John Boyega to Team With Green Room Director on Rebel Ridge

I’m a big fan of Jeremy Saulnier, who directed Green Room, Blue Ruin, and most recently, Hold the Dark. For me, I will remember coming across a truly wacky poster for a film of his called Murder Party, and that one sold me on him. I ended up absolutely loving Green Room, and I always love to see what he’s doing next. Looks like his new project, Rebel Ridge, included casting John Boyega of Star Wars and Attack the Block fame.

Of course, like many of Saulnier’s films, there isn’t much info on the nature of the project, but it’ll probably include his kinetic and frantic violence that he’s known for. A Variety report claims that the film will contain “bone-breaking action sequences, suspense, and dark humor.” So a pretty standard day for Saulnier.

Boyega is rising in stardom with seemingly every film. As stated above, he’s very fresh as Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy, he’s underrated in Attack the Block, and no one talks about the criminally underrated masterpiece Detroit that he did with director Kathryn Bigelow, but his subtle performance is amazing. Then there’s Pacific Rim: Uprising, but we won’t blame that on him. There were many more problems with that film than his performance, and he didn’t have much to work with.

So yeah, everything sounds great here. We haven’t seen this side to Boyega much. He’s been in several action-based films, but usually those films are more CGI-heavy and less-focused on action from him, so this’ll be an interesting film if everything comes together right. Nothing of concern from this writer, that much I can say. Bring it on.

So what do you think? Is this the right call for Boyega? Is it the right call for Saulnier? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

-Kyle A. Goethe