John Boyega has some strong words about his Star Wars experience.

John Boyega has some strong words about his Star Wars experience


John Boyega did not have an entirely positive experience filming Star Wars — and he places at least some of the blame with Disney.

The actor recently opened up to British GQ about what it was like to play Finn in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, and how he feels now when he looks back on his time with the franchise.

"You get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything," Boyega said in the interview for the magazine's October issue. "[But] 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.”

Boyega explained that while he was happy to be part of everything at first, his father taught him that you shouldn't overpay respect — otherwise you end up selling yourself short. And when it comes to his character's arc, and how characters of colour were treated in the franchise as a whole, Boyega wasn't happy.

"I got given this opportunity but I’m in an industry that wasn’t even ready for me."

"Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” he said. “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’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."

Boyega went on to say that he's the only cast member who had their own unique experience of the franchise based on their race.

“Let’s just leave it like that," he said. "It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you. Because you realise, ‘I got given this opportunity but I’m in an industry that wasn’t even ready for me.’ Nobody else in the cast had people saying they were going to boycott the movie because [they were in it]. Nobody else had the uproar and death threats sent to their Instagram DMs and social media, saying, ‘Black this and Black that and you shouldn’t be a Stormtrooper.’ Nobody else had that experience. But yet people are surprised that I’m this way. That’s my frustration.”

Recently, a video of Boyega speaking to Black Lives Matter protesters in London went viral, in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing by police. In the footage, Boyega spoke about the importance of Black lives to the crowd, before saying, "I don't know if I'm going to have a career after this, but fuck that."

Reflecting on his powerful protest speech, Boyega told GQ, “I feel like, especially as celebrities, we have to talk through this filter of professionalism and emotional intelligence...Sometimes you just need to be mad. You need to lay down what it is that’s on your mind. Sometimes you don’t have enough time to play the game."

Boyega's full interview appears in the October issue of British GQ available Sept. 4.

Mashable

Comments

  1. I agree with him on this one. The first movie he had a great story line, he was wasted in the other two. As a parent of a six year old who is obsessed with Finn I can say the marketing and lack of Finn toys makes it obvious.

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  2. Feel ENTITLED much? They hire you and you get to walk in and tell them how they will and wont treat your character?? You're NOT Denzel Washington. And you weren't the lead; you were a supporting actor... not all supporting actors get intricate character arcs and "nuance"... where is the humble gratitude? How about the THOUSANDS of starving actors who would have given their left pinky finger to have that kind of opportunity?? Want to blame people... blame your manager and agent.... or YOURSELF. After all this tantrum throwing... who would want to hire you now?

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    1. Denzel Washington ain’t even a good actor

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    2. Denzel says hold Oscars

      https://media1.tenor.co/images/cb21a395377095fcbf65e9e67df811dd/tenor.gif?itemid=13273401

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    3. He wasn't a supporting character, though. He was part of the big 3 of this trilogy.

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    4. he was used and played.

      Go back to the early promos of TFA - He's the first we see in the teaser, and one of the most important character through out the movie, on par with Luke's screentime in ANH.

      But TLJ, he was sent down to medic suit leaks slap humor and TROS all he did was scream at Rey

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    5. they literally marketed the new trilogy as being Finn's trilogy and then went for awakens came out we find out it was all a troll

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    6. Denzel literally plays Denzel in every movie he's in. The Oscars are a sham.

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    7. The point is this supporting character was by far the best potential character of the new trilogy and they botched it.

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    8. whaaaaat?

      You obviously have not invested yourself in his body of work.

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  4. Dude! Adam Driver brought ALL OF THE NUANCE to his character. What they had written for Kylo was shallow and uninspired. HE made that character. It's your own fault for not digging deeper and putting pressure on the directors to let you explore your character more...

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  5. I agree with him. I feel like in nine movies I learned very little about r2d2’s back story

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  7. There isn't much to say. He got stuck in a bunch of hack movies with no point. Complaining about fans makes you look petty, complaining about not having a big enough role in said hack movies also makes you look petty. He should move along. He's a perfectly good actor. He just needs to be cast in something good. And whining about previous projects does not sound like a good career move.

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    1. Um. He got stuck in a "hack" movie that did his character badly while Rey and Kylo (and Reylo) got something resembling a story.

      Fans who threw endless racist nonsense at him and others while demanding his soul is petty. The SW fandom freaking out because it wasn't *exactly* what they wanted is petty.

      He's far from the first actor on this franchise to hate the experience (Alec Guinness, anyone?). He's got the right to speak (AG even once told a fan to never watch the movie ever again).

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    2. thought the movie was beneath him that's why he hated it , he just did it for the paycheck!

