John Boyega was nearly down to his last dollar when offered the film opportunity of a lifetime.

On Saturday, April 12, the “They Cloned Tyrone” actor was a guest during the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, and, according to People, recounted when director J.J. Abrams approached him with the role of Finn in the “Star Wars” franchise. The British performer had gone through several auditions before receiving an email from Abrams to meet.

“I had been auditioning for so long, so I felt like he kind of took away my dignity a little bit,” Boyega told Josh Horowitz, host of the podcast “Happy Sad Confused.”

"I had been auditioning for so long, so I felt like he kind of took away my dignity a little bit,” the actor confessed. “So I decided to pretend as if I was busy, you know, when you just pretend that you're busy. 'I got other stuff to do, J.J.”

But when asked to meet in Greenwich for “something important,” Boyega didn’t blow the opportunity, deciding to meet with the filmmaker, although his funds were low. “And I go, ‘Okay, okay, I'm gonna be right there.’ At the time I had £45 [about $59 USD] in my account. It took £33 and 83p to get to J.J. Do the math.’”

Upon entering the restaurant, Boyega recalled being “nervous” and didn’t expect a casting offer initially. “I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ You know, J.J. is a phenomenal, nice guy, and if he was to tell me I didn't get the part, he would still feed me," Boyega shared. 

“And so I sat down and, J.J. just said, ‘Thank you so much for coming back. I know we've kind of [strained] you with this amount of auditions,’” he continued. “At that time, I took it upon myself to try and get another audition and go like, ‘J.J., please. Look, I can audition again. I can do British, Scottish, Nigerian, whatever. And he goes, ‘You're [in Star Wars].’”

Boyega said that the “moment froze” upon hearing the offer, as he had limited leading movie roles before joining the “Star Wars” universe. “Like I even noticed how many sugar cubes were in this very crush little cup that was on the table. Everything felt very surreal,” he said. In the 2010s films “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” Boyega played FN-2187 / Finn, although the actor would later bash the racist treatment he received from franchise fans. In the new Apple TV+ documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet,” Boyega said the “vibe” of “Star Wars” was like “being in the most whitest, elite space.”