Joe Johnston Wants to Direct a Star Wars Spin-off Featuring Boba Fett
Posted 07.17.11 by BrentJS
The next big summer event movie, Captain America: The First Avenger, opens Friday and its success or failure will likely decide the fate of not only the "Star-Spangled Avenger" as a solo movie hero, but also that of its director, Joe Johnston, whose last movie, The Wolfman, was both a critical and box office debacle. Based on the track record of Marvel Studios' previous movies, Cap doesn't have much to worry about and neither does Johnston, who recently said that he has "more stories" about Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) to tell. But, there is another iconic character Johnston "would like to" direct a movie about — the most notorious, and popular, bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe, Boba Fett.
Before he was a big-time movie director, Johnston was a concept artist and effects technician working for George Lucas on Star Wars. During that time, Johnston actually created Boba Fett and many other now-classic Star Wars characters and vehicles. Johnston would continue to work with Lucas on the two sequels to Star Wars as well as on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and even the astonishingly bad Howard the Duck before striking out on his own as the director of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. But, more than 30 years and 9 features later, Johnston still has a soft spot for the mysterious bounty hunter that has become one of the most-beloved characters in the entire Star Wars universe.
In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Johnston said that he hasn't yet screened Captain America: The First Avenger for his former employer and mentor, but that he "would show it to him," if Lucas wanted to see it. He also added that he is "trying to get George to make a feature based on Boba Fett."
Though virtually nothing is known about the adult life of Boba Fett — who "first" appears as a child (played by Daniel Logan) in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones — before his untimely demise at the hands of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the sand-dwelling Sarlacc monster in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, there is plenty of non-canon source material featuring the character to draw upon for a spin-off movie. Fett is a mainstay of the "Expanded Universe" of Star Wars materials, appearing in countless novels, video games, and comic books. Whether Johnston's discussions with Lucas about a Fett movie ever come to fruition or not, just the thought of how awesome a spin-off movie could be is sure to keep Star Wars fans up late at night pondering the possibilities.