Shameik Moore has become somewhat of a household name since the 23-year-old starred in Sony's CGI animated adventure,
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Though he did have starring roles in the 2015 Sundance drama
Dope and in the Netflix film
The Get Down, it's his role as Miles Morales that has garnered a ton of attention.
As it turns out, there was a chance he could've portrayed another prominent character on the big screen: Lando Calrissian in
Solo: A Star Wars Story. At the time of the audition,
Solo was being helmed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the dynamic duo who was ultimately fired from the Disney production and went on to produce and help write the screenplay for
Into the Spider-Verse.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moore was asked about his audition for Lando and if he "could tell from that meeting that you would be good collaborators?"
I do not like auditioning. … I know what I bring to the table, and if you're sitting down with me, and I'm reading your lines, and I'm giving you my take on the performance, and you're interested in me already — if it doesn't work out afterward, my feelings are hurt. … [Dope director] Rick [Famuyiwa], Kenya [Barris], Phil and Chris, RZA, these are the people that have believed in me and taken a chance.
Moore continued:
I don't really care about who I'm auditioning for. I don't know much about who the directors are beforehand. I go in there to execute my job, and if you want me, I'm here to execute. I don't think I knew that these were the same dudes that were interested in me for Spider-Man when I went in for Star Wars. I do remember meeting them, and going in there and doing it, but I also remember feeling like I wasn't going to have that part.
Donald Glover ultimately ended up landing the part of Lando, which I think we can all agree he nailed. And in the end, Shameik Moore proved to be the perfect casting for Miles Morales, so it all worked out for everybody.
Moore admitted that while he "likes"
Star Wars, he's more of a
Harry Potter fan (along with
007,
Jason Bourne, and
The Matrix. Still, he added:
"I would love to be a part of a huge Star Wars movie simply because of how big Star Wars is as a brand."