Harry Styles 'one of top names to play Han Solo' before Alden Ehrenreich

Styles reportedly lost out over his music career taking off
Getty Images
Emma Powell11 April 2017
The Weekender

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Harry Styles was one of the top names in the running to play Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off.

Film bosses believed the former One Direction singer, 23, “had huge star potential”, according to The Sun, but that with his music career taking off it would have been hard to lock him in for the role.

“Harry was one of the early names in contention when the studio looked at Han Solo,” a source told the publication.

“Even though he had virtually no acting experience, they saw he had huge star potential and would give the solo project enormous publicity.

Got the job: Alden Ehrenreich will play Han Solo
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

“On initial inquiries Harry had his music career laid out and it would have been almost impossible to lock him down for the job.”

Styles – who will star in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Dunkirk epic – is expected to play a small part in a later spin-off.

One Direction's Harry Styles - In pictures

65th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles
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The source continued: “However there has been talk at Disney about having him come in again for other projects they are considering.

“Everyone had nothing but praise for him in Dunkirk, and he and manager Jeff Azoff are carefully picking out what movie role he should take next.”

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film will also star Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The film is slated for release in 2018.

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