Having worked professionally for over forty years, Bulloch's curriculum vitae includes an impressive array of appearances ranging from tortured Danish prince Hamlet to Q's assistant in several James Bond movies to featured roles in director Thomas Carter's cult hit Swing Kids and the classic BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who.

And while not hiring himself out to the highest bidder or hunting for Wookie scalps, the armor-clad icon finds time to indulge in a hobby that belies his rough bounty hunter exterior -- that of interior design. "Luckily, I'm trained as a decorator," he explains, "so when there's no work, I still have a means of paying the bills."

Lately, however, he's filled his downtime with convention appearances and autograph sessions. "I hadn't done one since 1986 because of work, but in 1997, after the re-release, I was asked to come to America to do some conventions, and I took a whole year off to do it. It's been huge fun, and there was no way I could say no. I went to Japan last year, to a toy show with over 52,000 people. It was myself, Kenny Baker [who played R2D2] and Peter Mayhew [who played Chewbacca]. They hadn't advertised us, and one of the Japanese guys who spoke English said 'We're a little worried that people don't know you're here.'

"So they put a sign behind us in Japanese telling who we were, and the Japanese crowds wouldn't come closer than 20 yards. We asked for them to be told that they could come over, but the girl who ran the convention said no. They had such great respect that they would not approach us. It was a little frightening."

For an actor who had grown accustomed to projecting his voice while onstage, the task of molding himself into a mystery man provided its fair share of challenges. "Obviously, film is different from stage, where you give far more of yourself," he says. "But hopefully you give the right bits and pieces onscreen. You don't just say 'Look at me, aren't I being cool here?' One or two things I did I think looked quite good -- that slight tilt of the head, for example. There's a certain style you convey, and you hope it's noticed."

The fans noticed, as attested by the sales of the action figures, which became available in a special offer from toy company Kenner long before Empire went before the cameras. "It's funny to see a figure of yourself when you're about to start filming," says Bulloch. "It's really weird."

Undaunted, the actor took a heavy dose of style from director Sergio Leone, a man whose work Bulloch greatly admires. "I love the way Leone did those films, and I modeled Boba very seriously on Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars. It's exactly that, but in armor. He's slow; he doesn't have to move very fast at all, but when he does, it's quick and it's over -- no questions asked. And you can easily imagine him smoking a cigar underneath the helmet, unhealthy as it may be, just standing by Jabba the Hutt puffing away, very cool. That's what I found with Boba Fett: the least I do, the better. He stands in a certain way. He cradles his gun -- he loves it. And he's always ready. He has amazing peripheral vision."

As for the ongoing popularity of his character, Bulloch at the time had no conception of how quickly Boba Fett would be embraced. "When I got it, I knew it was just three weeks of filming, not a very big part. And then Irvin Kirshner said 'Now this is your big scene with the bounty hunters. You've got Dengar and Bossk and the others, but Boba Fett is the main one.' And I said 'Oh, is he?' I had no idea."