuate
that he escaped the sarlacc’s pit..
But years later , in the Return of the Jedi Special Edition , a CGI beak was added to
the sarlacc, this time showing us Boba Fett getting swallowed whole… oops…but that
hasn’t stopped the new, post-Disney Lucasfilm from teasing his return.
In The Force Awakens, the Mandalorian symbol that Boba wears on his armored shoulder is
clearly visible at Maz Kanata’s castle, while in the new Disney Expanded Universe,
the Jawas have managed to find the bounty hunter’s damaged Mandalorian armor, which
implies that it had to exit the Sarlacc somehow…
10.
HE’S GETTING HIS OWN STANDALONE FILM In addition to the sequel trilogy that The
Force Awakens kicks off, Disney is creating a second series of films: originally called
Star Wars Anthologies, these one-offs will follow various characters or plot points from
the main saga, but can be placed at any point along Star Wars’s timeline.
Unfortunately, the Anthology film focusing on Boba Fett has been moved back to 2020,
swapping places with the Han Solo movie.
This follows the departure of Josh Trank, who left "to pursue some original creative
opportunities." Yeah right...
According to Kennedy, the project is still very much alive
Will Boba Fett make a cameo in Rogue One?
We’ll have to wait and see…
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