John Boyega says his Star Wars criticism led to a ‘very honest’ conversation with Disney

John Boyega told The Hollywood Reporter that he had a "very honest" conversation with Disney about his experience working on Star Wars. 

After an interview with British GQ was published earlier this year where he spoke out about the racism that had shaped his experience playing stormtrooper-turned-hero Finn in the franchise, Boyega was contacted by a Disney executive.

 "It was a very honest, a very transparent conversation," Boyega said. "There was a lot of explaining on their end in terms of the way they saw things. They gave me a chance also to explain what my experience was like. 

"I'd hope that me being so open with my career, at this stage, would help the next man, the guy that wants to be the assistant DOP, the guy that wants to be a producer. I hope that the conversation is not such a taboo or elephant in the room now, because someone just came and said it."

We can next see Boyega on our screens in Red, White and Blue, part of the Small Axe anthology of films directed by Steve McQueen. Each of the five films spotlights a moment of Black British history – all except Lovers Rock are based on true stories about London’s Caribbean community. In Red, White and Blue, Boyega plays Leroy Logan, a police officer who joined a hostile department in the '80s.

Mangrove, the first film in the Small Axe anthology, will premiere on November 15 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and November 20 on Amazon Prime in the US. A new film will be available to stream weekly, with Red, White and Blue airing on December 13 in the UK and December 18 in the US.

In the meantime, here’s our list of the best movies on Amazon Prime right now.