Star Wars: Miles Teller's Han Solo audition prompted actor to finally see Star Wars films

Divergent actor Miles Teller popped up on one of the reported casting shortlists for Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars film from 22 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Even if he doesn’t land the coveted role, at least it gave him an excuse to watch the originals.

During a visit with MTV’s Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (transcribed by Collider), Teller remarked, “I had never even seen any of the original Star Wars movies until maybe a month or a couple weeks before my first audition because I was like, ‘I should check this out.'”

If you ask him, the films hold up. “I just love Harrison Ford, I think that’s a great character. I love his brand, I mean so many guys would’ve played that part so wrong and he has humor at the right times. Harrison Ford is a very big actor, when you see the facial expressions and the things he does he goes big, but he’s just always the coolest guy in the room and he’s got all of those great qualities.”

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In addition to Teller, Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!), Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction), and Emory Cohen (Brooklyn) are reportedly being considered for the role. The film, set for release on May 25, 2018, will feature a young Han Solo before he earned his reputation as the notorious intergalactic smuggler.

Elsewhere on the podcast, Teller discussed the reverberations from his involvement in Fantastic Four. “People think that when you make something like a Fantastic Four that doesn’t do well, people think ‘Oh you phoned it in’ and it couldn’t be more untrue.”

He later remarked, “I think it’s unfortunate a movie like that becomes a scarlet letter on a resume when so many talented people worked really hard and maybe a handful of people took it in a negative direction.”