For years, if an actor spoke up about being upset with how a film turned out and openly blamed the studio and/or filmmakers for the issue, that person would be dubbed “difficult” or perhaps even blacklisted. But in the case of John Boyega, and his very public criticisms of his recent “Star Wars” trilogy, the actor’s outcry about how Disney and Lucasfilm treated Black and other POC characters have apparently started a discussion that could be beneficial for everyone involved.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Boyega was asked, once again, about the fallout of his GQ interview where he effectively called out Disney and Lucasfilm for how his “Star Wars” character, Finn, and some of the other characters were handled in the recent trilogy that was released. His issues stem from the fact that Finn, Rose, and other POC characters were put on the backburner and not given “moments” to shine, particularly in the final film. And while he’s previously spoken about how this interview opened the doors to discussion with Disney, it seems as if Boyega also spoke with Lucasfilm president (and head honcho for all things “Star Wars”), Kathleen Kennedy.
“So I got on a phone call with Kathleen Kennedy, and she verbally showed support and we got to have a really nice, transparent, honest conversation that is beneficial to both of us,” explained Boyega. “I think these kinds of conversations, you can go into the realm of sounding like you’re just trying to save your own career, but what is great now is that it is a conversation that anyone has access to.”
He added, “Now people can express themselves about this knowing that any character we love, especially in these big franchises like the Marvels and ‘Star Wars,’ we love them because of the moments that they are given, we love them because of those moments, and they’re heroic moments that these producers all decide for these characters so we need to see that in our characters that are maybe black and from other cultures.”
As Boyega has previously said, it’s unlikely that he’ll return to “Star Wars” (unless Oscar Isaac and Daisy Ridley return, as well, which is basically never going to happen), but it’s clear that the actor is trying to make franchise filmmaking a better place for Black and other POC actors. This is less about Finn getting treated terribly (both by the studio and fans) and more about hoping it doesn’t happen to someone else. In a previous interview, he even called the idea of a POC character getting absued as being “Boyega-ed.”
Now that Kennedy has been named as someone who spoke with Boyega, it’ll be interesting to see if there are any changes to how Lucasfilm and the “Star Wars” universe, in particular, treat certain characters. Guess we’ll just have to sit back and find out.