John Boyega: Working on big franchises like Star Wars is “like luxury jail”

John Boyega rarely minces words when talking about his experiences on the set of the Star Wars sequel movies, or about anything.

John Boyega (Finn) is nothing if not outspoken, whether he’s pushing back against criticism of The Rise of Skywalker, critiquing how the Star Wars franchise handles characters or color, or speaking out during the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer. His honesty has made him one of the most interesting actors to be associated with Star Wars in a while, and he has more to say.

Speaking to Cinema Blend about appearing in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, Boyega reflected on the experience of working on a huge franchise like Star Wars:

"Being in a big franchise, it’s kind of like luxury jail sometimes for an actor when you want to do something else. Because remember, in a franchise you’re working on one character for many years, which can starve your other muscles. And in wanting to be in something where I knew that I’d play a different type of role, a different type of man, and then knowing Steve through, we’re all a part of the same industry so I’d heard about Steve’s directing style, I was really really curious and excited to have the opportunity anyway to be a part of it. And when it came through I was on the tele like ‘this is my moment.’"

There’s an irony in Hollywood today: if you want to be financially secure — that’s the “luxury” part of “luxury jail” — appearing in a huge franchise is probably your best bet, whether that’s Marvel, Star Wars or whatever. But I can imagine how that could feel creatively constrictive, since at the end of the day those franchises are usually more about entertainment than art, although I acknowledge that the line is often fuzzy.

But once you’ve done a huge franchise, you’re pretty much set and do smaller projects like Small Axe, which tells personal stories from the West Indian Community in London between the late ’60s and the mid-’80s. And who’s to say that you may not return to the big budget stuff later? Boyega, Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron) have all said that they have no plans to return to the Star Wars franchise, but a lot can change in time.

And just because they’re not returning to Star Wars doesn’t mean they’re done with major franchises; just look at Isaac signing up to play the title role in Marvel’s upcoming Moon Knight show. It doesn’t get more franchise-y than the MCU.

You can watch Steve McQueen’s five Small Axe movies on Amazon Prime Video.

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h/t Inside The Magic