- Taron Egerton, Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2013. Among about 59 others, the Attack The Block find was seen for Eggsy Unwin – the working class hero of the world of espionage. Final choices came down to Boyega, Jack O’Connell, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who turned up in the third chapter, The King’s Man, 2019), and Egerton’s winning “likeability.” The not-007-but… thriller was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who created the sixth James Bond with the 2003 choice of Daniel Craig for Layer Cake – “My name? If you knew that, you’d be as clever as me.”
- Dayo Okeniyi, Terminator: Genesis, 2014. Terminator starts over… Boyega tasted in March, but Okeniyi won the role of Miles Dyson’s son, Danny. Fret not for Boyega. He won a certain Star Wars VII with Luke, Han, Leia, R2D2, C-3P0 and all!
- Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver, 2016. When UK director Edgar Wright was sacked by Marvel from his Hollywood debut, Ant-Man, in 2014, he moved on to his long gestating project. Elgort, suddenly in everything from the good (Divergent, The Fault In Our Stars), the bad (the newCarrie) and the ugly (Men, Women & Children), was almost a shoo-in for getaway driver Elgort – and not Boyega or Logan Lerman. They missed one helluva ride. “A remorselessly entertaining, impeccably assembled action-musical in which cars and people defy the laws of physics and common sense,” said The Village Voice.In short, what Marvel hadn’t wanted. An Edgar Wright movie!!
- Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther, 2017. Spider-Man turned up in the third Cap Am movie as a teaser for his welcome-back-home-to-Marvel reboot. Idem for T’Challa/Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, 2015, before this ground-breaking solo flight. The finalists included four Brits: Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Algrim/Kurse in Thor: The Dark World), John Boyega (Finn in the 21st Century Star Wars), Noel Clarke (from Star Trek Into Darkness), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Mordo in Doctor Strange)… Benin’s Djimon Hounsou (Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel)… four Americans: Boseman (best known for his James Brown in Get On Up, 2013), Chad L Coleman (from The Wire and Arrow), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon in films and TV) and Wesley Snipes, from way back in 1990, when the title was muddled with the 60s’ black activists. In fact, the comic came out two months before the group in 1965. Finally, Snipes was too old and supported Boseman’s take “1,000%.”Grossing $1bn, the actual Black Panther film was #1 in the US for five weeks, until dethroned by Pacific Rim: Uprising starring… Boyega!
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4