Why did John Boyega hate his time on ‘Star Wars’?
The performance of John Boyega within the Star Wars universe brought about a much-needed sense of energy to proceedings. His effort as former stormtrooper turned conscientious objector Finn delivered one of the more nuanced characters the iconic science fiction franchise had seen in some time.
The kind of charisma and emotional versatility that Boyega had previously showcased through his breakout role in Attack the Block was burning bright, and his iconic Star Wars character faced up to the issues of identity and morality as conflicts of every kind raged about him in a galaxy far, far away.
However, there was a glaring issue surrounding Boyega’s appearance in Star Wars and it surrounded his position as a black actor. While this might have initially appeared to be a positive move, it instead transpired that the actor was frustrated at how the film’s producers only promoted his lead actor position in the media, which was far from the actual truth.
“It’s so difficult to manoeuvre,” Boyega told GQ of the sour taste in his mouth following Star Wars. “You get yourself involved in projects, and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
Evidently, Boyega felt that Disney had marketed the Star Wars sequels as featuring a black actor in a significant way, but when the actual film came around, he felt like a mere diversity hire and that all the focus had been placed on his co-stars both in a narrative and a promotional sense.
“Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley; you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” he continued. “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 fuck 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 is a great experience,” the actor signed off on the matter. “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.”
Even though Boyega still views Star Wars as an “amazing opportunity” and a “stepping stone”, it’s clear that things did not pan out the way he had always hoped.
