John Boyega to play Otis Redding in new biopic alongside Danielle Deadwyler

Star Wars actor will lead Otis & Zelma, which will celebrate the ‘eternal love story’ between the singer and his wife

John Boyega is set to play Otis Redding in a new film telling the story of the soul singer’s decade-long relationship.

Otis & Zelma will see the Star Wars and Attack the Block actor play the tragic star with the Till breakout Danielle Deadwyler playing his wife, Zelma.

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Red, White and Blue review – Steve McQueen and John Boyega hit gold

Issues of bigotry, belonging, race and redemption and are unpicked in this majestic biopic of police officer Leroy Logan

Steve McQueen’s five-movie series for the BBC, Small Axe, only gets more thrilling and captivating with the appearance of this new episode at the New York film festival. He is setting new gold standard for drama – and cinema – on screens of any size.

Related: Lovers Rock review – Steve McQueen throws the best party ever

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Jo Malone apologises to John Boyega for cutting him out of Chinese ad

Perfume brand admits reshooting commercial without Star Wars actor was ‘misstep’

Perfume brand Jo Malone has apologised to the actor John Boyega for cutting him out of an advert he conceived, directed and starred in when it was launched in China.

Boyega was replaced by Liu Haoran after the commercial was recast and reshot for the Chinese market. The original advert, London Gent, which was released last year, featured Boyega walking around Peckham, south London, riding a horse, dancing with friends and hanging out with his family. The original cast was multicultural, while the Chinese remake featured no black cast members.

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Star Wars actor John Boyega says non-white roles are ‘pushed to the side’ in franchise

British actor, who played former stormtrooper Finn, says the process had changed him and made him ‘angry’

The British actor John Boyega has criticised the treatment of non-white characters in the latest Star Wars films, saying they were marketed as important elements in the franchise but were ultimately “pushed to the side”.

In an interview published by GQ magazine on Wednesday, Boyega expressed bitterness over how his role as stormtrooper Finn faded in the latter episodes of the trilogy which concluded with The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

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‘You lot can’t rattle me’: John Boyega defends explicit anti-racism posts in wake of George Floyd death

The Star Wars actor expanded on his defiance of racist social media users in an Instagram Live video

John Boyega has been praised for a series of uncompromising social media posts speaking out about racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

Boyega’s initial Tweet, “I really fucking hate racists”, currently has 1.3m likes, but came in for criticism for his hard-hitting tone and use of an expletive.

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