THE RISE OF ACTOR AND ACTIVIST JOHN BOYEGA
From actor to activist – how John Boyega is changing the rules of stardom
Protect John Boyega at all costs” is a refrain that’s popped up often in recent months – and with very good reason. The 28-year-old British-nigerian actor has been a walking “trending topic” lately, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Hollywood using their platform more effectively right now. Whether it be through activism or art, Boyega is using his hard-won clout to enlighten and affect change. In retrospect, the signs that Boyega was built differently were always there…
THE DEBUT
At the age of 18, Boyega beat 1,500 youngsters to play gang leaderturned-alien slayer Moses in Joe Cornish’s genre-blending Attack The Block. It’s easily one of the best big screen debuts of the last decade. Roles in critically acclaimed dramas like Half Of A Yellow Sun and Imperial Dreams followed, but it was his role in Attack The Block that garnered the attention of JJ Abrams, which led – via a seven-month audition process – to a life-changing role in the Star Wars franchise.
THE FORCE
Boyega was one of the most important and entertaining elements of Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Finn, a stormtrooper who defected to the resistance.
Everything we see of the character in that movie suggested that he was primed for a major arc going forward. Outside of the role itself, Star Wars gave Boyega a bigger platform to showcase his inherent likeability and led to further career opportunities, such as a lead in Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit. And yet, there has always been an undercurrent of racist commentary when it comes to Boyega and the galaxy far, far away. It began when he was first cast – “Get used to it” was the actor’s since-deleted Instagram response – but continued as more divisive Star Wars films, such as The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, were released and Finn was pushed to the periphery.
THE FIGHT BACK
It’s more than understandable, then, that once he was finally unshackled from the franchise after the sequel trilogy concluded last year, the Boyega we saw online had fewer shits to give. The start of 2020 saw him frequently telling off racist haters, whether through pointed tweets or hilarious Instagram videos. One showed him literally taking a lightsaber to some of the more vitriolic comments.
That candid attitude wasn’t just saved for trolls, though, as he showed in a recent no-holdsbarred interview with GQ. “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. “What they want you to say is, ‘I enjoyed being a part of it. It was a great experience...’ Nah. I’ll take that deal when it’s a great experience.”
What Boyega said shouldn’t be controversial to anyone who’s been paying attention to the latest entries in the Skywalker saga. But the fact that he’s saying it now reveals a don’t-give-a-f**k mindset that most actors reserve for the tail-end of their careers. It’s refreshing, and laudable.
THE FIRE
The truth telling didn’t stop at Star Wars. Where so many in Hollywood have been performative in their allyship to
the Black Lives Matter movement, Boyega put his money where his mouth is in London on 3 June. Originally, he had planned to link up with a few activists and quietly protest the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others. Instead, Boyega was handed a megaphone and met the moment with vulnerable yet visceral passion. “I need you guys to understand how painful this shit is,” he told the crowd, in a fiery speech that quickly went viral. “I need you to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing! That isn’t the case any more. That is never the case any more.” Many high-profile creatives immediately came out in support of Boyega, but the fact that he had also expressed fear for his career because he chose to speak his truth indicated just how much he was willing to sacrifice for his principles.
This was proven once again earlier this month, when British perfume brand Jo Malone London decided to reshoot an award-winning ad that Boyega had conceived, directed, and starred in, without his consent, for the Chinese market. The reshot video – which replaced Boyega with a Chinese actor and featured no Black people at all – was a clear case of anti-black racism. Other brand ambassadors may have been content with the halfhearted apology that followed, but Boyega had “no time for nonsense”, and stepped down as their global ambassador days later. A measure of his integrity.
THE AGENT OF CHANGE
“I support him 110 percent in what he’s doing and how he’s doing it,” Steve Mcqueen recently told Vanity Fair. The Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave and Widows director just worked with Boyega on Small Axe, an anthology series coming to BBC1 this November. One of the five stories is Red, White And Blue, in which Boyega stars as Leroy Logan, a Black Metropolitan Police officer who tries to change the system from within after he witnesses his father being assaulted by policemen. It’s a slice of Black British history that feels apt for the current cultural moment, but even more appropriate for Boyega himself, as he tries to change Hollywood for the better. And with a Netflix deal to help develop more African films signed in June, a school tour giving advice to pupils on how to break into the industry to restart, and a host of other projects on the boil, it’s clear that he’ll be trending for a while yet. n