EPISODE VII: JOHN BOYEGA - FROM PECKHAM TO HOLLYWOOD!

On to the next stage of his character growth- John Boyega as Finn in THE FORCE AWAKENS.

The casting process may have been long and arduous (literally seven months!), but Peckham boy made good John Boyega, already a rising star with strong roles in the UK sci-fi comedy movie ATTACK THE BLOCK, and the final Kiefer Sutherland starring TV series of 24, more than proved himself the right man for the right job playing the former First Order Stormtrooper on the run, FN-2187, now known as Finn, for THE FORCE AWAKENS, bringing the kind of energy, humour, vulnerability and, most importantly, sincerity and heart needed to totally win over fans old and new for the new Sequel saga films, and generating great all-important chemistry on and off set with Daisy Ridley and her equally fish out of water heroine in Rey. I'm sure the actress is very proud of her "Peanut"!

The striking banner art of Finn for THE FORCE AWAKENS.

With some familiar icons. Image: Getty Images for DISNEY.

With Daisy Ridley for a lively ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY photo shoot.

Congratulations from STAR WARS AFICIONADO and fans worldwide on yesterday's BAFTA/EE Rising Star award win, Mister Boyega. Now go save the universe as a (hopefully) fully-fledged member of the Resistance, for EPISODE VIII!

A well deserved award at the BAFTAs.

BAFTAs 2016 sees Star Wars' John Boyega win breakthrough award | Daily Mail Online
John Boyega wins EE Rising Star Award | BAFTA Film Awards 2016 - YouTube

AFICIONADO COMMENT: A SNUB FROM BAFTA....

I would like to thank STAR WARS INSIDER Editor Jonathan Wilkins for getting in touch with the UK's BAFTA film fellowship to inquire why the late film director Irvin Kershner, the brilliant director of the critical and audience acclaimed THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and numerous other wide ranging and diverse films over a fifty year career, wasn't included in the tribute section of this years BAFTA AWARDS ceremony shown on the BBC last weekend. For him not to have been included I felt was an absolute insult, and BAFTA's excuse being a lack of time to include him was outright PATHETIC! A four to six second clip from EMPIRE and a pic of Kershner could easily have been done. And it certainly could have been done if they had restrained the verbal diarrhoea that often came out of the shows long running and highly smug TV presenter Jonathan Ross at regular intervals. Kershner's non-inclusion as director of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is bad enough, but worse when you consider what a popular and acknowledged film-maker and teacher he had been to the likes of many of the talents within the film and TV industry in general. I rate this insult to his friends and family, STAR WARS and film fans in general as bad a situation as it was a few years back for classic STAR TREK fans when the late DeForest Kelly, an actor of some repute before playing their beloved Doctor McCoy, with a list of classic noir thrillers and westerns behind him, as well as the six TREK movies released theatrically across the world, was also not deemed good enough for inclusion by the US Academy Awards fellowship! That, like BAFTA's attitude towards Kershner, is equally unforgivable.

Shame on you, BAFTA!

For more on this story: http://www.jedinews.co.uk/