John Boyega, the interpreter of Finn in the last three parts of the George Lucas franchise, deplores the lack of diversity in the choice of actors and xenophobia of part of the fans of the intergalactic saga.
John Boyega, the interpreter of Finn in the last three parts of Star Warsreturned Monday March 31, to his intergalactic adventures and misadventures between 2015 and 2019. The British actor was the guest of the documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood , Broadcast on Apple TV, where Hollywood stars remember their journey as black players. He took the opportunity to evoke the treatment of color characters in the science fiction saga imagined and produced by George Lucas, as well as the reaction of certain fans.
« Let me tell you one thing : Star Wars has always cleared this image of saga intended for a white and elitist audience. It is such a white franchise that the simple existence of a black character is perceived as an event ”, he said. The latter says, for example, that his character was changed, in the three episodes where he played Finn, according to his skin color. A change of scenario that would not have affected the characters interpreted by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver.
The actor would therefore openly criticize the lack of diversity in the very very distant galaxy. John Boyega, Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Lando Calrissian, Samuel L. Jackson, Ahmed Best and Lupita Nyong’o are the only black actors to have appeared in the franchise since the beginning of it in 1977. A number “More than sufficient” For the most conservative fans of the saga, who always use this eternal litany: ” More on I Lando Calrissian et Samuel L. Jackson! It’s like telling me how many chocolate chips in a cookie dough are. They are just scattered at random ”, As John Boyega points out, making fun of these arguments too often heard.
Boycott calls for the film
This hidden xenophobia John Boyega was also directly the victim as soon as he appeared in 2015. In the Hollywood documentary, he returned to the shock caused by the character of Finn on the historic fans of the saga: ” They agree so that we play the role of the best friend, but as soon as we touch their heroes, as soon as we are headlining, as soon as we open the way, it’s immediately too much for them! They cry out for complacency. »»
But the actor goes further than the denunciation of a form of almost ordinary unconscious racism. After the boycott of the film required by a few fans, after the modification of the poster in China, relegating him to the background, he will also receive, he says, hate messages via social networks, and even more serious, death threats from the revelation of the first images and trailer for Star Wars: Force awakening.