A few weeks ago, it was announced that John Boyega had left Netflix thriller Rebel Ridge, the latest effort from Blue Ruin and Green Room‘s Jeremy Saulnier. The actor was the first name to board the project in November 2019, and after the start of production was delayed by a year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, shooting finally kicked off at the beginning of May.
However, at the start of June it was announced that the leading man was no longer part of Rebel Ridge, with “family reasons” being cited as the explanation behind his departure. A new report is offering up a completely different version of events, though, claiming that Boyega simply quit the film without telling anybody he was planning on doing so, and Netflix weren’t even made aware of the situation until they went to his hotel and discovered he’d checked himself out and left the Louisiana location altogether.
According to the report, script and accommodation issues were said to be behind the former Star Wars alum’s discontent, but Boyega’s agent has responded by calling the allegations completely untrue, while Netflix have also reaffirmed their commitment to keep working with the 29 year-old, who recently signed an exclusive development deal through his UpperRoom production company.
If it is true, then it could be a hammer blow to Boyega’s career and reputation when you consider Rebel Ridge is now shut down until it finds a new lead and resumes filming next year, leaving dozens of people out of a job and technically leaving him wide open for legal action at the hands of Netflix. He’s yet to comment publicly, but there’s going to be a lot of people keeping an eye on this one until he does.
