John Boyega has slammed Disney for ‘sidelining’ his Star Wars character and giving ‘all the nuance’ to his white co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley.
The actor, 28, portrayed the franchise’s first black Stormtrooper, in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and told how he thinks Disney marketed his character as being ‘much more important’ than he actually was.
Speaking in an interview with the October issue of British GQ magazine, he said: ‘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.’
Honest: John Boyega, 28, has admitted he feels Disney pushed his Star Wars character Finn ‘to the side’ and ‘all the nuance’ was given to his white co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley
Discussing his experience of being a black cast member in the films, the actor suggested his white co-stars Driver and Ridley were given more complex characters in comparison to himself or Kelly Marie Tran, who is of Vietnamese descent.
Boyega claimed Disney, which distributes Star Wars, had given more ‘nuance’ to his co-stars and suggested the company did not know how to treat him as a black actor.
The screen star played Finn in the recent trilogy alongside Ridley’s Rey and Driver’s villainous Kylo Ren.
However, Finn’s screen time diminished in sequel The Last Jedi and denouement The Rise of Skywalker.
He said: ‘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**k all.
He said: ‘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’
‘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.’
The Peckham-born star also discussed his experiences with racism after he was cast in Star Wars, explaining how he was the only member of the cast who had people saying they were going to ‘boycott’ the franchise because he was in it.
He said: ‘I’m the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race.
‘Let’s just leave it like that. It makes you angry with a process like that. It makes you much more militant; it changes you.
John said: ‘I’m the only cast member who had their own unique experience of that franchise based on their race. Let’s just leave it like that’
‘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.’
John also discussed his speech in Hyde Park at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in June following the death of George Floyd.
Co-stars: John told how he feels his co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley were given more complex characters (pictured with Daisy in December 2019)
He said: ‘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.’
John became emotional during his speech, which he said came from looking into the crowd and seeking his own fear mirrored back at him from other black men present.
He said: ‘That just made me cry. Because you don’t get to see that.’
Read the full feature in the October issue of British GQ available via digital download and on newsstands Friday September 4.
Speech: John also discussed his speech in Hyde Park at a Black Lives Matter demonstration following the death of George Floyd, saying: ‘Sometimes you just need to be mad’