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    3. Yeh, the Alec Guinness comparison doesn't have much ground. He thought Science Fiction was a garbage concept. But the Racist nonsense is a valid point. Finn and Rey were very disappointing characters. I think the writers took Boyega's joking attitude and tried to blend it in with Finn, which was a mistake for the character and lead him to be ignored, in the long run. Adam Driver is going to be one of the most prominent actors of his generation. Kylo Ren is a product of Adam Driver not the writers.

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    4. To be fair, his character was basically wasted potential. I truly loved his arc in the first film and was excited to see where they took him. Instead they relegated him to comic relief and completely destroyed any potential he had and made Rey a shallow character.

      He shouldn’t attack fans, he outta direct his rage at Lucasfilm for squandering his character.

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    5. I mean basically he was a a secret force sensitive, that could’ve been honed. I get the anyone can be a Jedi thing they were h go king for, but there are things involved to do so.

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    6. he is speaking about Lucasfilm if you read the article

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    7. Kathleen Kennedy*

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    8. I reckon he’s got a right to attack ‘fans’ when they’ve been sending him death threats and stating they’re gonna boycott the film because it features a black actor.

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  8. This is just annoying. I LOVED the movie, but I, like many others just didn't think that Kelly Marie Tan was that great an actress, hence why the character of "Rose" didn't get as much air time in the last movie. As for "Fin", same deal. The story wasn't about him. He was a supporting actor. The story was about Rey, Kylo and the Emporer. JB having less screen time has more to do with that than anything. And to be honest, I didn't think his acting was as good as Adam Driver or Daisy Ridley. It's not about color. It's about talent and storyline. Stop playing the race card and making it all about the color of your skin!

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    1. exactly. Over the race card. In the first one where he had his biggest role I felt his acting was cheesey.

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    2. me too! It almost seemed like a politically correct casting.

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    3. he’s literally doing the whole kaepernick thing all over again. His career is failing so he needs to bring skin color into it. I would love to see the day where minorities realize the party that they are supporting are also the same party that is keeping them enslaved in poverty.

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  9. Career suicide ..... ask Megan fox how bashing her own movie/director worked out for her acting career.

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    1. You gone Rogue...pun intended... ;P

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    2. She got 2 movies with him producing after that. So, pretty good.

      Also these people get millions of dollars. They never need to work again if they don't want to.

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  10. His character did suck... He does have a point. In fairness Rey was also terrible. Kylo started terrible and the writers attempted to improve him. They didn't pull it off, but thier was some movement toward Kylo having a full story arc. The entire trilogy should have been primarily about Kylo and Luke.

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  11. I wish not enough diversity hires was the only problem with these movies.....

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    1. ya i was really offended people use alienface... they dont know what its like being an alien and the things we have went through

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  12. I was really disappointed with the treatment of Finn. I thought him being a runaway stormtrooper was the most original thing and they just kinda forgot about any of that mattering when they fell into the same Skywalker pitfalls

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    1. The character story was there. Problem was the actor. Didn’t fit the role. Should have casted Dave Chappell.

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  13. Its really something when an actor comes out bashing a film they made and got paid handsomely for. 1) You got paid 2) It increased your fame, it's why anyone knows your name 3) be grateful you get to have this lifestyle, you could be working a 💩 job like 99% of everyone else. Gotta have perspective

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    1. And the fandom tore him (and other actors) apart because it didn't match their vision in their heads.

      Actors are allowed to have bad experience. These are jobs for them.

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  14. It’s not his fault, but his character served no purpose, and the movies would have been much better had they cut Finn entirely

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    1. agreed. Unless they purposely wrote his character out, Finn was an annoying character. His character only showed flashes of being useful in the 1st of the last 3.

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    2. agreed. His character was very annoying. Not sure if it was the writing or his portrayal of the character. Either way, as soon as he helped them destroy the Death Star planet he was no longer useful in my opinion

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  15. All the new movies sucked and I think Finn story was pointless to the whole trilogy should have just brought in Lando as a side kick for all three

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  16. Well they were the two main characters he was just a supporting one what does he expect

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    1. he probably expects to not be marketed like a main character for the entire first movie then.

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  17. His character wasn’t the only one. Poe was sidelined, Chewie, etc. they’re supporting characters. Finn has more potential than most, but publicly throwing tantrums is in bad form.

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  18. Him and jar jar binks are at a tie for worst star wars characters ever

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  19. Complaining about a lack of nuance in the new Star Wars movies is like complaining about the lack of steak in a vegan restaurant.

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    1. One would like to have a word with you.

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    2. Quite correct, Rogue One is a notable exception. I was thinking about the main movies...

