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Actor John Boyega considers it an "honour" to portray Idris Elba's onscreen son in the Pacific Rim sequel because he always wanted to emulate the Thor star's career.
Idris' character, General Stacker Pentecost, was killed off in Guillermo del Toro's 2013 sci-fi movie, and Boyega picks up the story as his wayward son, robot pilot Jake Pentecost, in the new follow-up, Pacific Rim Uprising.
The Star Wars: The Last Jedi actor was thrilled to land the role of Jake, because following in his fellow Londoner's footsteps onscreen was something John had long aspired to.
"Every morning you wake up to play Idris Elba's son, you feel slightly more good looking than you naturally would... so that's a great thing!" he joked about the new film.
Getting serious, John told breakfast show Good Morning America, "It's an honour. I mean, for me, Idris Elba is like (superhero) Captain America, he's just fantastic and the first person in the Black British culture to come over here (to America) and be a success (in Hollywood), so it's great."
The new project also gives John his first credit as a producer for his own company, Upperroom Entertainment Limited, which he founded in 2015.
"It's a big step and I'm very excited...," Boyega said, "and the opportunity to do this as our first project is fantastic."
As Pentecost, Boyega provides a little comic relief to the monster movie, and it's one aspect of his personality he'd like to expand on in future film roles, although he doubts it will be anytime soon.
"I'd love to do a comedy," he shared, "but I'm just exploring several different genres at the moment, and I think drama is next for me, but definitely a comedy's in the cards for me."
Meanwhile, John is also working towards bringing about positive change in Hollywood by adopting an inclusion rider clause in his movie contracts to ensure diversity in hiring cast and crewmembers for his upcoming projects.
He is the latest star to pledge his support to the idea, highlighted by Frances McDormand during her Best Actress acceptance speech at the Oscars earlier this month (Mar18). Michael B. Jordan, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have also announced plans to help make inclusion riders an industry standard going forward.