John Boyega saved Sundance hit '892' from falling through, says editor Chris Witt

• The crime thriller "892" debuted at the Sundance film festival on Friday.
• Chris Witt, the film's editor, spoke to Insider about how John Boyega saved the film's production.

In March 2021, trade publications reported that the actor Jonathan Majors was set to star as Brian Brown-Easley — a real-life former Marine who suffered from PTSD — in a drama titled "892."

The film — which was directed by first-time filmmaker Abi Damaris Corbin and debuted to acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival Friday evening — tells the story of Brown-Easley who walked into a Wells Fargo bank in 2017 with a supposed bomb in his rucksack and took several hostages after he was denied support payments from the department of veterans affairs.

By July, the production of "892" was in doubt after shifting production dates forced Majors to leave the project to shoot Marvel's "Ant-Man 3." However, days later, the small indie film was saved after "Star Wars" actor John Boyega signed on to star in Majors' place.

"We were contemplating just shutting down," Chris Witt, the film's editor, told Insider. "We found ourselves wondering if we were going to fall through, and then Boyega came through like Superman."

While the film was back in production thanks to Boyega, Witt said that he had been concerned about whether the British actor had had enough time to execute the role of Brown-Easley. Witt said he was most concerned about whether Boyega could convincingly replicate Brown-Easley's American accent. On the first day of production, however, Boyega quelled all concerns.

"It's no exaggeration. He freaking nailed this character from the page," Witt said of Boyega's performance.

"With Boyega, Brian came alive in a way that I always envisioned him. I felt like I was staring at footage of the real guy. In fact, he sounded like the real guy. We had a lot of 911 recordings of the real thing and you couldn't tell the difference, it was so Brian, in his performance. And I never heard a British accent."

Witt told Insider that he was left impressed by Boyega's ability to come on board with "so little time and just knock it out of the park," which he said left every person on-set "inspired."

"He gave his whole heart and soul," Witt said of Boyega. "He raised the bar and we all had to also put all of ourselves in, in order to do that footage justice."

The script for "892" was co-written by Corbin and the acclaimed British playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah who also co-wrote Spike Lee's upcoming feature about the invention of Viagra. The film also stars Nicole Beharie, Connie Britton, and the late actor Michael K Williams in his last big-screen performance.

In the film, Williams plays a specialist police detective and Army veteran tasked with negotiating with Boyega's Brown-Easley during the standoff at the Wells Fargo bank.

"It was heartbreaking. He was truly a part of our team and our family on that project," Witt said of Michael K Williams's passing.

On the day Witt and Abi, the film's director, started editing the film together, Witt said that he discovered Williams had died.

"It just happened to be that we had already been working a week in post-production and we heard the news. We grieved for that part of that day. And we were just like, okay, we need to go back to work," he said. "It felt like the responsibility to craft the remaining embers of his creative voice. Of his work on earth, you know? It was tough. The responsibility to do that well was heavy."

One of the film's final images shows Williams at home following a deadly climax at the bank. The camera cuts in close on Williams's face and the audience watch him place a necklace with a Christian cross on a shelf.

"That close-up of that cross is the last take of his career. And it's a special, humbling, experience. He was a great man, a great artist," Witt added.

"892" is currently screening as part of Sundance 2022. There is currently no release date for the film.