The second episode of the eagerly anticipated “Star Wars” series “The Book of Boba Fett” has been made available, and we’ve already seen Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) without his helmet before in “The Mandalorian.” Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), whose face we only glimpsed in tiny, potent moments, stood in stark contrast to that. Why do we see Temuera Morrison’s face so frequently? (This isn’t a criticism. I’m overjoyed to see his face, scars from the Sarlaccs and all.
We’re finding out a lot in “The Book of Boba Fett” about what happened to Boba after he was dropped into the Sarlacc pit. He’s fortunate to have survived at all and have a face at all, let alone one that can be seen. The pit’s belly will contain a new concept of misery and suffering as you are slowly devoured over a thousand years, C-3PO warns Han Solo in “Return of the Jedi.”
‘Take His Helmet Off’
In a Rolling Stone interview, Morrison discussed the debate around his facial reveal:
It actually came by chance [in The Mandalorian]. I think I was on the spacecraft, and I said, “Well, I’m not flying the thing, I’m not fighting. Can I take my helmet off?” And I remember there was a bit of discussion. That’s that scene when I was giving [Wen] all my dialogue because I wanted to be the quiet kind. And then [director] Rick [Famuywia] goes, “Yeah, I think it’ll be OK. Take his helmet off.” I would have been disappointed if someone said to me, “Leave the helmet on for the whole series.” So thank Christ, they said, “Yes, you can take it off for the scene.” So that’s how it started. And honestly, I think they need to see my face here. But you know, funnily enough, I think [on Mandalorian] they could tell if it wasn’t me. [If it was a stunt person,] Robert Rodriguez would say, “Oh, I can tell it’s not you if you’re not under that helmet.” My face would act through the helmet! I don’t know how that goes, but if there’s an Oscar for best performance under a helmet, I’m going to win it.
If I could cast a ballot at the Oscars, I’d choose him. We may need to advocate for the title of “Best Performance Under a Helmet,” but given the prevalence of superhero and fiction character headgear nowadays, it is possible. No, not at the Oscars, but hey, how about the Saturn Awards?
