John Boyega: Nigerian Playing A Lead Role On Star Wars

By December, things won’t be the same for John
Boyega, as that’s when ‘Star Wars: Episode VII -
The Force Awakens’ hits cinemas. The film is a
sequel to 1983’s mega-hit ‘Star Wars: Episode VI
- Return of the Jedi’ and the young actor will star
alongside both old generation and new generation
franchise stars like Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher,
Mark Hamill and the now-iconic droid characters.
He will also be with series newcomers like Lupita
Nyong’o, Daisy Ridley, and Adam Driver.


When it comes down to it, it’s not out of place
that a 23-year-old from South London would land
a role that every young actor in Hollywood would
kill for. For starters, he has major acting chops,
which are in full display in his previous work, an
indie hit called ‘Attack The Block’. But the actor
has also said in interviews that there was
already contact between him and J.J. Abrams,
the film’s director. He was a big fan of ‘Attack
the Block’ and was waiting for a project where
they could collaborate.


Any movie-lover would know the amount of
drama that precedes the making of any movie in
the Star Wars franchise, and just the casting
took seven months. With the studio behind the
franchise, Disney, being a mega-billion-dollar
company, that comes with the territory and they
wanted to make sure they got the right person
for the job.


Filming began last May, and the young actor’s
life became a veritable hurricane. He couldn’t
believe his luck as a Star Wars fan who walked
on set to see a full-scale replica of the famous
fictional spaceship Millennium Falcon and
meeting lifelong idol Harrison Ford, whose
audition tapes from decades ago he had studied.
In a flash, they were co-stars and gisting
between scenes.


It was all a bit too much for Boyega, who has
said in many interviews that he learned he got
the part of a major character called Finn, over
breakfast in London. Director Abrams told him:
“John, you’re the new star of Star Wars,” and
everything froze for a moment, he said.
In his 2011 debut, ‘Attack The Block’, Boyega
played the leader of a gang who mugs a woman
before helping her to safety as monsters chase
them through the high-rise tower blocks of
Brixton.


Nigerian viewers can also immediately
recognise him alongside Oscar nominees
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton in the
movie adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adidhie’s
60s Nigeria-set ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.
Before then, Boyega, born in Peckham, London,
to Nigerian parents clinched his first role as a
leopard in a play at his primary school at the age
of five. But his father, who was a preacher,
wanted the lad to follow in his footsteps. He was
noticed by a director of theatre who saw him act
in a primary school play and invited him to join
the theatre school for talented children between
the ages 9 and 14 after obtaining financial
assistance. He attended Westminster City School
as a teenager and later took part in various
school productions and attended classes at
Theatre Peckham. More small roles followed
before he got his breakout role.


“All the films I’ve done have had a secret
commentary on stereotypical mentalities,” he
says in an interview he granted U.S magazine
GQ. “It’s about getting people to drop a
prejudiced state of mind and realize, ‘Oh, we’re
just watching normal people.’” Part of this desire
to smash preconceptions stems from reaction to
his upbringing in a part of London more often
associated with crime and gang culture.
Boyega says people write about how he was
raised opposite where 10-year-old Damilola
Taylor was stabbed, on the North Peckham
Estate in 2000 as if that’s his story. He
responded thus: “Absolute nonsense. I spent
most of my time dancing and acting. Guns and
knives mean nothing to me. I had a multicultural
society to take advantage of. I worked hard and
ended up where I am today.”


But the young thespian is lucky to have someone
who has gone through a similar process for
guidance, being mentored by Hollywood
megastar Robert Downey Jr. at the moment. The
much bigger star is helping the upcoming one
prepare for how life is going to change. But the
Iron Man star aside, Boyega is keeping his
friends from way back. He said about that, “Most
of the friends I have are just normal guys,” he
says.

But there’s nothing normal about Boyega’s Star
Wars character, Finn, who is described as being
in conflict, mostly with himself and also with the
powers he has. The actor refuses to disclose
why this conflict exists, or which powers he
means for that matter. Secrecy, as all fans
know, comes with the franchise’s territory. In a
trailer, we see the character in a Stormtrooper
outfit and his own clothes as well, fuelling
intense speculation by fans. The trailer broke
viewing records on YouTube.com and it is
evident it is going to be the highest grossing
movie this year..


Boyega says he enjoys the fans’ speculation, wild
as it may be. “It’s great they are talking, but
nobody has a clue.” But the downside to the
massive attention showed up when the film’s
trailer was released earlier this year and a
shocking majority of YouTube viewers seemed
puzzled that a black actor was playing a
Stormtrooper, showing in full glare the racist
underbelly of the Internet. The actor famously
replied via Instagram: “Get used to it.” And from
the look of things, Hollywood should better listen
to this bundle of talent with a mission. Star
Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is in
theaters December 18.[\quote]

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/weekend-
xtras/john-boyega-nigerian-who-ll-soon-rule-
hollywood/119332.html


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE&itct=CCgQpDAYACITCMr-jYeOx8kCFcidHQod_HgHTVIRc3RhciB3YXJzIHRyYWlsZXI%3D&client=mv-google&hl=en&gl=NG




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb2crBji7Cc&itct=CCUQpDAYAiITCKXBmqyOx8kCFYURFgodk0YBWFILam9obiBib3llZ2E%3D&client=mv-google&gl=NG&hl=en