Honestly, the most surprising thing I learned in my interview with John Boyega wasn’t that it took three weeks to film the most harrowing sequence in Kathryn Bigelow‘s “Detroit” or that he has a producer credit on “Pacific Rim: Uprising.” No, the biggest revelation, at least to this journalist, was that the ‘Force Awakens‘ star likes cats.
Thankfully — for his sake — we’re not Facebook friends or he’d be inundated with photos of my own two divas.
Of course Boyega is finishing up a press tour for Bigelow’s true-life drama where he plays Melvin Dismukes, a security guard who gets caught in the middle of a police raid at a nearby motel during the Detroit riots in 1967. The raid led to the death of a number of innocent guests and a jury trial with an astonishing verdict that isn’t that hard to believe. Despite starring in two “Star Wars” films and controlling a giant robot in ‘Uprising,’ the 25-year-old actor — who likes to remind everyone how young he is — considers “Detroit” “the biggest movie” of his career.
READ MORE: Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Detroit’ Is An Uneven, But Powerful Docudrama [Review]
“Detroit” is big. It’s also like a camera really capturing a performance and working with a director who is renowned for her creative choices in her own career,” Boyega says. “For me, one big spectrum to another. I see “Detroit” as a massive thing.”
Boyega certainly likes to keep things upbeat and fun, however. He was initially cagey when even discussing where “Detroit” landed in his busy filming schedule over the past few years noting, “I like keeping a secret and I’m like Doctor Strange jumping through portals.”
Aren’t we all. Especially when it’s your last press commitment of the day.
You can listen to this episode where Boyega discusses “Detroit,” ‘Uprising’ and ‘Last Jedi’ in the Soundcloud embed below or on iTunes. If you do listen on iTunes please rate, subscribe and share it with your friends!
For more movie and Oscar insight follow me on Twitter @TheGregoryE.
Follow my Instagram stories at @gregel17 on Instagram.
