Boba Fett is a man on a mission in The Twelve Parsec Stare.
Bounty hunter is the second coolest profession in the Star Wars Universe behind Jedi, so it’s no surprise that the best bounty hunter in the galaxy has something of a fan following. Speaking of fans, Star Wars fandom has perhaps produced more fan films than any other ranging from simple lightsaber duels to all out epics.
The Twelve Parsec Stare, on the other hand, is a simple story of a bounty hunter and his bounty. Check it out below:
What’s The Fan Film’s Story?
That’s not so much important as how it’s told. You see, Boba Fett’s character was inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, who was featured in the Sergio Leone westerns A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Those films featured a protagonist who’s skills with a pistol said what his words didn’t. He was a loner, often regarded as the best of his kind by his friends and enemies alike. The filmmakers behind The Twelve Parsec Stare embrace the background of the character with gusto in their film. Check out this comparison:
How Else Does The Twelve Parsec Stare incorporate elements of Sergio Leone films?
One of the defining elements of The Man With No Name films was that they were unafraid to build tension through lingering shots and dead time. Leone loved to hold on a scene where the audience knew something was going to happen, but draw it out until it felt like an inevitable explosion was about to go off.
Just check out this scene near the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly featuring a three way standoff:
We know someone is going to shoot, but we don’t know who will be first to pull the trigger or who will die. To bring that tension to its apex, Leone uses close shots to tell us everything we need while he lets Ennio Morricone’s score do most of the emotional heavy lifting.
Keep that scene in mind when watching the card game in The Twelve Parsec Stare. The filmmakers use a lot of similar techniques that may not seem like they’re in line with the rest of the Star Wars films, but lend a lot to the final product.
Why is this important to Star Wars as a whole?
If the rumors are true, we’re going to be getting a Boba Fett Anthology film in the future. Unlike the episodes, the Anthology films have the opportunity to tell Star Wars through the lens of different genres. Since, Rogue One is going to be a war film… why not make the Boba Fett film in the style of an old school spaghetti western? If anything, it’ll be very close to the original spirit of the character.
