John Boyega Says 'All the Nuance" was Given to Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver
“Star Wars” actor slams disney for their treatment of diverse characters in the blockbuster franchise
By: Keaton Marcus
John Boyega, who portrays Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, explained to British GQ that he felt misrepresented among other colored cast members by Disney for the now extremely controversial franchise.
“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,” he said in the interview published Wednesday. He’s referring to Finn, a former stormtrooper that turned out as one of the biggest characters of Episode VII, The Force Awakens, which was the first installment to this new trilogy.
The criticism hits so hard because of the clear decline of screen time that Finn got during the span of three movies. He started out as a well-written, intriguing character in the first, and one of the main heroes. In The Last Jedi, director JJ Abrams stepped down for Rian Johnson (Looper, Knives Out) to replace him. This sequel focused much more on Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, throwing Finn aside to an underwhelming subplot with another disappointing colored character, Rose.
In the final installment, The Rise of Skywalker, it was a mixed bag of thrilling action sequences, powerful lead performances, and a messy story/script. Finn was one of the main issues. After The Last Jedi received backlash from the fanbase, Disney put back JJ Abrams in the director’s chair, who’s talents were mostly squandered on course-correcting the previous movie. Amidst all the ripping and tearing of Mr. Johnson’s subversion of expectations, Finn was sidelined as one of the background characters, not leaving Boyega much to do despite his undeniably committed performance.
This does not just refer to Boyega. By characters of color he meant both Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico and Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. Both potentially great characters being mostly sidelined to the advantage of Ridley and Driver. “Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver,” he added. “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. So what do you want me to say.”
Boyega also told the publication, “What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was an amazing experience.’ Nah, nah, nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s an amazing 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.”
Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver both gave passionate performances as their two respective characters, but that was at the expense of the others. It didn’t have to be, though. For a trilogy focused on creating a more diverse part of the SW cinematic universe, it was especially disappointing to see the films’ three colored characters go downhill in terms of screen time and quality each movie.
I do not hate the sequel trilogy AT ALL. Many do, and because of that, the franchise as a whole has become one of the most debated topics in the film industry. In my personal opinion, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were both close to excellent…Action-packed, beautifully filmed and very well-acted. The Rise of Skywalker was just as entertaining, but it failed to wrap up the trilogy in cohesive fashion, filled with plot holes and lazy writing. A very mixed bag for me.
In terms of Boyega coming out after the whole thing ended with a bit of a thud, I’m happy for the guy. He’s a very promising actor with lot’s of potential in future projects. The most unpleasant factor to all of this was the treatment by Disney, completely unacceptable.
