Michael B Jordan’s most embarrassing audition: “I definitely bombed that one”

Posted On July 2, 2025July 2, 2025

Cast your mind back to 2013, long before Michael B Jordan had established his A-list credentials as the star of the Creed franchise, and played one of Marvel’s best villains in the genre-defining Black Panther.

Back then, the charismatic young star was in the process of transitioning from TV roles in the likes of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood to movie roles in Chronicle and Fruitvale Station.

Indeed, it was probably the latter, a heartfelt biographical drama about the wrongful death of Bay Area resident Oscar Grant, that signalled to Hollywood that Jordan was ready to be a leading man. That movie received stellar reviews and marked the first of Jordan’s many collaborations with Sinners director Ryan Coogler, but it also marked him as a performer of unique sensitivity and undeniable presence.

Suddenly, Jordan found himself in the frame for a trilogy of huge franchise roles, as tends to happen when any young actor breaks out as a potential star. He was linked to Independence Day: Resurgence, likely for the part eventually played by Jessie T Usher in the 2016 film: the son of Will Smith’s Colonel Steven Hiller from the first movie.

That part didn’t pan out, but the second one Jordan was linked to most definitely did. When asked by HuffPost about Chronicle director Josh Trank’s developing Fantastic Four reboot, Jordan enthusiastically responded, “Definitely interested in the project. Josh Trank is a buddy of mine.” Jordan did end up playing Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in Trank’s 2015 film, but he may have wished he hadn’t. After all, the film was lambasted by critics and flamed out (pun very much intended) at the box office.

The third mega-franchise Jordan nabbed an audition for, though, was undoubtedly the most significant. Indeed, as he put it, “Everybody’s going in on this project. They’re trying to figure out what they want… It’s pretty crazy. We’ll see how it happens.”

The series was, of course, Star Wars, and the movie was The Force Awakens, the long-awaited first instalment in a new trilogy being spearheaded by JJ Abrams. Jordan auditioned alongside seemingly every other 20-something actor in Hollywood to play Finn, a stormtrooper who switches sides and joins the resistance against the First Order. It was a truly life-changing opportunity for Jordan, but maybe he allowed the incredible weight of George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away get on top of him, because he botched his audition in spectacular fashion.

“I couldn’t wrap my brain around some of the sides,” Jordan admitted to Variety in 2021, referring to the lines of dialogue given to him for his audition. “Because, you know, when you’re reading for these high-level projects, there’s never really any specificity in the sides. Everything’s like super vague; everything is in secret.”

Try as he might, Jordan couldn’t connect emotionally to the murky, imprecise sci-fi jargon he was saying in his audition, and it translated in his performance, which came across like he was someone who didn’t understand a word he was saying; mainly because he genuinely didn’t comprehend a lick of it. In the end, he ran out of the room as quickly as he could, safe in the knowledge that there was no way he would be picked as the face of Abrams’ new vision. That honour instead went to John Boyega of Attack the Block fame.

“I definitely bombed that one, for sure,” Jordan chuckled, at least seeing the funny side eight years later. “I think that was probably my worst audition to date.”

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