The “Star Wars” actor John Boyega, shared his unfortunate experiences in the sci-fi fantasy project.
The British actor’s criticism comes from the treatment of coloured characters in the latest franchise. He said that they were assigned important roles in the big budget production but eventually “pushed to the side.”
He critized how the Non-White actors were treated badly in the sets of the studio.
The actor intially rose to prominence for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film Attack the Block (2011).
He is best known for playing Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy franchise: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
On 29 April 2014, it was confirmed that Boyega would play a lead character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
It was later revealed that Boyega would play Finn, a stormtrooper for the First Order. Finn leaves the military power after witnessing their cruelty in his first combat mission. He later joins the fight against them.
The film was released on 18 December 2015. Boyega’s performance received commercial and acclaim for his performance.
John Boyega: Speaks about his experience
Boyega was noted saying: “It’s so difficult to maneuver, 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 then pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
Reportedly, John Boyega felt that Disney also sidelined the other characters of color. It included Kelly Marie, Tran’s Rose, while focusing on the White characters, such as Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren.
In a Tell all Tale, Boyega added that: “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 [expletive] all.”
“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 said that his casting in the Star Wars franchise was an “amazing opportunity.” But also discussed that how his experience with the franchise was more dictated by his race.
Boyega also went through racist abuse after his casting was announced in the production.
“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,” he added.
John Boyega: Black Lives Matter
Boyega made headlines on the month June for giving an ardent speech in support of Black Lives Matter following George Floyd’s death.
Lucas films supported Boyega and said it will “commit to being part of the change” in the world.
Boyega is reportedly starring in the BBC One and Amazon series Small Axe, created by Steve McQueen. He will also star with Jodie Turner-Smith and Felicity Jones in the new film Borderland.