Harry Styles was considered for the role of Han Solo in he upcoming Star Wars spin-off, it has been revealed.
The One Direction star, who released his first solo single last week, was wanted to take on the role, made famous by Harrison Ford, but film exec’s eventually settled for relatively unknown actor Alden Ehrenreich.
However, according to The Sun, Disney are keeping tabs on Harry for future high-profile movies, and haven’t ruled out casting him in other films within the Star Wars franchise.
An insider revealed, “Harry was one of the early names in contention when the studio looked at Han Solo. Even though he had virtually no acting experience, they saw he had huge star potential and would give the solo project enormous publicity.
Disney wanted Harry to play a young Han Solo – originally played by Harrison Ford | LUCASFILM
“On initial inquiries Harry had his music career laid out and it would have been almost impossible to lock him down for the job. However there has been talk at Disney about having him come in again for other projects they are considering.
“The rumoured Obi Wan stand-alone movie may not star Harry in the lead role but could see him play a smaller part. Harry offers part something different.
“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,” the insider added.
The news comes just three months before Harry will make his acting debut in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, which is set for release on July 21. The singer starred alongside huge a-list actors, including Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branagh.
After news of Harry’s casting broke, Christopher Nolan received some backlash for casting someone of boyband fame.
However, the director has since explained why he cast the British heartthrob.
“We had some established names but for the guys on the beach we really wanted young unknowns. He’s not that unknown but he’d never done anything as an actor. So he auditioned.
“I auditioned thousands of young men — with different combinations — and he had it,” he said.
