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Boba Fett Doesn't Fret Over Meeting 'Star Wars' Fans

Legendary Bounty Hunter Bulloch Makes Frequent Treks To Disney

If you're looking for something intergalactic, Disney World appears to have all the "spaces" covered. Not only do they have the rocketing attraction "Mission Space," they have also have a galaxy far, far away.

Well, sort of.

Tim LammersWhat they do have is their annual "Star Wars" weekends, which run annually from early May to mid-June at the Disney-MGM theme park.

Each weekend features "Star Wars"-related activities and stars from all five films in the saga. Among them are Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) May 21-23, Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Andy Secombe (Watto) May 28-30, Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok) June 4-6 and Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett) June 11-13.

Boba Fett and Jeremy BullochKicking off the celebrations this weekend is the grown-up Boba Fett, Jeremy Bulloch, who will be joined by the young Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader Jake Lloyd Friday through Sunday.

"I've been terribly lucky," Bulloch told me by phone from London in a recent @ The Movies interview. "Because it was a masked character, they said, 'Look, there's not so much to do with this character.' It was supposed to be a few days' work that turned into a few weeks."

And that few weeks work has turned into quite a few years of fans admiring the bounty hunter, who was featured in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" (Boba also made a brief cameo in the special edition of "A New Hope," too).

"Kids especially seem to love the character because he's sort of an anti-hero," Bulloch said. "Because of that, since Disney started the thing started in '97, I've been lucky to have been invited every year they've put it on."

Bulloch said he only did one convention prior to 1997, and is thrilled by the positive influence the "Star Wars" films have had on people.

"All those years ago, in 1982, I met a young kid with his dad and recently that young kid came to a convention," Bulloch recalled. "Here he had grown up and had become an animator because of the "Star Wars" movies. It's extraordinary how many people have caught on to George Lucas' dream, and many of those youngsters are now working in animation studios or are directors or film cameramen. It's done an awful lot of good."

Bulloch enjoys the convention circuit and Disney trips because they essentially equate to fun family reunions with fellow cast mates and other members of the "Star Wars" universe. This weekend, he's looking forward to reuniting with Lloyd.

"I met Jake Lloyd when they were doing 'The Phantom Menace' on the set here in England," Bulloch said. "He was a young lad, really nice and I even met his mum. So I'm looking forward to meeting him again -- It was a very brief meeting. So here it will be a fun reunion to see the young Darth Vader."

Bulloch has also appeared at conventions with fellow members of the original trilogy, too. In fact, his appearance with David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Mayhew a couple years ago at the San Diego ComicCon was caught on camera by Luke Skywalker himself -- Mark Hamill -- who was there filming his mock-documentary "Comic Book: The Movie."

"I actually saw Mark at a convention in Newark, N.J., last weekend -- he came to chat about 'Comic Book' and I actually saw the movie for the first time. But because Boba Fett is the silent one he didn't give me any dialogue in that, either," Bulloch deadpanned.

Bulloch is likely to encounter a wide variety of fans at his appearance this weekend -- and not all there will necessarily be "Star Wars" fans. That's because his screen-acting resume dates back to 1960.

"I played a very small role in three James Bond's film as Smithers -- Q's assistant -- the one always fiddling with the gadgets. So yes, there's a lot of people who bring photographs of him," Bulloch said. "And over here in England, I did a series called 'Robin of Sherwood' for three years so I get people coming to see me for that, as well as 'Doctor Who.' So there's a wide variety of things that people bring to me to sign."

And, of course, people may recognized the unmasked Bulloch in a scene from "The Empire Strikes Back," where he plays one of the Imperial guards escorting an imprisoned Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca after Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is frozen in carbonite.

Bulloch recalled: "Everyone says, 'Is that you?' It was one of those days where I think they realized that they didn't have an actor to do this part, and since I was waiting around to do a scene as Boba Fett later, they said, 'Quick, go into wardrobe and get into an imperial officer's outfit and come back. I said, 'Why, is that part of the script? And they said, 'No, just do it.' I ended up for most of the day just filming that sequence with Carrie Fisher."

While he's the person "Star Wars" fans come to see, Bulloch says he's a fan of the movies, as well. He's looking forward to seeing the original trilogy on DVD and, as for the yet-untitled "Episode III ("At the moment, I know less than any fan -- they tell me what's going to happen when you see them," he said).

Plus, a "Star Wars" fan wouldn't be a "Star Wars" fan without the action figures.

"I tend to collect Boba Fett stuff -- not fanatically, but I do collect the odd figure," Bulloch said.

And besides, why fanatically collect Boba Fett figures when he's the guy? Essentially, Bulloch's the ultimate figure.

"I don't think anybody would want to put me on their shelf," he laughed.

As of yet, Bulloch himself hasn't been put up for bid on eBay.

"You never know, there's still time," he quipped.

More Info: Disney World Web Site Official 'Star Wars' Web Site

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