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  21. All three characters were pretty boring, but of the three, Finn had the most original story. In films that were not brave enough to break from previous Star Wars material, even hitting the exact same beats, Finn was the only character that did not have an analog.

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  22. John Boyega - more like John Big Baby crying and whining about stuff even teenagers have gotten over these days. He was hardly one of the good actors on-screen in the movies, and his behavior and antics off-screen just shows how self-centered and ungrateful he is under the guise of being a "social justice advocate".

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  24. Honestly the only redeemable parts of those movies were Adam Drivers scenes!

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    1. Hate to say it but...

      https://media.tenor.co/images/c83b97f75ca2cee35e66d19aa04853e1/tenor.gif?riffsid=T1RNMU9UazBOVjloWkE9PTB6ik2cM-MQ_IPIDnIIyzfKqg79C5OuqFsn6On8JLksoi9fc0VPSrjDZqawg9OBVgpwsnW3R7CAljknyI8HLqfgXeGUUY8

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  25. Oh for gods sake. Go and gi e your head a woble. I'm getting fed up of the colour game now. Your a human. You played a character who wasn't an important character. Its getting boring now.

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  26. He ain't wrong

    https://giphy.com/gifs/duM6JZemPlOjUyqmxd

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  27. i dont know. maybe he shouldve tried out for a major role if he didnt want to play a supporting character? does he really think they should have changed the whole plot so the world revolved around him?

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    1. Also you don't usually audition for a specific role like this.

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  28. adam driver was only decent actor in new trilogy even if story fell apart and trilogy failed because of it and also cutting lot of good scene's out with characters because of twisted visions director's had, though finn character overall wasnt that great or impressive at time he was mostly the new jar jar.

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  29. he was a storm trooper, he should be happy they didnt kill him in the first 30 seconds.

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  30. No one cares what he thinks. He was cast as another Jar Jar. Deal with it.

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  31. "They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver"

    Yeah, you know. The already well established, award winning actor?

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  32. In the last Jedi should have had Finn being captured by Captain Phasma and given readjustment

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  33. It’s called supporting actor

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  34. Bet he liked his paycheck though. o.O

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    1. so he should work for free?
      Wth is even logical in this post?

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    2. that's like Everyone who did that film I guess. But people tend to forget the backlash he got for playing a storm Trooper and the fact that his image was shrunk on the posters for the china release

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  35. ...I mean. They basically are the two main characters...

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  36. This entire trilogy was an abomination.

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  37. It’s true. He’s a great actor, but his character was written as the annoying overbearing boyfriend.

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  38. his character was poorly written and poorly directed, but he did absolutely nothing to help the matter

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  39. Why is everyone saying nuance all the time? Is this the word of the moment? I've only just got over everyone saying organic and zeitgeist..

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  40. In TFA, he was a central character, even getting a fight scene with Kylo before Rey. TLJ killed his “main character” role, making him a side character even in his own side quest. TROS continued that and butchered his character. I was looking forward to how he would go from cowardly deserter to resistance hero, but no. We got nothing. WTG, Disney. You killed yet another franchise. On the plus side, these have apparently made George Lucas want to make a new trilogy. We may actually get good Star Wars movies again if it’s true.

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    1. Of George Lucas makes another trilogy like his prequels, I’ll pass. That garbage was way worse than anything Disney ever did.

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  41. Don't be quick to bash this guy, he was one the few in the interviews that seem to have any sort of interest in star wars out of the entire cast,
    I think he is just as disappointed in the sequel trilogy as much as large chunk of the fanbase is.

    I reckon they probably down played his character as part of their desperate attempt to get into the Chinese box office.
    Would have much preferred him the main character as he has alot more charisma than Daisy.

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  42. I think they gave all the nuance to Princess Leia and Luke

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  43. Um Hello!! They were Jedi! That’s what I want to see. Not some confused cowardly runaway stormtrooper. Just sayin

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  44. They made you famous still. I really dislike this guy.

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  45. Haha you mean the two main characters and not a side supporting character

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  46. The only stand out character from the new trilogy was.....BB-8

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  47. Yeah they did but they were the lead characters though.

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  48. To be fair the trilogy did originally market Finn as being a main character with a lot of importance. But then once the trilogy was set in motion he was pushed aside like a side piece. He has a valid point.

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  49. That’s neat that he thought any of those characters had “nuance”

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  51. Please dude, you were enjoyable in the first, then you got all militant outside of the film which is what has turned most people off to you......you sound petty, and now that youve gone full on political.....youve cut your viewer base in half

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  52. It doesn’t really matter. After the first movie they did such a terrible job with the next two.

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