John Boyega has dispelled rumours about a Marvel film, showing his support for indie films. The actor disclosed one of his most significant careers turning points: a conversation with fellow Brit and Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya.
โI invited Daniel Kaluuya to my house because I was thinking about a lot of stuff. We had a sit-down, and I told him everything about how I felt,โ Boyega recalled to The Daily Beast about the time he spent โreassessing all aspectsโ of his career during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
โAnd it was so simple, the way he reacted,โ Boyega continued of โGet Outโ and โNopeโ star Kaluuya. โHe was like, โYeah. You need to prioritize the work, and work with people that actually fuck with you.โ With creative collaborations, we have to find people who are on our wavelength and then we create something good for our audience. That was one of the voices where I was like, OK, this is what Iโm going to do.โ
Boyega has frequently thought about his lasting impact as Finn in the โStar Warsโ Skywalker trilogies, a difficult topic given that he spoke out the characterโs racist portrayal and the actorโs diminished presence throughout the trilogy in 2020. When so-called fans vowed to boycott the movies because he was cast as a Stormtrooper after beating out Tom Holland for the role, Boyega looked back on his time in the franchise as the moment he learned he was โin an industry that wasnโt even ready for me.โ
โFor me, it was just the differences,โ Boyega told Daily Beast of his โStar Warsโ stint. โI always try to take away the lesson of, โThat was different. But never again.โโ
Boyega stated that the conversation with Kaluuya โspiralled off into different venturesโ in terms of creativity unrelated to franchise IPs.
โBreakingโ certainly happened during the pandemic. In โThe Woman Kingโ I play a king whoโs protected by some of the most ruthless female warriors out there. And for me, it was realizing, โOh, Iโm the guy they call when they need versatility in their projects, and I need to lean into that a little bit more,โ Boyega said.
โTheyโve come out and been like, โLetโs go work,โโ Boyega said.
Boyega listed a number of actors and directors as his โalliesโ in the business, in addition to Kaluuya, including Jamie Foxx, Olivia Washington, Joe Cornish, Juel Taylor, โThe Woman Kingโ co-star Viola Davis and director Gina Prince-Bythewood, โBreakingโ director Abi Damaris Corbin, and co-stars Kwame Kwei-Armah, Michael K. Williams, and Nicole Beharie.
But Boyega simply cannot escape one Marvel parallel: โFor me, that synergy and now identifying the people who are like, โWe agree,โ is in my head like that last portal scene in [โAvengersโ] โEndgameโ where theyโre coming out on your left.โ