The Force was not with Al Pacino when he turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars — a choice he opened up about in his memoir Sonny Boy. Recently reflecting on that fateful decision further, the Oscar winner now jokes that he was simply doing Harrison Ford a favor.

“I said, ‘I think I’m in the mood to make Harrison Ford a career,'” the legendary actor quips to Entertainment Weekly while promoting his latest film, The Ritual (in theaters now), alongside his costar, Dan Stevens.

Strolling down memory lane, Pacino recalls his relationship with the so-called “Movie Brats,” a group of pioneering directors including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Brian De Palma, who helped pave the way for the New Hollywood movement of the mid-’60s to early ’80s.

“Zoetrope started in San Francisco with Spielberg and De Palma and Francis Coppola, and Scorsese,” Pacino explains. “They were in the late-’60s making this. They were real idealists coming into the ’70s with great films all over the globe. So it was a wonderful place that I actually saw, I went to the building and everything before I did Godfather with them,” he continues, referring to the Sentinel Building in San Francisco, purchased by Coppola as the headquarters for American Zoetrope.

“So I loved their work, but I was doing a show on Broadway at the time, and they handed me this script, and I thought, I don’t understand,” he said of reading the Star Wars script for the first time.

“[I thought], I must be out of space myself,” he joked. “But I looked at this thing and I sent it to Charlie Loughton, my friend and mentor, actually. I said, ‘What do you make of this?’ He was pretty wise and he said, ‘I don’t get it, Al. I dunno. I don’t get it.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t either; what are we going to do? They offered me a fortune, but I don’t know. No, I can’t play something if I don’t speak the language.'”

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Fortunately, everything worked out in the long run for all parties involved. Pacino continued his iconic career, starring in films including Norman Jewison’s And Justice for All, William Friedkin’s Cruising, and De Palma’s Scarface. And, of course, the role of Han Solo in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope went to Ford, transforming him into one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men.

Pacino also wasn’t the only actor Ford had to beat out to win the part of Han Solo. Sylvester Stallone has spoken about auditioning and being rejected for the role, and you can even watch Kurt Russell’s audition tape. Burt Reynolds told Business Insider in 2016 that, like Pacino, he was offered and turned down the part. “I didn’t want to play that kind of role at the time,” he said. “Now I regret it. I wish I would have done it.”

Mark Hamill isn’t so sure that Donald Trump is a real Star Wars fan. 

During Friday’s episode of The View, the Luke Skywalker actor was asked to weigh in on the AI-generated image of a weirdly jacked Trump holding a red lightsaber that the White House posted on social media last month in celebration of May the Fourth.

And critiques, he had. “Well, first of all, I thought: ‘If he’s a Star Wars fan, he should know he should be holding a green lightsaber,'” Hamill remarked, shaking his head in confusion. “Not an evil red lightsaber!”

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As the View cohosts laughed, 73-year-old actor proceeded to quote his original social media response to the image, saying, “My comment was: ‘Proof positive he’s full of Sith.'” 

Hamill then explained that he believes the only way to truly combat Trump’s absurd antics is through humor. “I don’t get angry and I don’t drop F-bombs,” he said. “I mean, I know I have a lot of kids that follow me, but I think to have fun with it, mock him — that’s the kryptonite to malignant narcissists.”

May the Fourth, a play on the phrase “May the Force be with you,” is a special day for Star Wars fans to celebrate the franchise. Last month the White House chose to partake in the festivities by sharing the image of Trump — as well as two outrageously large bald eagles and two American flags, both of which do not exist in the Star Wars universe — and an ominous message that took a blatant shot at those across the political aisle.

“Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to to [sic] bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy,” the post read. “You’re not the Rebellion—you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you.”

While one can only assume that Trump’s team gave him that lightsaber because he’s a Republican politician, red lightsabers have historically been wielded by the Sith and turned that bloodied hue because they have been imbued with the Dark Side of the Force. Popular red lightsaber users include Darth Maul, Kylo Ren, and Darth Vader, the latter of whom was a key leader in the Galactic Empire in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Given the connotations, the White House’s color choice was met with general confusion across the board.

“How do you not have one nerd on staff to tell you what color lightsaber is good and what color is bad???” one social media user wrote. Another commented, “Hey sorry, confused patriot here. Why does Trump have a red lightsaber?”

And a third, perhaps, put it best when they added, “This account is so cringe.”

The View airs weekdays on ABC.