Mike Ryan: There was a lot of buildup and hype with the Boba Fett character leading into Empire. Say what you will about The Star Wars Holiday Special, which I’m not sure Lucasfilm will even admit exists (the Lucasfilm rep in the room audibly laughs), but there was the Boba Fett cartoon during that special which piqued a lot of interest.

Jeremy Bulloch: The only thing that I thought was a bit strange was when I was shown a small figure of Boba Fett and I hadn’t even started filming, and they said, “Well, this will be given away if they send in [proofs of purchase].”And I didn’t understand what they were saying at all. Obviously the figures became very important much later on.

And action figures weren’t quite as popular then.

Then, there was just the off figure. And I thought it was amazing, “look, I’m in plastic, already.” This was before the first day, and I thought they might not like what I do and get rid of me. But now, of course, there’s so many things that are being made and in incredible detail—and Boba Fett is an ideal character to have because he has so many gadgets on his armor and his weaponry.

And how many of those do you own?

Well, I have (Laughs)—this is quite sad, now, really. I do have the big Boba Fett by Don Post, which I went to America to model for. I have that and I have lots of little trinkets and things like that. Only of Boba Fett, because I’m biased.

It’s interesting, considering your theater background, that you played a character in which we don’t even see your face, let alone hear your voice.

It’s the very first part that I’ve ever played with a mask. But, luckily, I was working in the theater at nights for two weeks of The Empire Strikes Back. So I had to leave by 5:30 to get to the theater. And in the theater, I was non-stop talking for two and a half hours for this fast comedy. So I could go in the next day, look at people who spent four or five-hour in makeup, and I just put a helmet on. I could rest a little bit because I was really tired.

The voice of Boba Fett was dubbed over by another actor. Were you saying the lines on set?

Oh, yes, you do. The lovely thing is that you’re saying something, even with Darth Vader, I was talking. And you can’t hear what you’re saying because it’s a muffled sound, obviously, under the helmet. But it’s quite fun because, at the time, you think, I wonder what kind of voice this will be? Whether it will be electronic or will it be just an ordinary voice? Looking at the outfit, I thought it would be some croaky type of person.

So you knew, unlike David Prowse (who played Darth Vader) in the first film, that the voice would be redubbed by another actor?

No, I didn’t know from the beginning. But I assumed that when everything goes back to America, they’ll get someone to do the voice. Now, had I been speaking throughout the whole film, and they wanted to dub my voice, I’d actually have been surprised. Why would they need to do it? But for this, Boba Fett, a few lines, I thought, this came out really well. I was quite happy.

I’m assuming that the outfit isn’t conducive to actual bounty hunting.

(Laughs.) No, no. It is possibly the most uncomfortable costume I’ve ever worn. As they clicked the jet-pack into position, you’d lean back. It was top-heavy and you were almost falling over. And the backs of your legs and your feet—at the end of it you’d just long for a hot bath.

You were in three Star Wars films. If I’m not mistaken, you were in Revenge of the Sith.

Yes, I had a little cameo role as Captain Colton.

Your largest roles were in Empire and Jedi. What was the biggest difference between Empire director Irvin Kershner and Jedi director Richard Marquand?

Irvin was wonderful because you knew, as an actor, exactly what he wanted. He’d occasionally say, “come on, come on,” and you could see he was saying we had to get this shot in. Richard Marquand I’d met before and he was a lovely man. He said, “Jeremy, you know, you were in the last one, you know what to do. Don’t you?” I said, “well, yes I do, but it’s always lovely to have the director say, ‘no, no, no, that’s wrong,’” I quite like that. Because if you’re an actor who says, “well, what I do is obviously what is best,” it’s sometimes not right. I think it’s wonderful having a director leading you through.

It says in the book that Mark Hamill would get frustrated with kershner’s direction. At the way kershner would even act out a scene while saying, “do it like this.”

Well, I don’t know. As I said, I do like someone to direct you. And, as you say, Irvin kershner would say, “do it like this.” And you go, “O.K., fine.” But when they say “action,” you put a little of yourself in it. The director thinks that is exactly what he said, but, in fact, it’s quite a bit of what you want.

There’s a transcript in the book from the set of the Carbon Freezing Chamber where Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher were having a huge, real-life argument. Could you tell there was tension between the two?

No. For us in masks, we were just dripping and waiting for one section of the piece to go—just pouring with sweat. There was something happening, but I could never know what it was because there was so much noise and I was standing at the back next to Darth Vader while the carbon freezer thing was going. I could hardly see through the mask because it used to mist up with all of the steam. So if someone said, “did you see anything, Jeremy?” I’d say, “No, I didn’t.”

The funniest part of that transcript is when David Prowse interrupts kershner during the fight to offer him a signed copy of his new book, Fitness is Fun. Did you get a copy of Fitness is Fun?

