After Star Wars criticism, John Boyega has “honest” talk with Disney
John Boyega has been honest about his problems with the Star Wars universe. Now, he and Disney have had an “transparent” conversation about it.
British-Nigerian actor John Boyega has been honest about his frustrations with the Star Wars sequel trilogy, talking frankly about how he felt Disney mishandled his character, Finn, as well as other characters of color. “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley (Rey), you knew what to do with Adam Driver (Kylo Ren),” he said over the summer. “You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f**k all.”
"So what do you want me to say? What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience…’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience. They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley. Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything."
The crux of his criticism was that Finn was used as a marketing ploy and then promptly “pushed to the side.” But now, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Boyega revealed that a Disney executive contacted him and they had a frank discussion about his complaints.explained how things have changed since then.
“It was a very honest, a very transparent conversation,” Boyega said. “There was a lot of explaining on their end in terms of the way they saw things. They gave me a chance also to explain what my experience was like.”
"I’d hope that me being so open with my career, at this stage, would help the next man, the guy that wants to be the assistant DOP, the guy that wants to be a producer. I hope that the conversation is not such a taboo or elephant in the room now, because someone just came and said it."
Not just content with speaking out on these kinds of issues, Boyega has also led by example. He was very visible this summer at Black Lives Matter protests in London, where he passionately demanded greater opportunities for Black people in the entertainment industry. And he’s now started up his own production company, UpperRoom Productions, which has signed a deal with Netflix to produce non-English-language films from West and East Africa. “With my acting career and with my earned privilege I’m just trying to use that to expand the opportunity,” he said.
And he’s acting, as well. You can see him this month and next alongside Letitia Wright (Shuri in Black Panther) in Small Axe, a series of films about the experience of Black people in Britain, directed by Steve McQueen.
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h/t SyFy Wire