John Boyega has given an update on the Attack the Block sequel, revealing that it will return to a gentrified south London.
Attack the Block 2, which is in pre-production, will see Boyega reunite with director Joe Cornish after the first movie gave him his first big-screen role back in 2011.
The sequel will pick up with Boyega’s character Moses as he nears 30. Discussing the movie’s plot, the actor noted how London has ‘changed between the first movie and now’, citing the London Riots of 2011 and widespread gentrification of the capital.
‘We go back and look at the locations where we shot the first movie [Southwark and Walworth in south London] – once dodgy areas – and we find that it’s all gleaming, high-end apartments and Starbucks,’ Boyega tells Deadline. ‘There’s a whole world that we’re about to explore here with a whole new take on that universe, building and revisiting those characters.’
Boyega – most recently seen opposite Viola Davis in historical epic The Woman King – will produce the movie alongside Cornish’s production company, StudioCanal and Film4.
The actor recently noted that he had no interest in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite constant rumours linking him to comic-book characters yet to transfer to the big screen.
Instead, he’s keen to focus on his UpperRoom production company, and continue acting roles with directors like The Woman King’s Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Juel Taylor – the director of Boyega’s Netflix thriller They Cloned Tyrone – and Steve McQueen, adding how ‘you can’t do that necessarily when you’re stuck to a franchise’.
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