Star Wars actor John Boyega blasted Disney in a new interview over the way the marketing pushed Finn to the forefront of the saga and then cast him aside.
In a fascinating interview with GQ about his career so far, John Boyega heavily criticized the way Disney pushed Finn aside after marketing him so heavily to begin with in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The star also opened up about his powerful speech at the Black Lives Matter protest earlier this year before calling Disney out for using Finn purely as marketing material to impress audiences and then pushing the former Stormtrooper to the side in favor of other characters.
“It’s so difficult to manoeuvre, you get yourself involved in projects and you’re not necessarily going to like everything. [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.”
The Star Wars actor went on to compare the roles of people of color in the franchise compared to those of white actors, noting that the stories of Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren both had “nuance.” But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico, Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and John Boyega’s Finn – the actor says the studio didn’t know what to do with them. Boyega was careful to say that he wasn’t exposing anything, since the stars he mentioned were all aware of this. Whether the other Star Wars actors spoke up about the issue to Disney isn’t clear.
“Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. 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.”
What you make of the John Boyega interview? Do you understand his frustrations over Finn’s handling in Star Wars? What do you want to see Disney do with the franchise going forward?
Here is the official synopsis for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker:
Lucasfilm and director J. J. Abrams join forces once again to take viewers on an epic journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the riveting conclusion of the seminal Skywalker saga, where new legends will be born and the final battle for freedom is yet to come.
Directed by J. J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams. The late Carrie Fisher appears as General Leia Organa through the use of previously unreleased footage shot for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now available on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD. Stay tuned for all the latest news on John Boyega and the Star Wars franchise and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content!
Source: GQ
