Star Wars Puppeteer David Barclay Tells the Story of When Carrie Fisher Made Jabba the Hut Blush

With the premiere date of the Star Wars story Solo coming up very soon, Great Big Story paid a visit to Dave Barclay, the “puppeteer behind Star Wars“. Barclay, who adored puppetry since childhood, studied under the legendary Frank Oz and assisted with the Yoda character. When Oz needed to go work on another project, he gave the job to Barclay, who would go on to seamlessly recreate Yoda. Barclay also operated and voiced Jabba the Hut, who accidentally got a little fresh with actress Carrie Fisher.

Princess Leia in the slave costume was lying against Jabba, and so the director said to me, David would you put your hand on Carrie’s shoulder. I said okay. I was looking at these tiny little monitors and couldn’t really see much at all, so I repositioned my body in the Jabba torso, reached down put my hand on on her shoulder. And then she said Jabba that’s not my shoulder. I think it’s the only time Jabba blushed.