Topic: Boba Fett Stuntmen in Return of the Jedi

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Topic #4110
AvatarBFFC Admin Mod OP
May 4, 2013 9:53 am #

A recent article commemmorating the 30th anniversary of "Return of the Jedi" has a quote that six different stuntmen played Boba Fett:

Six different stuntmen in America played the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett falling to his death in the Sarlacc Pit

I've never heard of this before. Six actors, yes, but not different stuntmen.

We followed up with the journalist, who declined to comment.

Looking further into this trivia, according to starwarsaficionado.com, there's an excerpt about a second stuntman besides Dickey Beer, who has been on the convention circuit (and Entertainment Weekly):

In particular, we finally put to bed the information presented over the years that Jeremy Bulloch played Boba Fett on location at Yuma. He didn’t-all of his filming was studio bound, done within a three to four week period at the beginning of 1982 at ELSTREE on the Jabba’s Palace stage. Simply put, as Fett’s scenes on location were all stunt work, it would not have made practical, or budgetary, sense to send the actor out to Yuma when all of his work would have been handled by a stunt man. In this instance, Fett was doubled by two stunt men, one of which was Glenn Randall (location filming footage of him exists, wearing almost Elvis-like sideburns!!, getting ready in costume to film his scenes).

Returning to Fett, Beer joined Glenn Randall in Stunt Double work for the Bounty Hunter in Yuma (Glenn, being the USA location Stunt Coordinator, particularly wanting him to do some of the stunts), with Beer doing the scene of Boba flying from the skiff into the barge. When Boba Fett crashes into the barge and falls into the Sarlacc, and a view of the other shots, that’s also Dickey.

Anyone have any more sources or thoughts on this?

Founder/Editor, BFFC
aaron@bobafettfanclub.com
AvatarBFFC Admin Mod OP
May 14, 2017 12:24 pm #

To update this post, here's who we consider an official Boba Fett stuntman:

Glenn Randall Jr.
* On location at Yuma, Arizona set for skiff, wire, and Sarlacc Pit work

Dickey Beer
* On location at Yuma, Arizona set for skiff, wire, and Sarlacc Pit work

Bob Yerkes
* Not on location at Yuma, Arizona set
* Filmed in a backyard for the skiff landing close-ups

Founder/Editor, BFFC
aaron@bobafettfanclub.com
AvatarBFFC Admin Mod OP
June 3, 2019 7:06 pm #

UPDATE: There was a 4th! We just learned about him through an autograph collector.

Louis Friedman

See more about the shot in which he was suited up for just one pick-up shot, over on Daily Fett: https://www.bobafettfanclub.com/multimedia/daily/1903/

Founder/Editor, BFFC
aaron@bobafettfanclub.com
December 13, 2020 11:33 am #

Way too many stuntmen for Boba Fett for only about a minute of screen-time in Return of the Jedi.

AvatarBFFC Admin Mod OP
December 13, 2020 1:41 pm #

ctxboy1981, naw. Having two on set in Yuma, Arizona was smart. Like Din (who has THREE stunt doubles), each specialize in different things: wire work, falls, and/or doing shots back to back without waiting for a full reset. The other two were pick-up shots done because they didn't have the spot just right. One was the sky background shot landing on the skiff, shot elsewhere. The other guy was for a different action on getting up from being face down on the skiff. With a helmet on, they didn't need the exact same actor.

Founder/Editor, BFFC
aaron@bobafettfanclub.com

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