JOHN BOYEGA LIVES ‘EVERY SINGLE MOMENT’
Actor looks back at ‘Force Awakens’ highlights and forward to ‘Episode VIII’ secrets
A snapshot of the first Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast read-through was fans’ initial glimpse seeing John Boyega in the sci-fi universe — though with more sofas than starships. That iconic day comes to life as a featurette when
The Force Awakens hits Blu-ray/DVD Tuesday, and Boyega — who plays Stormtrooper-turned-hero Finn — acknowledges that it was wholly nerve-racking.
“This is the first time I spoke Finn’s words out loud in front of everyone else, with real Americans around me, so I didn’t want them to be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, his accent’s off,’ ” says Boyega.
There’s a lot of him in the bonus extras, from deleted scenes to a feature showing director J.J. Abrams working with Boyega, Adam Driver (as evil Kylo Ren) and Daisy Ridley (as the heroic Rey) to create the final lightsaber battle.
Boyega calls from London to talk about Force Awakens secrets and what fans can expect from the now-filming Episode VIII (in theaters Dec. 15, 2017):
Q: WHICH OF THE DELETED SCENES WERE YOU GUTTED TO LOSE?
A: It was the scene between Finn and Han when they’re cornered by the Stormtroopers in Maz (Kanata’s) castle. That was the first time me and Harrison (Ford) got in our flow in terms of the banter and the jokes. We were having fun and ended up shooting like 13 different versions just because it was a lark.
Q: WHAT WAS THE KEY TO CONNECTING WITH ALL YOUR CO-STARS?
A: Finn gets along with everybody: He’s got a great chemistry with Poe, a great chemistry with Rey, a great choppy chemistry with BB-8 and Chewie, and the thing with Han. I had to work with everyone and to do that, you’ve got to have a little bit of a reputation. You’ve got to be the popular kid. (Laughs)
Q: WHAT SINGLE PLOT POINT WAS THE HARDEST TO NOT SPILL?
A: I really wanted to tell people that Finn wasn’t going to be the Jedi of Force Awakens, that you wouldn’t see any signs of him being Force-sensitive. Because they had all the posters (of Finn) with the lightsaber, I didn’t want people to be somewhat disappointed. But you know, Daisy looks good with a blue saber! Q: WHAT HAS IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST ABOUT ‘EPISODE VIII’ DIRECTOR RIAN JOHNSON?
A: You can tell that Rian and J.J. are of the same ilk artistically, and Rian is bringing his own perspective and feel to the film. If you’ve watched Looper, you know that Rian is great, especially with the darker style of narrative, but also there’s a lot of fun and it still feels like a Star Wars movie. Q: WHAT’S THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU LEARNED DOING ‘FORCE AWAKENS’ THAT YOU’VE TAKEN TO HEART FOR THE NEW FILM?
A: When I got the role, I made myself a promise that I was going to live out every single moment — that even when we’re at the stage where Star Wars 12 is coming out, I wouldn’t regret joining this experience. I don’t know what happens next, but it’s really going to be fun, I know that for a fact.