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| Sure, everyone likes the helmet. But a musical Boba Fett, sporting his giant orange tuning fork? Somehow, that look never caught on. |
Jeremy Bullock had been acting for twenty-five years when he
was offered the part of Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back. But Sci-Fi resonates with people more that
other forms of entertainment. His older
son (who was eleven in 1981, when the interview for Starlog Magazine Issue 50
was written) might say, “I like that play you were in,” but both boys kept a
photo of Boba Fett close to hand when his father toured the country in a
production of Hamlet.
After the movie’s release, Jeremy Bulloch received masses of fan letters. Young boys might write
something like, “Gee, we like you, you’re awesome,” while girls and young women
found him alluring. One woman asked if
the voice Lucasfilm used was his real voice.
(It wasn’t). In her letter, she
added, “Mind you, if it isn’t your voice, I won’t stop loving you.” Some asked him what Boba Fett
would do in the next movie, and if his character represented “the other hope”
that Yoda had spoken of.
Up to this point, Bullock had appeared in two James Bond
movies. Of his role on The Spy Who
Loved Me, he told the interviewer (with a smile): “They put these charges
under me, and I get ripped apart after twenty minutes—the story of my
life.” He played more memorable roles in
two Doctor Who stories. After the Doctor
and his companions escape the warriors from Richard the Lionheart’s court in “The
Crusade,” the Tardis lands in “The Space Museum.” Bulloch says of his role, “I was the leader
of a race of children. We had this swept back hair, pointed ears and sort of
funny eyebrows on top of our foreheads.” (Obviously, he wasn't wowed by the Black & White show's special effects budget). Later, he returned to the TV show (this time in color) to play Hal, an archer who helps the
third Doctor defeat a Sontaran in “The Time Warrior.” Despite acting in a popular Sci-Fi show, he didn't get much
attention from those roles, as he never went on to play
a continuing character, and the BBC rarely repeated Doctor Who
stories. (Nor did most viewers have the means to record a TV show in the 1960s and '70s). So it wasn't until the
1980s, when he donned Boba Fett’s costume, that the fan
letters overloaded his mailbox. Viewers suddenly begged him for photographs, or old articles of clothing.
Or even just a snippet off one of his ties.
I once spoke with a plumber who claimed he could instantly
assess anyone he met. When he visited a
customer, he said that he could accurately guess how much the person would be willing
to pay for his services. As it happened,
I was speaking with him at a yard sale, and he offered me insights on a woman
browsing the sale tables. I don’t know
if he was correct in his assertions about the woman, but at the
time he was living rent-free in a condominium owned by his father. So even if he was pulling my leg about his
ability to read strangers, he obviously knew how to get around his dad.
Nevertheless, masks and costumes are powerful tools that we
use in real life. We may not wear an
actual mask, but we adapt our facial expressions, dialogue, and clothing
in relation to the people we are with.
We have learned what others expect from us, and we either act in
accordance with their expectations, or in defiance of them. Such masks shield the truth from others,
and hence repress true growth, but we use them because life has taught us that they
are necessary. Like actors, we play the roles assigned to us, because others have stereotyped us based upon
their expectations and desires, as well as our previous performances.
Of course, it would be nice if we could interact with
everyone without hiding behind a mask, or portraying the persona we’ve decided
to show the world. But that way lays danger,
and unlike Boba Fett, most of us don’t carry blasters.
Dragon Dave
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