John Boyega hopes future actors of color in Star Wars don’t “get Boyega-ed”
John Boyega has been open about his misgivings with the Star Wars sequel movies, and hopes the franchise won’t sideline actors of color in the future.
John Boyega has been candid about his experience working on the Star Wars sequel trilogy, sharing his grievances with how he and other actors of color were treated. “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” 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.”
Since then, Boyega had a “very honest [and] very transparent conversation” with Disney about his experience, talking about how he thought he would have a bigger part in the franchise after The Force Awakens and how he felt he was tossed aside and used as a marketing tool. Hopefully, that sort of information can help the studio course-correct in the future. Speaking on an upcoming episode of the podcast “The Big Ticket with Marc Malkin,” Boyega shared his concerns for other actors of color who join the franchise. “Next time you cast [an actor of color in Star Wars], you bring them through the process,” Boyega said. “They need that support. They can’t get Boyega-ed.”
Boyega has invented a new verb actors of color who are relegated to the sidelines of major series. Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it again.
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