John Boyega calls out Disney for using his race to market 'Star Wars' films before pushing him 'to the side'
John Boyega has called out Disney for using his race to market Star Wars, before sidelining his character in the actual films.
In an interview with British GQ, the British star says that “all the nuance” was given to Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver's characters, while Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran saw their characters diminished.
“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 f*** all,” he said.
“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.”
He went on: “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.”
In the first teaser for The Force Awakens, released in 2014, John Boyega's mutinous Stormtrooper, later given the name Finn, is the very first image on screen.
However, as the plot of the new trilogy expanded over The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, Boyega's character became increasingly extraneous, with fans and critics noting that his storyline in The Last Jedi in particular was something of a narrative dead end.
Boyega hit headlines over the summer with his impassioned speech at the Black Lives Matter protests in London.
“Black lives have always mattered,” the London-born star told the crowd.
“We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting.”
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