Imagine a world where John Boyega did not play Joe Cornish, the alien-killing badass in Attack The Block; or Melvin Dismukes, the frightened security guard in Detroit; or even worse, the heroic Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Well, that was almost the case. While attending a special screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the IMAX Cinemas in Lekki a few days ago, the actor revealed that he initially thought, due to his religious background, he’d only star in faith-based movies.
The actor, who grew up watching mostly Mount Zion movies, also revealed that he was trained by Mike Bamiloye and his wife, Gloria Bamiloye — the founders of the hugely successful Mount Zion Drama Ministry and Mount Zion Television.
About realizing faith-based films weren’t for him, he said:
“I thought because of my religious background, I would specifically go for a market that was based in spirituality, but then I would realize that wasn’t for me, so I went secular.”
While he named the iconic Ayamatanga as one of the Mount Zion movies he remembers watching when he was younger, he also shared a few other Nigerian movies he watched with his family — including Blood Sisters and the Aki & Pawpaw franchise.
About being introduced to Nigerian films by his parents, Boyega said:
“The first movie that we watched was from Genevieve Nnaji — I think Blood Sisters. Then we started watching Rita Dominic and Aki & Pawpaw movies.
The fact is when your parents are Nigerian, it doesn’t matter where you are. When you get into your house you are in Lagos.”
Well, if Boyega had decided to stick to making only faith-based movies, we highly doubt he would have landed on Forbes’ list of the top-grossing actors of 2017. So, lucky him for snapping out of it!