Um, no. Well, I have seen it, actually, but I haven’t read it. I prefer to read my book because, as I said to David (Prowse), because it’s in English.

When Empire was released on DVD in 2004, Boba Fett’s voice was redubbed again, only this time by Temuera Morrison who played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Do you feel he’s co-opted your role, playing Jango Fett or Boba Fett throughout the six films? Someone watching all six today for the first time would probably just assume that he’s the guy in the suit by the time we get to Empire.

I can see why because now it’s the Clone Wars and they’re all exactly the same. It’s Temuera and Daniel Logan who plays the young Boba Fett. We all know the voice and what’s going to happen. Although, the original voice by Jason Wingreen is far more menacing. (Mimes Wingreen) “Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold.” That sounded a bit funny.

No, that was a good impression.

I think the original voice—I’m caught halfway here. I can see why, although, I don’t think they needed to change the voice. Especially with the little dialogue Boba Fett has, it’s very strong what comes out. But that’s what is so lovely about the Star Wars films, there’s so much to talk about and argue about. If I’m at a convention, someone will say, “Mr. Bulloch, what do you think about the death of Boba Fett when he goes into the Sarlacc Pit? Could you tell us a little bit more about that?” I’ll say, “No, I’m deeply depressed that Boba Fett went into the Sarlacc Pit. But I will get out. I promise you.” And they say, “thank you very much, Mr. Bulloch, thank you.” I just made someone happy because now I’m going to get out of the pit. You say to someone, “I stay down in the pit as long as I want. There are bounty hunters falling down there every day of the week and I’ve now opened a bar. I’ve opened a Hooters.”

I hope that’s true, because even as a kid I remember thinking, “wait, Boba Fett was killed by Han with a stick by accident?”

George Lucas is terribly funny because I said—this was years and years ago—“Did you mean Boba Fett to die?” And he said, “Oh, yeah.” So all I could say was, “Thanks, George.” The great thing is, by getting rid of Boba Fett, it keeps the popularity up. So the reaction afterwards is actually really good.

How did your other role in Empire, as the Imperial Officer, come about?

I was sitting down waiting to do a Boba Fett scene—the one where I was firing in Cloud City at Luke Skywalker—and they said, “Jeremy, Jeremy, quick, get changed.” I went to wardrobe and they took the Boba Fett outfit off and put me in this Imperial Officer’s outfit. There was no one available to play the part, so that’s what it was.

Did you have to audition for Boba Fett?

No, I’ve said before, if I hadn’t fit in the outfit, I wouldn’t have played the part. There was only one costume. My half-brother, Robert Watts, was an associate producer and he said, “Look, get your agent on to this. It’s not very much, but you never know.” So I went back and put the outfit on. And that was the interview with producer Gary Kurtz, putting bits of the outfit on and it fit like a glove. I always say to people, “It was meant to be.”

I also learned from the book that you were credited as Yoda in Arthur Knight’s 1980 Hollywood Reporter review of Empire.

(Laughs.) I didn’t even know that. Well, that’s good. I’ll have to start practicing a Yoda voice. That’s brilliant.

And you received a lot of fan mail asking if you were the “other” that Yoda mentions.

Yes, I had a lot of that. I went on straight to another theater job after Empire, and I would get people writing letters asking if I was “the other.” I’d say, “other what?” And then pretend I knew. People will come up and ask, “Did you use the BlasTech .E33 rifle in the first film or the second film?” I just turn around and say, “I’m terribly sorry, it’s classified information. I’m not allowed to tell you.” It’s the best answer because they are far brighter than I am. I’m tempted to try and learn Mandalorian, so I can come back with a really classic answer, when needed. It’s not going very well at the moment.

It sounds like you’ve gotten more meaning with what’s happened in the 30 years after the movie was released than you did actually filming.

You’re absolutely spot on there, Mike. I do. You film something and sometimes you watch it for the first time and go, I wish I had done that. How stupid, I should have turned! I think I’ve been terribly fortunate as an actor. I had 20 years experience before Star Wars, but I was extremely lucky to land the role of Boba Fett. It is a journey, like the term, “if the shoe fit.” If the costume fit—and there it was, as if it was made for me.

I feel there’s a lot of people in your position who may resent talking about Boba Fett because, as you said, you just happened to fit a costume.

I think I’m very fortunate and very proud to be part of Star Wars, very proud. I’ve done a lot of work over the course of 52 years now. A lot of different work, some I’ve really enjoyed and thought, that was just right, and another one where I thought, oh, no, that wasn’t so good. People always ask, “Aren’t you upset because they’re not talking about other things that you’ve done? I say, “No, because they’re interviewing me about Star Wars and what my experience was like and what it means.” That’s terribly important to know that I was involved with Star Wars. There’s no point to say, “Oh, I’ve moved on, I’m playing King Lear now. I don’t want to talk about Star Wars.” I do want to talk about it because it was a very fun time for me. It was a terrific time.