It’s been almost 30 years since The Empire Strikes Back debuted but for Jeremy Bulloch, better known as bounty hunter Boba Fett in the second film in the original Star Wars trilogy, it never gets old.
Rarely a day goes by without someone wanting to talk to the 65-year-old actor about his most famous role.
Which is even more impressive considering that, without the iconic Boba Fett mask, he wouldn’t exactly stand out in a crowd.
But at a packed comic convention he is royalty, the man behind one of the most-loved characters in the Star Wars canon and a particular favourite of series’ diehards.
Their neverending adoration makes him proudly embrace his place in sci-fi history and talking to Star Wars geeks never gets old, he said in a recent interview.
“I’m not one of those people who says, ‘Look, I’ve moved on, I’m now doing Shakespeare, I’m playing King Lear at the Royal Court (in London). I’m very proud to have been a part of Star Wars, I’m very proud to have been playing Boba Fett,“ he said.
“I think I’m terribly lucky and I’m very fortunate to be part of this massive trilogy, the original trilogy we did, and I feel terribly lucky that Boba Fett became very popular. To me I still find it quite difficult to take in how popular he is.”
Bulloch is still active on the fan convention circuit in between other acting gigs and has mastered the technique of courtesy and deflection in dealing with fans’ queries, both the banal and the borderline obsessive.
“You still have to answer every fan as if it’s the first time I’ve heard the question because I think it’s awful to say, ‘Well yes, of course, the suit was hot,’ and get cross with them,” he said.
“About 99.9 per cent of the fans are absolutely magnificent and they’re the ones who have kept this going.”
When it comes to obscure questions of trivia or complaints about what should have been, Bulloch has a stock answer ready.
“There’s the 35 year olds who always have something to say, ’I think this should happen, and why did they do this?’
“Then I had a five-year-old who literally came up and said, ‘Mr. Bulloch, can you tell me a little bit more about the E-33 blaster rifle you carried?’
“I usually say, ‘Well I can’t answer your question because it’s classified information.’ That gets me out of any hole if they ask me tricky questions.”
If he has any regrets, he just wishes Boba Fett could’ve lived a little longer in the series and “been a nuisance to Hans Solo and Chewbacca.”
“Unfortunately, I went into the sarlacc and that was it. I wished I’d stayed on, I was a little bit disappointed that Boba Fett was got rid of so quickly.”
Although he claimed no knowledge of a possible project, Bulloch said he’d love to see Star Wars go 3D in the future.
“I think 3D would be terrific,” he said, “and I’m sure it’s not far away.”
The Empire Strikes Back airs April 3 on Teletoon.