THAT refined English gentleman sitting over there in the Winnipeg Convention Centre, didja' know he was the Imperial stormtrooper officer who grabbed Princess Leia just before she yelled, "Luke! It's a trap!"
But how could he be? He was like totally Boba Fett, dude.
Twinkle Brygidyr gets an autograph and pic with the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno.
Yeah, but he was both, and he was also in Revenge of the Sith in another role!
This is big stuff, learning that Jeremy Bulloch was not only the iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett whose face was always hidden within a full helmet, but he also played two other Star Wars roles, decades apart.
Listen up, fanboys, emerging from your parents' basement is worth it this weekend to attend the Manitoba Comic Con and Sci Fi Expo.
Bulloch is the actor who portrayed Boba Fett, one of a dozen or so people from TV and movies attending the convention to chat up the fans, autograph photos for $20, and appear on stage.
"The fans are always the same, enthusiastic, wanting to know what it was like to play Boba Fett," he said.
One day on the set of The Empire Strikes Back, "They said, 'Jeremy, go into wardrobe, quick, you're an imperial officer,'" he laughed, explaining that's how he got into a scene with Luke and Leia.
There's Helen Slater over at another booth, who used to be Supergirl. Muscles still bulging, Lou Ferrigno is autographing 8x10s of himself as the Incredible Hulk back in the day. And there's John De Lancie, Q on Star Trek The Next Generation, much taller than he appeared to be in the series.
"It's kind of neat to see the actors behind the characters," said Winnipeg's Scott Campbell, moments after having Bulloch autograph a Boba Fett action figure -- still unopened, in its original packaging, it goes without saying.
Or Dave Ratte, who spent three years and $5,000 putting together his own Boba Fett outfit that he proudly wore Saturday, and who was overjoyed to meet Bulloch.
"He's the greatest in the series. Everyone can be Darth Vader, everyone can be a stormtrooper. I'm the only one in town," said Ratte, whose wife did not appear to smile much as he discussed the time and money Boba Fett had consumed.
Elsewhere at the convention, hundreds of people perused dealers' tables where they could stock up on comic books, anime films, games and gaming components, trading cards, art work.
Among the visitors, there were Klingons wandering around, Ghostbusters, Joker, various aliens and superheroes and crews of a variety of starships and stargates.
One could have gone up to them and asked if all of them were aware that all of this was supposed to be make-believe. One could have.
"I love Winnipeg -- Winnipeg loves me!" said Gerrit Graham, who has no beef with our city.
OK, OK, you'll only get that if you know Graham played the heavy metal singer Beef in the 1975 cult classic Phantom of the Paradise, a film revered in Winnipeg and Paris.
"Two places on the planet, Paris and Winnipeg," where Phantom of the Paradise did phenomenally well, and played at midnight showings year after year, Graham said.
nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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