John Boyega pays close attention to the intricacies of his craft. The actor is interested in the ways characterisation and clothing combine to create potent storytelling. Wearing Zegna, the fashion house founded in 1910 by Ermenegildo Zegna in Trivero, Italy, he explains that how the way one presents themselves holds power. When acting, he says, “you're embodying somebody else, somebody else's lineage”.
“You walk on set and everyone's ready for you,” he continues. “Maybe you're in costume – the clothes matter. Once you put them on, you feel closer and closer to who you're meant to be, in this story, in this scenario… and then it all just feels natural.” Styled in the brand’s signature monochromatic textures, Boyega is speaking to GQ from the mountains of Northern Italy, home to Oasi Zegna.
Director Jeano Edwards captures the actor within Zegna’s sprawling, verdant territory, an ecosystem that has been curated by the Zegna family over generations. In this outdoor space, teeming with wild grass, delicate flowers, and naturally occurring waterfalls, we see Boyega in fleeting moments of performance, recalling roles he has become known for.
His characters are always varied. Boyega delivers a famously broad range, from sci-fi warrior to Blaxploitation hustler to historical king and back again. No matter what, he explains, he looks beyond the parameters of what’s known about the person he’s playing and fills in the gaps. “There are some directors that ask you, ‘Who is your character? Where does your character come from? What have they been through?’”
He considers how he brings his own thinking into the process, exploring his moments off-screen, out of character in GQ’s film “In Between Acts”. “Sometimes it comes from your imagination,” he says. “If it's a biopic, you kind of have to stick to the script, but most of the time it’s an actor's imagination that layers a character.”
“You always have to remember that you are not the character, but you have to get to know the character. Not all characters are easy to get to know. Some characters have been through things; their stories are complicated. Sometimes the writer has done that on purpose.” Wearing a waffle jumper in burnt caramel with matching tailored trousers, all from the Oasi Cashmere FW23 collection, he plays these parts with ease. In front of the camera, Boyega has moments of self-reflection, jocular motions, and confident outbursts.
Although his improvisation appears effortless, playing a role is most enriching for the actor when he is able to delve into the script and envisage the character's life. “I get to know my part,” he says. “I get to know the other actors' parts. I work through the story until I really know it, from back to front. So if anybody asks me, I'll be able to tell him where my character is, what my character has been through, before the script is even written.”
Explore the full film and Oasi Cashmere FW23 here.
