‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Star John Boyega Joins Tom Hanks in ‘The Circle’

In a few months, more people will watch John Boyega in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its opening day than have ever watched his breakthrough performance in Attack the Block. He’s going to stop being a well-kept secret and start literally being a Movie Star overnight. So how does an actor with newfound career powers keep himself from getting stuck in a rut? Simple – you sign up to star alongside Tom Hanks in a movie directed by a very interesting filmmaker that couldn’t sound more different than a space opera.

Deadline reports that Boyega has joined the cast of The Circle, where he will share the screen with Hanks and Emma Watson, another performer who should be commended for her series of wise career choices in a post-franchise world. James Ponsoldlt, who recently went three-for-three with Smashed, The Spectacular Now, and The End of the Tour, will direct.

Here’s how Deadline describes The Circle, which is based on Dave Eggers’ novel of the same name:

...Boyega will play Ty, the iconized boy-wonder visionary of the Circle, an Internet monopoly which links users’ personal emails, social media, banking and purchasing with their universal operating system. The result is one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. He and an employee (Watson) develop a relationship as the perils of life in a digital age inevitably arise.

Interestingly, the lead character of the novel is Watson’s character, so we may end up seeing most of Boyega and Hanks from her point of view.

People have been beating the John Boyega drum since he played the alien-killing street youth Moses in Attack the Block. This guy is tough. He’s charming. He’s funny. His accent can melt you. He was destined to take on something big and explosive like Star Wars. However, it will be little movies like The Circle that will ensure his longevity. We know he can rock a genre movie, so now he has to pull off the low-key drama thing.

Oh, and Boyega is 23 years old and he’s going to star in movies with Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks. That’s one helluva thing.