Soon after he’d landed the role as stormtrooper Finn in the new Star Wars movie, 23-year-old actor John Boyega took Harrison Ford, aka Han Solo, to the Old Kent Road for a meal at one of his local Nigerian restaurants. The two headed down to the 805 diner, where Ford reportedly opted for a traditional egusi soup and pounded yam for a bargain £15. Asked why he took his co-star there, Boyega explained to the Evening Standard, that he did it “In order to break Harrison into the London culture… to have some Nigerian food – and he loved it.”
Boyega is fast emerging as best thing about the sixth Star Wars movie promotion fest. On the red carpet last night, he was brimming with the excitement of a London boy done good, rather than a seasoned premiere pro. Asked how he was feeling, he said, “I am good. I am very, very good. I’m in my hometown, London. I’m a boy from Peckham and I’m in a Star Wars movie. Brrrrrrrrrrraaaap! Bo-bo-bo!” He then forced the presenter and team to “get the cameras to my people!” before doing a team bounce with his boys. He went on, “I’m here to celebrate damnit. I’m here to celebrate. This is Star Wars people! This is the biggest franchise of all time. This is the movie that I’ve lived with all my life and I’m a part of it, and I’m so happy to be here in my hometown, in the place where I was born. London!”
Something tells us @JohnBoyega is excited to be here at #TheForceAwakens European Premiere… #FinnAwakens https://t.co/fDBB1mLsec
— Star Wars UK (@StarWarsUK) December 16, 2015
Boyega also had wise words for racists who have questioned his presence in the movie, as a black man. He told the New York Times that he wasn’t phased by the criticisms, explaining, “I’m grounded in who I am, and I am a confident black man. A confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man. I’m proud of my heritage, and no man can take that away from me. I wasn’t raised to fear people with a difference of opinion. They are merely victims of a disease in their mind. To get into a serious dialogue with people who judge a person based on the melanin in their skin? They’re stupid, and I’m not going to lose sleep over people. The presale tickets have gone through the roof — their agenda has failed. Miserably.”
He expressed further bafflement that people could be bothered about seeing a black man on screen when they’re fully accustomed to accepting the weirdest of creatures: “I just don’t get it. You guys got every single alien in this movie imaginable to man. With tentacles, five eyes. Aliens that, if they existed, we’d definitely have an issue. We’d have to get them to the government and be, like, ‘What are you?’ Yet what you want to do is fixate on another human being’s colour. You need to go back to school and unlearn what you have learned.”
Credits
Text Stuart Brumfitt
Photography Olivia Rose
Styling Jack Borkett