Star Wars antihero Boba Fett is often likened to the cowboys of the old west, but it turns out he owes a lot more to them than just his look.
During the new Disney+ documentary, Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett, sound designer Ben Burtt explained how spurs were used to give Boba Fett his cowboy swagger.
“I jokingly said at one point, ‘Well, if Boba Fett is a bounty hunter, why can’t he wear spurs like we hear in the Westerns?’” he explained. “Although I said it half-jokingly, [sound editor] Bob Rutledge, who was in charge of the foley, actually took my suggestion of spurs and did foley footsteps for Boba.”
The result is a Clint Eastwood style swagger with the sound of cowboy spurs punctuating each and every one of Boba Fett’s footsteps.
It’s all based on the notion that Boba Fett is a classic Western antihero – the Man with No Name from the galaxy far, far away. That’s where George Lucas got his inspiration for the character.
“Boba Fett,” said Joe Johnston, art director on The Empire Strike Back. “You didn’t know who he was, you didn’t know where he came from.”
“He wears the poncho, just like Clint Eastwood,” added The Mandalorian executive producer, Dave Filoni. “He is an icon drawn out of George’s appreciation for Westerns, and I think the gunfighters of Sergio Leone's films specifically.”
It’s no secret that Star Wars takes inspiration from a lot of different movies, with Lucas paying homage to the likes of Seven Samurai as well as his favourite Westerns.
“Within the DNA of Star Wars is a deep appreciation for movies that George liked, that he was inspired by, of different genre,” said Filoni. “And so [cowboy] spurs make absolute sense when you think of it that way, as surely as Obi-Wan looks like a samurai. That makes perfect sense if you understand who the creator of Star Wars, the person that devised it all, is in George Lucas. It’s just part of the appreciation of the art form, really.”
Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett is available to watch now on Disney+.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.