John Boyega has said he was taken aback by responses to his criticisms of Star Wars, as “Robert Pattinson gets to talk s***” about his own films.
The Attack the Block star expressed disappointment with his trilogy of Star Wars movies in 2020, arguing that the white leads of the films were given far greater “nuance” than the franchise’s characters of colour.
Boyega starred in the recent Star Wars trilogy – The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker – as former stormtrooper Finn.
“They gave all the nuance to Adam Driver, all the nuance to Daisy Ridley,” Boyega said last year. “Let’s be honest. Daisy knows this. Adam knows this. Everybody knows. I’m not exposing anything. [Disney], you knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all.”
The actor also referred to the trilogy as “luxury jail”.
In a new interview with The Times, Boyega said that he made the comments after seeing “a cycle of endless baiting” that he wished to “call out”.
“I was kind of surprised that people were so like, ‘Bloody hell . . . [that he was speaking out].’ I love Robert Pattinson but he gets to talk s*** about his films, [so] why can’t I?”
Pattinson has repeatedly mocked the Twilight movies that made him famous, claiming that his salary was low, that the storylines made no sense, and that it was “weird” to “represent something you don’t particularly like”.
Boyega also revealed that Disney did not respond to his criticisms, while referencing Scarlett Johansson’s recent lawsuit against the corporation.
“Disney don’t talk about things like that. Unless it’s Scarlett Johansson and a lawsuit I don’t think they open their mouth.”
