Yahoo Sports John Boyega Says ‘It’s Nicer Not Having to Be’ in ‘Star Wars’: ‘You Just Go Back to Being a Fan Again’
John Boyega has already aired his grievances about Disney’s fumbling of diversity in his “Star Wars” trilogy, notably telling GQ magazine in 2020, “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.”
“You guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” Boyega continued at the time. “But when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know fuck all. 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.”
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Boyega isn’t interested in revisiting the topic, telling Total Film magazine in a new interview: “I’ve said what I said on it, and that doesn’t change overnight. We handled that years ago. [There’s no point] recycling the same story that’s been for two years.”
Whatever criticisms Boyega has made about “Star Wars,” they have never stopped the actor from loving the space franchise. He told Total Film that he remains a “massive, massive” “Star Wars” fan.
“I was the person on set correcting stuff,” Boyega said. “Like the flying jet troopers that we had in ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’ Poe had been saying, ‘They fly now’ and I thought they had seen the flying jet troopers from [animated TV series] ‘The Clone Wars.’ I play the games on ‘Battlefront.’ I have a robust relationship with the whole ‘Star Wars’ stuff.”
“My first interaction with ‘Star Wars’ was a Darth Maul figure,” he continued. “I’m a ’90s baby so I came during the prequels. I was like, ‘Bloody hell, man.’ I didn’t know what it was but I knew it looked cool and there were spaceships and glow sticks that could slash your wrist off. Then I went back to the old ‘Star Wars’ after. OK, I’m guilty – I did say that the effects are shit when I was younger! I didn’t know any better. Then I grew into maturity and was in love with it. I still am in love with it. I bloody love it. But it’s almost nicer not having to be in it, and not having to deal with that. It’s weird, you just go back to being a fan again and see yourself in the games.”
So there you have it: John Boyega finds it easier being a “Star Wars” fan than a “Star Wars” actor. He told the magazine that he “loves” all the “Star Wars” series on Disney+, so chances are high he’s streaming the latest season of “The Mandalorian.”
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